Since her arrival at USC in 1998, Dr. Di Cecco has created new courses on French and Québécois Literature and Culture, Children's Literature and Contemporary Women's Writing. Her primary research interest is constructions of female adolescence in literature and film. Her book-length study of novels written by women for adolescent girls, Entre femmes et jeunes filles. Le roman pour adolescentes en France et au Québec (Montréal: Les éditions du remue-ménage, 2000) was nominated for the "Prix de la Critique" at L'Institut international Charles Perrault, Eubonne, France. More recently, she edited a volume of essays on representations of female adolescence, Portraits de jeunes filles. L'adolescence féminine dans les littératures et les cinémas français et francophones (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2009). Dr. Di Cecco has published articles in such journals as Canadian Children's Literature, Essays on Canadian Writing, French Literature Series and The French Review. Her forthcoming publications in Cahiers Robinson and in La littérature pour la jeunesse et les études culturelles: théories et pratiques (Eds. L. Guillemette and C. Le Brun, Quebec: Nota Bene, 2011) examine contemporary trends in novels for girls published since 2000 in France, England, Anglophone and Francophone Canada, and the US, which is also the topic of her current book project.