Meredith K. Ray

Meredith K. Ray is the Elias Ahuja Professor of Italian at the University of Delaware. She specializes in medieval and Renaissance Italian literature, history, and culture, with a focus on early modern science, women’s writing, and convent culture. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is affiliated with the Department of Women and Gender Studies and the European Studies program.

Her research explores Italian women’s contributions to early modern scientific and literary culture, including studies of Caterina Sforza, Arcangela Tarabotti, and Margherita Sarrocchi. She has authored three monographs and co-edited works on Machiavelli and Tarabotti. Her forthcoming book, *Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Italian Renaissance*, highlights underrecognized female figures of the period.

Dr. Ray has received fellowships from prestigious organizations like the NEH and the Fulbright Foundation. She teaches courses on Italian literature, detective fiction, and the Scientific Revolution, and regularly mentors undergraduate and graduate students through research programs.

Her published works include *Daughters of Alchemy* (2023), which examines women’s roles in early modern scientific culture, and articles on topics like convent life, epistolary writing, and alchemy’s gendered dimensions. She also contributes to public scholarship through interviews and edited collections.