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Professor of Italian in the Department of Italian Studies and Affiliated Faculty Member in the Program in Comparative Literary Studies, David Ward received his B.A. degree (with honors) in English and American Studies from University of East Anglia, Norwich, Great Britain. After a number of years teaching English and translating in Italy, including four years at the Universit di Bologna, he came to the United States to pursue graduate studies. He received an M.A. in 1986 and a Ph.D. in 1988 from the Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University. After a year of teaching as a Lecturer in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he was hired by Wellesley College in 1989, was awarded tenure in 1995 and was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2002.
He is author of five books: four in English, A Poetics of Resistance: Narrative and the Writings of Pier Paolo Pasolini (Madison, NJ and London: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995); Antifascisms: Cultural Politics in Italy, 1943-46 Benedetto Croce and the Liberals, Carlo Levi and the Actionists (Madison, NJ and London: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996); Piero Gobetti's New World: Antifascism, Liberalism, Writing (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010); Contemporary Italian Narrative and 1970s Terrorism: Stranger than Fact (London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2017); and one in Italian, Carlo Levi: Gli italiani e la paura della libert (Milan: Rizzoli/Nuova Italia, 2002). He is also co-editor, with Sciltian Gastaldi, of a volume of essays on the writings of the children and relatives of the victims of terrorism, entitled Era mio padre: Italian Terrorism of the Anni di Piombo in the Postmemorials of Victims' Relatives, published in the Italian Modernities series by Peter Lang in 2018.
He has been Chair of the Department of Italian Studies on many occasions and has served as Resident Director of the Eastern College Consortium Program (ECCO) on two occasions, 2006-07 and 2021-22. From the fall semester of 2015 to the spring semester of 2018 he served as interim chair of the French Department.
His scholarship is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on and approaching texts from a variety of sources: literature, history, film, and politics. His latest book--Contemporary Italian Narrative and 1970s Terrorism: Stranger than Fact--is a study of how young contemporary Italian writers, mostly in their 30s and 40s, have risen to the challenge of representing the right- and left-wing terrorism of the 1970s in their novels. He is currently engaged in a project that investigates contemporary Italian collective writing practices.
Also, Upham runs the Horticulture Response Center, which was started in 1996. The program is known for its 'Rapid Response' with 90% of questions answered within 24 hours. The Legacy Rapid Response Center can be reached at -state.edu/about/people/faculty/upham-ward/rcc.html .
Ward received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, where she won five Hopwood Awards for her fiction, essays, and drama. She held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University and served as the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. A contributing editor for Vanity Fair, she is at work on two additional new books: a novel for adults set in New Orleans at the height of the American slave trade, and a young adult novel about a Black girl from the South with supernatural powers.
The Stabbomancer specializes in Critical Hits and Status Effects. They're able to keep enemies guessing by alternating between Guns, Melee Weapons, and Spells, all the while moving in and out of stealth to score guaranteed Critical Hits. Though fragile, the Stabbomancer can use their superior speed to evade damage and fire their guns while sprinting.
The Fatemaker throws out a Ghost Blade which spins in place at target location, dealing Melee Damage periodically to nearby enemies based on the Fatemaker's equipped Melee Weapon.
Pressing the Action Skill Button while Ghost Blade is active causes it to teleport to the targeted location and reduces its remaining duration by a small percentage.
Whenever the Fatemaker applies a Status Effect to an enemy, the affected enemy takes increased damage from all sources for its duration. This effect can stack per unique Status Effect.
The Clawbringers are an order of warriors who seek to bring Heroism to the Wonderlands through fire and thunder. While it has long been rumored that Clawbringers are born with dragon blood in their veins, our legal scholars can neither confirm nor deny such blatant hearsay. You know what? Let's just talk about the game mechanics.
Clawbringers focus on Fire and Lightning damage. The Clawbringer's Dragon Aura empowers their whole party with additional Fire damage and more. They can either throw their spectral hammer at enemies to deal sizzling Lightning damage or slam it down on the ground to create a massive Fire nova. Their trusty Wyvern Companion flies at their side, breathing Fire upon their enemies and raking them with razor-sharp claws.
