Five faculty members in the Department of French & Italian have been promoted, demonstrating excellent performance in teaching, service and research.
Dr. Kris Knisely is promoted from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor; Dr. Aurélia Mouzet is promoted from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor; Dr. Lucy Swanson is promoted from Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor; Dr. Catherine Vercruysse is promoted from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer; and Dr. Deborah Kaye is promoted from Senior Lecturer to Principal Lecturer.
Knisely, who earned his Ph.D. from Emory University, is also a faculty member of the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) Graduate Interdisciplinary Program and is a member of the Trans Studies Research Cluster (TSRC). His research considers gender and sexuality in the linguistic, socio-cultural and instructional dimensions of language learning. This entails asking how the linguistically and culturally situated ways that we perceive and embody gender enter into language education, what normativities manifest there, and how those normativities can be laid bare, upended and unscripted by language teachers and learners. Within this general frame, Knisely focuses on the culturally situated linguistic practices of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people who language in French, particularly as they can inform the development and articulation of trans-affirming language curricula, materials, research, training and pedagogies.
Mouzet received a Ph.D. in Francophone Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Western Paris. Her research focuses on the intersection of myths, religion, and politics in literature, theatre and cinema of the Black Atlantic. Dr. Mouzet's first monograph, published by Classiques Garnier in 2023, analyzes the flows of transatlantic cultural exchange between Africa and its diasporas as revealed by the devenir-mythe of Moses. She is currently working on a documentary film that investigates the impact of racism on communities of the black Atlantic.
Swanson received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines how historical narratives and political discourse are reflected in recent francophone literary and visual culture, particularly that of Haiti and the French Antilles. Dr. Swanson’s articles have appeared in Cincinnati Romance Review, International Journal of Francophone Studies, and SITES: Contemporary French and Francophone Studies. She is the author of The Zombie in Contemporary French Caribbean Fiction (Liverpool University Press, 2023).
Vercruysse received her Ph.D. in French literature from Michigan State University and teaches courses including Elementary French, Intermediate French, Written French in Cultural Context and Spoken French in Cultural Context.
Kaye earned her Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Arizona and her M.A. in Jewish History from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include nineteenth century Italian liberalism and Jewish corporatism.