President Doti has no qualms about admitting how his Italian heritage has served him well as a children book author, economics professor and current president of Chapman University; in fact, he is emphatic about it. Born in Chicago, Illinois, the third of four children to two Italian immigrants from Southern Italy, he fondly remembers visiting his nonna in Little Italy and making biscotti and ravioli.
Recollections of his nonna and Italian family are captured on the pages of his two published children’s books: A Christmas Adventure in Little Italy and Jimmy Finds His Voice. He even has plans to write a third, inspired by the passing away of his nonna at the age of seven, and he retains a passion for Italian cuisine cultivated by his nonna in their few years together. “I love cooking,” says Doti. His favorite snack is cuccidati, a cookie filled with fig, almonds and walnuts. “I’m the best cuccidati maker,” he adds.
Food, however, was not the only thing that Doti discovered in Little Italy. When he returned years later to live as an undergraduate student during college, he came across many valuable lessons about economics and the open market. He would go on to use Little Italy as a backdrop for teaching economics and compile what he learned into a book and articles on the topic.
When speaking with president Doti about his Italian heritage, his appreciation and pride of the culture are unquestionable. “(My heritage) has probably been the most important thing in my leadership skills. I think I am a better president than I otherwise would be because of a heritage that really stresses respect for other people and love of other people.” Doti also seeks to spread his love of Italian culture to both Chapman University and the surrounding community.
The Italian Studies Program on campus holds events throughout the year which are open and free to the community, including guest lectures, special performances, film screenings, and culture days. Doti had Attalah piazza on campus modeled after piazzas in Italy (such as Piazza Navona in Rome) with the idea that they are the hearts of a community, and Chapman currently holds an Italian-American archive at the Leatherby Libraries.
He also explains how several donors and leaders on the Board of Trustees of the university share his Italian heritage. Paul and Marybelle Musco, some of Doti’s friends and donors to the university, are sponsoring a new state-of-the-art performing arts center because of his love of opera, which both they and Doti share. “Paul is similar to me in that growing up in Italian households, we were both required to stay in on Sunday afternoons and listen to the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. When you do that you develop an ear for music.”
The Chapman opera program will be one of the productions held on the new stage, projected to be complete by 2016. Finally, Doti wants the community to be more educated about Italians and Italian-American culture.
“I sometimes feel that people’s perception of Italians are heavily weighted towards thinking about the mafia, communism, and the bad elements, and there are those. But that’s a very small part of Italian heritage when you think of Italian history. From the Romans to Michelangelo, from Dante to Da Vinci, you realize what a great heritage we have, and I take much pride in being an Italian American.”
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