On this episode of The Emergence Room, we are joined by Aliza Wong, Director of the American Academy in Rome and a professor of history at Texas Tech University, where she has spent over two decades teaching and mentoring students. Her scholarship centers on modern Italy and the Mediterranean, with a focus on race, nation, culture, and identity – nwork that feels deeply connected to the kinds of conversations she fosters in the spaces she leads.
At the Academy, Aliza leads with a rare combination of humility, humor, warmth – and yes, an unmistakable sense of style. She is someone who makes an institution feel human, who holds space for both rigor and care, and who, especially in this moment, has helped shape the Academy into a place that feels like home.
Our conversation moves through first-generation experience, body image, family, and the complexities of leadership. What unfolds is something tender and honest – a portrait of a leader who listens, adapts, and leads with both strength and vulnerability.
Aliza embodies a way of leading that feels expansive and relational, and reflects the kind of leadership we, as co-hosts, are continuing to grow into ourselves.