THERESA BROCK Theresa is a first-year Master’s student. For her undergraduate studies, she attended the University of Delaware, where she earned a dual degree in French Education and English Language Literature. Her principal interest is Renaissance literature, specifically works by female authors, as well as representations of women in literary works. In her spare time, Theresa enjoys swing dancing, cooking, and traveling. |
 |
BRANDY BROWN Brandy is a Ph.D. candidate in French literature. She completed her B.A. in French with a minor in Medieval Studies at Middle Tennessee State University in 2006 before going to Tours, France as an English language assistant. She earned her M.A. in French literature at Penn State in 2009. Her research interests include Old French epic and Arthurian romance, and her dissertation focuses on Arthurian interludes in Old French chansons de geste. She has presented papers at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan and at Nineteenth-Century French Studies. |
 |
CEDRIC BRIAND Cedric hails from Dijon, France, where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Langue et Littérature des Civilisations Étrangères from the Université de Bourgogne. Raised in Burgundy and spending much time in Brittany, he was influenced by the many medievalisms these environments provided and by celtic culture, gaining an appreciation for various cultural genres such as medieval literature, fantasy, gothic art, and Arthurian lore. His master’s thesis examined concepts of the masculine hero and its evolution from old epic to contemporary fantasy literature. Participating in exchanges with Brown University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led him to decide to pursue graduate studies in the American academic system. Here at Penn State he obtained a second Master's Degree in French Literature. His interests are related to medieval studies, gender studies and the theories of the hero. His current thesis focuses on the construction of Lancelot as a multi-faceted masculine hero in the Middle Ages. Cedric is also interested in psychoanalysis, French theory, and in the history and theories of pop culture, especially the bande-dessinée. |
 |
LAURA CALL Laura came to Penn State in 2006 after earning a B.A. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and a B.A. in French at Clemson University. She completed her M.A. in French and Applied Linguistics in 2008, after which she participated in the department's teaching exchange in Lyon. Laura is currently transitioning to literature and civilisation where her interests include French environmental history, philosophy and justice in 20th-Century literature, art and film. |
 |
CARL CORNELL A native of Connecticut, Carl comes to Penn State in 2012 as a first-year Master's student. He earned a B.A. in French and Francophone Studies at St. Lawrence University. Through St. Lawrence's study abroad program, he also spent an academic year living in Rouen, France and taking classes at the Université de Rouen. His research interests include French immigration, colonialism, post-colonialism, French and Francophone identity, and French immigration policy. |
 |
YVES GURCAN Yves is a second-year Master's student from the Université de Strasbourg. Raised near Paris, he moved to the South of France to earn his /licence/ in Langue et Littérature des Civilisations Étrangères and then decided to settle in Alsace. His research interests lie predominantly in dystopian and utopian literature (especially the works of Aldous Huxley) and 20th-century European modern art. Outside of academia, he greatly enjoys cheese, romantic and baroque music, going to the opera, and art postcards. He also worked for two years in a radio station from Montpellier as a host of a weekly show about theatre and a monthly show about Europe. |
 |
ZAC HAGINS Zac is an ABD student currently completing his dissertation “Visual Voices from the Banlieues: Twenty-First Century Photographic Reimag(in)ings of French Marginality.” His project focuses on photographic representations of the French banlieues since the 2005 nationwide civil uprisings. He earned his B.A. in French, B.S.B.A. in International Economics/Business, and M.A. in French from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. His research interests include immigration, race, ethnicity and national identity in contemporary France; 19th- and 20th-century French literature; Maghrebi and Sub-Saharan Francophone literature; and intersections of media, urban studies, and visual culture. He has recently presented papers on photojournalistic representations of the 2005 riots at the Western Society for French History’s annual conference, and on fin-de-siècle arguments for and against photographs as literary illustrations at the Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium. |
 |
HELENE HUET Hélène is a Ph.D candidate in French Civilization. Originally from Lille, she was a teaching assistant in Indiana in 2005-2006 and completed her undergraduate studies in English, with a specialization in American Civilization from the Université Lille 3. She also taught English for a year at a lycée and a primary school in France before coming to Penn State. In 2010 she completed her M.A. She has presented presented papers at Nineteenth-Century French Studies and Western Society for French Studies. She is now working on Decadent Literature, the History of the book and publishing, bibliophiles and "livres de collection". |
 |
SOPHIA KHADRAOUI
|
 |
JEANNETTE MILLER Jeannette is a Ph.D. candidate in Civilization. Her research interests include colonial and post-colonial immigration to France, memoirs written about the Algerian War for Independence and the experiences of Algerian immigrants living in France, and the French colonial empire and its decolonization. She spent the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years in Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and Perpignan conducting research for her dissertation, "Algerian, French, Rapatriés, Refugees, Immigrants? The Harkis and the French Post-Imperial Nation-State (1962-2008)." She earned her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.A. from New York University's Institute of French Studies. In her free time, she enjoys playing and watching tennis, listening to all kinds of music, watching foreign films, and visiting friends all over the US and the globe. |