The Clawbringer is accompanied by a Wyvern Companion that flies through the environment and attacks enemies with its claws and Fire Breath.
Any increases to the Fatemaker's Damage also apply to their Companions.
The Fatemaker gains Damage Reduction from all attacks. Additionally, all allies near the Fatemaker gain a chance to reflect damage back to their attackers as Lightning Damage.
The Wyvern Companion will occasionally shoot Fire Bolts at enemies, causing damage in an area and leaving a splat. Additionally, the Fatemaker gains increased Gun Damage.
Devotees of Death, Graveborn draw strength from the pain and passing of others, growing in power as they send the souls of their enemies screaming into the void. Where most fear Death, the Graveborn revel in it, and have even made it an ally. Aided by a powerful and ancient demi-lich bound to their service, the Graveborn knows that all power comes at a price paid in blood, whether it be that of their foes or their own...
The Graveborn is a master of Kill Skills, Spells, and Dark Magic. They use their Demi-Lich Companion and sacrificial Action Skills to enact suffering upon their enemies, even at the cost of their own life force. Any Spell cast by the Graveborn will cause the Demi-Lich to cast a unique spell of their own, as well as triggering Kill Skills to summon hellish minions.
Whenever the Fatemaker deals Spell Damage, there is a chance to create an explosion, dealing Ability Damage of the Spell's elemental type to nearby enemies. The Elemental Explosion cannot critically hit.
Whether they're slinging spells or shooting shells, Spellshots know that in the Wonderlands, an adventurer survives by force of arms and arcana. While others may view their guns as mere weapons, the Spellshot has trained rigorously until it becomes an extension of their own magical will, weaving gun and grimoire together to enhance their spells and imbue their weapons. Also, they can turn enemies into fuzzy little animals, which is just hilarious.
Spellshots are all about combining Spells with Guns. Able to equip two Spells, their Spellweaving ability increases Spell Damage and Fire Rate as they cast spells or reload, allowing them to seamlessly cycle between different methods of dealing damage. When enemies get too rowdy, their Polymorph ability can take an enemy out of the fight by transforming them into a harmless skeep.
The Spellshot turns an enemy into a Skeep for a few seconds. If the enemy is immune, the Spellshot instantly casts a free Spell on that enemy and gains two free stacks of Spellweaving.
While Polymorph is active, any player that damages the skeep has a chance to cast a free spell. This effect is guaranteed the first time the Fatemaker deals Gun Damage. If the Spellshot casts a free spell this way, they gain a stack of Spellweaving.
When confronted with a problem, a Brr-Zerker's first instinct is to turn it into a popsicle and punch their way to a solution. Brr-Zerkers are hardy warriors who hail from the frozen mountains, with a long line of ancestors who trained their bodies to withstand and even harness the bitter cold of icy winters. In battle, Brr-Zerkers prefer to do their fighting up close and personal, taking point on the front lines as a whirling maelstrom of exceptionally chilly death.
Brr-Zerkers are specialists of Melee and Frost damage. The Brr-Zerker's otherworldly powers allow them to become Enraged via their Action Skills, channel the power of Frost through weaponry so that they may Freeze and shatter their enemies, and manifest an arsenal of raw destructive force. Brr-Zerkers are even able to channel their bloodthirst by leeching life from fallen foes using a dash of occult magic.
The Fatemaker spins, slashing anything nearby with their melee weapon and essentially becoming a pain tornado. Grants increased Movement Speed and Slow Immunity for a duration.
A portion of the Fatemaker's Ward is Reserved and cannot be restored, but their Maximum Health is increased by a percentage of the reserved amount. Health can no longer be Reserved.
If the Fatemaker damages an enemy while in Save Your Soul, its duration is extended. The amount extended decreases over time.
Killing an enemy while in Save Your Soul will cause the Fatemaker to become Enraged.