In Memoriam: Jan Kozma (1946-2018)

Jan Kozma, professor emerita of Italian at the University of Kansas, passed away on November 9, 2018. She was 72 years old.

Dr. Kozma began her career at the University of Kansas in 1977 as an assistant professor. For 37 years she taught Italian language and literature in the department of French & Italian. In 1978, she established the university’s Study Abroad Program in Florence and Rome. She served as chair of her department from 1987 to 1992 and became a full professor in 1992. Throughout her tenure, Dr. Kozma served on and chaired numerous committees for the university and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She retired from the University of Kansas in 2014.

Dr. Kozma’s academic interests focuses on novels and poetry of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italy. She was the author of two book of literary criticism, The Architecture of Imagery in Alberto Moravia’s Fiction (University of North Carolina Press, 1993) and Grazia Deledda’s Eternal-Adolescents: The Pathology of Arrested Maturation (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002). Additionally, she translated three novels by Grazia Deledda, wrote numerous articles and book reviews, and published two textbooks on Italian language. For her many contributions to the field of Italian language and literature, Italy honored Dr. Kozma by naming her Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Dr. Kozma held a bachelor’s degree in Spanish language and literature as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Italian language and literature all from the University of Michigan.