The American Academy in Rome, a centre located on the Eternal City’s Gianicolo hill that hosts US artists and scholars for coveted residencies and fellowships, has tapped Aliza Wong to be its next director. She succeeds Avinoam Shalem and will begin her tenure in July.

Wong, a professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and scholar who has written extensively about modern Italian history and culture, will be the 25th director of the academy and the first woman of colour to lead it.