Cristina Lombardi-Diop holds a joint appointment in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, and the Women's Studies and Gender Studies Program. Her career as educator and scholar has spanned over two continents. She was born and raised in Rome, where she completed her undergraduate education with an Italian laurea (Magna cum Laude) in Modern Languages and Literatures; she then arrived to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar to complete a terminal Master Degree in African and African American Studies at Yale University, before continuing for a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at New York University. Before being hired by Loyola, Cristina has taught at the American University of Rome, University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University.

Cristina is the recipient of two scholarly prizes (Yale University and Northwestern University) and two book prizes (Nonino Prize and the Prize of the American Association for Italian Studies). In 2014, she was nominated as finalist for the prestigious Premio di Divulgazione Scientifica awarded by the Italian Book Association.