Donna Chirico is Professor of Psychology and former Dean of Arts and Sciences at York College. She has spent 25+ years teaching and working with underserved, urban college students. Her academic career began with field research in India studying moral and spiritual development. The objective of this work is to understand the function of transcendent imagination in personal development, attainment of goals, and psychological well-being. Related to this, personal identity formation is explored to understand how ethnic identity contributes to psychological development, specifically in Americans of Italian heritage and more broadly within the Italian Diaspora. This includes how identity influences educational attainment among groups who historically lag in educational success. She has served on the advisory board of La Voce di New York as well as being a contributor, serves on the editorial boards of the journals, The Italian American Review and Diasporic Italy, and has published numerous papers in Italian American and Italian Diaspora Studies.