 |
ANNA NAVROTSKAYA Anna is a Ph.D. Candidate writing her dissertation on performance and mythopoesis. Her research interests include performance studies, film, theater, myth, critical theory and philosophy of time. She is particularly interested in the artistic production in exile. She published an article on the development of the figure of Alexander Nevsky in Russian historiography and popular culture (Cahiers du Monde Russe, 2005) and has presented at MLA Convention, NE MLA Convention, Kentucky Foreign Language Conference and graduate student conferences on topics related to mythopoesis, film, city and historiography. Anna did her undergraduate studies at Kent State University, Ohio (in French and Archaeology). She earned her M.Phil in European Literature from the University of Cambridge, UK and continued to ABD at Duke University, NC before coming to PSU in 2010. |
 |
FABRICE PICON Fabrice Picon is a PhD student (ABD). A native of Provence, Fabrice has lived in North America for over a decade. He obtained a B.A. from McGill University in Langue et littérature françaises (Honours), and a M.A. from Vanderbilt University in French Literature and Culture (summa cum laude). Fabrice researches 20th Century intellectual and cultural history, with a focus on ethics, (anti)colonialism, journalism and resistance in post WWII France. Publications include: work on the Rwandan genocide; interviews with Noam Chomsky; and a study of Tzvetan Todorov's works. |
|
DENISE RODRIGUEZ Denise is a PhD student in French Civilization. She is currently working on her dissertation on the recidivists sent to the French colonial prisons (bagnes) during the end of the nineteenth century. The project is a study of the law on relegation of 1885, focusing on the personal experience of the French citizens who were deported to colonial territories and penitentiaries as a consequence of this measure. As a student at Penn State, she was able to work in Strasbourg for a year, and has spent this last year teaching at Lyon and traveling to Aix-en-Provence, where she has done a great part of her research. Before arriving at Penn State, Denise earned her BA in Foreign Languages from the UPR and a MA in French Studies from NYU. |
 |
SANDRA ROUSSEAU Sandra is a second-year P.H.d student. She arrived at Penn State in 2007 as the exchange student from Lyon II where she completed her master's degree in American civilization. She decided to stay at Penn State and completed a Master's in French Civilization on Guy Moquet: le devoir de mémoire?. Her research interests now focus on the roles that humor plays in the context of Franco-Algerian memory. In her free time, she enjoys music, photography and cooking. |
 |
STACY SHAFFER Stacy is a Ph.D. candidate in French literature. She came to Penn State in 2011 after completing her M.A. in French and Francophone Studies at Syracuse University. She completed her B.A. in French at Allegheny College in 2008 before spending a year in Strasbourg, France as an English language assistant. Stacy’s research interests focus primarily on 17th & 18th-century novels and the gaze and its representation. |
 |
SANDRINE SIMEON Sandrine is a fifth-year ABD student writing her dissertation. Born in France, she completed her undergraduate studies at Paris III and did her research for her Master's degree in cinema from Concordia University in Montréal. Endeavoring to experience the film industry first-hand, she played different roles behind the camera on several features in Canada. While Sandrine’s dissertation focuses on the various practices of filming theater, her research interests also include early modern literature and theatre, and the interactions between French cinema and culture. |
 |
ANDREW STAFFORD Andrew is a second-year Master's student. His interest lies predominantly in 19th-Century French Literature (especially the works of Gustave Flaubert...especially Madame Bovary!). Whenever he can find time, Andrew loves to escape to New York city to see a show or shop and just take it all in. |
 |
NADINE SWARTZ Nadine is a first-year PhD student. She earned her B.A. in French and English literatures at Elizabethtown College, PA. She received her Master’s from Middlebury College, studying both at their intensive summer program in Vermont and spending a year in Paris, where she studied at the Middlebury College in France and Paris III. Her research interests include 20th century French and Francophone literature, feminist theory, theatre and performance studies, and postcolonial theory. Outside of academia, she enjoys coffee, globe-trotting, and cooking. |
 |
JOHN TEEVAN John is a first-year student in French Civilization. He earned an M.A. and B.A. summa cum laude from the University at Albany in French. John studied abroad at the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne. His research interests lie in 19th and 20th Century French history. In his spare time, John enjoys drawing and traveling. |
|
GRACE THOMPSON Grace is a first-year Master’s student. She obtained a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in French and English literature in 2012. Her research interests include 19th and 20th century French and Francophone literature, and exploring how these areas intersect intravel literature studies. |
 |
LAUREN TILGER Lauren Tilger is a second-year Master’s student from Seattle, Washington. She earned her BA in Honors Foreign Languages and Gender & Women’s Studies from Scripps College in California. Lauren’s interests lie in French and Italian feminist theories, particularly their contribution to 20th century literature and the construction of the literary subject. |
 |
REBECCA WEINER Rebecca is a second year Master’s student in French literature. She earned her BA in French Studies at Smith College. Before coming to Penn State, she was an English language teaching assistant at three elementary schools in Parisian suburbs. Rebecca’s research interests lie in 20th and 21st century novels and poetry. In addition to literature, Rebecca enjoys studying French film and 19th and 20th century French painting. |
 |
