Ciani’s commitment to offering educational experiences about the history of women and children breaks through the boundaries of the traditional classroom. Ciani is a member of the Women’s Studies faculty and serves on its Programming Committee in addition to being a mentor with the university’s Women’s Mentoring Network. She also has served as the co-advisor of ISU’s student organization, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA). The group was extremely active on campus last year by organizing a Get Out and Vote! campaign, Take Back the Night event, Clothes Line Project exhibit, and a Vagina Monologues production that donated proceeds to Planned Parenthood, Neville House, and YWCA’s Stepping Stones program. Each of these activist events reached beyond the ISU campus to connect with the larger community. “In Women’s Studies, I see positive movements forward in connecting students with resources (academic and personal) and I like the fact that it is not a passive program but one which teaches students to be self sufficient, self reliant and responsible community learners.”  

For Ciani, one of the most rewarding teaching moments is when history education students take the knowledge they have acquired in seminars into their own classrooms upon their graduation. “I’ve really enjoyed working with students in the Senior Seminar, who research and write a 20-25 page primary research paper for their capstone experience.” Ciani encourages her students to publish their papers in the history department’s journal, Recounting the Past, or present them at The Women’s Studies Symposium, which is held each spring. “[It] provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn presentation skills in an environment that nurtures their scholarship.”

After completing her B.A. in History, Ciani worked as the Associate Director for the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation of San Diego County. During this experience, she realized that although violence against women and children was a widespread social problem, most people, including herself, knew little about the historical foundations of domestic violence and child abuse. Ciani began her graduate studies with the intention of becoming “a more effective policy maker” but soon found that she enjoyed and felt most comfortable in the classroom environment, which encouraged her to pursue her Ph.D. at Michigan State University under the direction of Professor Lisa Fine, a specialist in labor and women’s history.

Ciani’s doctoral program of study focused on the intersections of social welfare policy, labor history, and family history. “I feel fortunate that I had the experience with the Child Abuse Foundation because I have a sense of what authorities and advocates were hoping to accomplish when they asserted regulations in certain families.”

Ciani’s current research focuses on childcare programs established in San Diego from the late nineteenth century through the close of World War II and is sure to be an important contribution to scholars and students studying aspects of the histories of women’s, children, and labor. “Because San Diego sits on the largest international border, I assess how border relations with Mexico influenced the kinds of programs offered to families in the area,” Ciani said. “I study people who often fell on difficult times and had to face decisions that would separate them from their children for months and years. Sometimes the court system deemed these families to be deviant and pulled the children from the home.”

Both Ciani and her husband, Doug Cutter, an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Government, are involved with student life on the ISU campus by serving as dorm floor mentors. Ciani and her family, which includes her seven year-old daughter and her fourteen year-old dog, enjoy hikes and walks at the Parklands Nature Conservancy area and a good game of Frisbee golf. Ciani takes refuge in her flower and vegetable gardens in addition to her volunteer work with her daughter’s school and the YWCA Stepping Stones program. 

Ciani received her B.A. (1981) and M.A. (1991) in history from the University of San Diego. In 1998, she earned her Ph.D. in history from Michigan State University. After teaching at the University of San Diego, Ciani joined the ISU faculty in 2001.