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Contacts • Faculty/Staff • Undergraduate • Graduate •
Courses • Study
Abroad • Language Media Center • Newsletter • Support Us
I am currently a second-year Ph.D. student but have been in the department since 2003, when I began taking coursework for my Master's degree. My research interests include francophone literature in general, and particularly la littérature québécoise, as well as ecocritical readings of texts. I chose to come to the University of Iowa for a number of reasons. First, the department has relationships with several universities in France and therefore offers excellent exchange opportunities. During the 2005-2006 academic year, for instance, I had the stimulating experience of teaching English at the Université de Picardie in Amiens, France. Second, the low professor-student ratio allows for maximum interaction with faculty. Finally, Iowa City itself is a wonderful place to live. As a university town, it has interesting cultural events every night of the week, and yet not fifteen minutes out of town there are beautiful state parks where it is possible to relax in a tranquil natural setting.
Marion Duval arrived at the University of Iowa in 2001 as an exchange student from Amiens, France where she has received a Licence in Anglophone Literature and a Maîtrise in Literary Translation. Rediscovering her love of French literature while outside of her native country, she decided to stay at the University of Iowa and start in the Master’s Program in French Literature. She is currently working on her dissertation in which she is examining the evolution of the portrayal of Nazis and collaborators in French novels dealing with the Second World War. When she gets the chance, she enjoys having friends for dinner, watching movies and practicing yoga.
Originally from Ohio, I came to the University of Iowa in August 2005 after having completed a B.A. in French and a B.S. in Biological Sciences (with a minor in chemistry) at Ohio University. I then finished my M.A. in French at Bowling Green State University which included one year of study at the Université François Rabelais in Tours, France. My Master’s thesis examined the role of libertinage in women’s education in the 18th-century novel. I then worked at the Université de Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France for three years where I also completed a D.E.A. in études anglophones. I am currently working on my Ph.D. My research interests include 19th- and 20th-century French literature, 20th-century Francophone (Algerian) Literature, 20th-century Franco-Algerian Immigration Literature, Second-Generation French Holocaust Literature and Image and Text.
Rebecca is a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of French and Italian, with a concentration in Francophone Studies. She holds a MA in French Literature (2006) and a BA in Political Science and French (2003), and an International Business Certificate (2003). Although she has experience teaching a variety of basic language and French culture classes, she most recently has taught a lecture course on the History of Paris at Penn State. Her interests are interdisciplinary, ranging from French Immigration Literature and History to Arabic language studies and Colonial/Post-colonial Politics.
I am a Ph.D. candidate currently writing my dissertation on Violence and Rebellion in Contemporary Algerian Women's Writing. I received a "Licence" in teaching French as a second language from the University of Soumâa, Blida, and a M.A. in French from the University of Iowa. My teaching experience in French includes language teaching at secondary and post-secondary levels, as well as specialized courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Recent courses taught: Short Fiction in France: The Nineteenth Century (in collaboration with Professor Wendelin Guentner), and French for Reading and Research, a course for graduate students in other disciplines. I am currently teaching Elementary French I, assisting Professor Ahmed Kanna, grading exams for a lecture course, The Middle East Today: A Social Inquiry. In addition to my teaching experience at the University of Iowa, I spent one year (2001-2002) as a Visiting Instructor at Illinois College. My experience as a French instructor also includes teaching students for the Upward Bound Project Summer Program (2006) as well as teaching in two elementary schools in Iowa City. My scholarly and teaching interests include the twentieth century French novel, North-African literature, postcolonial Algeria, cultural identity and diaspora, and Algerian women writers. I was awarded a Graduate Summer Fellowship and the T. Anne Cleary International Fellowship, both in 2005. I will present a paper in April 2008 at the annual conference of the African Literature Association.
My research interests focus on the 20th century novel and French cinema and film theory; most of my work is organized around questions of national memory/identity, the relationship between history and postwar French cinema, and gender studies. The French Ph.D program at the U of I was a logical choice for my graduate studies, because of the interdisciplinary program in Film/French that provides to its candidates a strong historical and critical background in both cinema and literature.
Sharon Meilahn Bartlett is in her fourth year of doctoral studies in French at the University of Iowa. She is currently working on a dissertation comparing gender identity at moments of historical trauma in Haitian and Algerian francophone literature. Although her current research focuses on gender, trauma, Haiti and Algeria, she is also interested in identity issues in Caribbean and African cinema and literature. She has published articles (under Sharon Meilahn-Swett) on Lebanese literature and French colonial cinema. She has taught a broad range of courses at the U of I and a course at nearby Cornell College. She hopes to combine her pre-graduate student experience in International business by teaching Business French before her time at the U of I draws to a close.
I received my BA in French from the University of Minnesota and my MA from the University of 
Iowa. I am now in my second year of the Ph.D. Broadly, my research interests include the novel, women’s writing, cultural production of the 17th century, and feminist theory. More specifically, I am interested in intersections between literary and architectural discourse. Recently, I have presented papers on Nicolas Delamare’s Topographical History of Paris and architecturalized subjectivity in Racine’s Britannicus and Phèdre. Currently I am working with Professor Meredith Alexander of the Theater Department to develop the script for a new adaptation of Molière’s Tartuffe that will be performed this spring. Since Fall 2006, I have volunteered at the Women’s Resource and Action Center as a group facilitator. Most recently, I co-facilitated Activate Your Political Voice, a group designed to encourage women to develop their political opinions and make their voices heard on political issues. This spring, I will co-facilitate a group to encourage discussion on the status of women in academia and university policies that effect mothers on campus. When I am not busy with academic work, I enjoy exploring Iowa City’s many parks and trails with my daughter, gardening, cooking, and sketching earthships.