Faculty and Staff

2024 Fall Term Courses:

FREN 101: MW 9:50-11:00 am; F 9:40-10:40 am
FREN 204: MW 11:10 am-12:20 pm; F noon-1 pm
FREN 210: W 3:10-4:20 pm
Office Hours: Sign up via my Google Calendar or by appointment

Éva Pósfay (Ph.D., Princeton University) teaches on French classics, Francophone Switzerland, diasporic literature, contemporary Paris, and transnationalism. She has published on 17th c. French women writers (Lafayette, Montpensier) and cross-cultural studies. Born in Venezuela of Hungarian parents and a so-called “global nomad,” she has directed several study abroad programs in Paris and Pau, France, and has been active in the cross-cultural studies program. Her current research focuses on multilingualism, border identities, the French chanson, the history of Geneva, and intercultural theory and practice.  In 2007-2011 she served as Associate Dean of the College. She was the mentor for Carleton’s 15th group of Posse Scholars and tutored Latinx students in the Northfield public school system. She will direct Carleton’s 2026 off-campus study program in Paris.

2024 Fall Term Courses:

FREN 101-03: MW 11:10am-12:20pm; TTH 10:45am-11:50pm; F 12:00pm-1:00pm
Office hours: W 12:30pm-1:30pm; F 1:15pm-2:15pm and by appointment

Sarah Anthony (Ph.D., University of Toronto) grew up in New Brunswick (Canada) and is of Mauritian and French descent. She moved to Minnesota from Quebec, where she worked at McGill University teaching French as a Second Language (FSL) conversation, grammar and writing courses. For the past 9 years, she has also been an active member of the APFUCC and CAN board of directors. Her research areas are varied; she is interested in FSL pedagogy and in contemporary French literature. She is the co-founder of the Inno-moti-vation pedagogical project and has also studied the relationship between text and dance. In 2021 and 2022, she co-authored two French textbooks and accompanying educator’s guides for a new collection entitled Odyssée published by CLÉ International.

Stephanie Cox: After years teaching literature and culture courses on Francophone North America, Stephanie has reduced her teaching in order to devote more time to her graphic novel projects. The focus of her research continues to be the representation of the under-represented, folks marked as Marginal by others. Her interest in human geography, art and cross-cultural perspectives come across in all of the courses, whether a Language course or her Argument & Inquiry Seminar “Growing Up Cross-Culturally.” Stephanie loves sewing projects focused on upcycling apparel and she delights in cooking and baking.

2024 Fall Term Courses:

FREN 101: MW 8:30am-9:40am; TTH 8:15am-9:20am; F 8:30am-9:30am
FREN 204: MW 12:30pm-1:40pm; F 1:10pm-2:10pm
Office Hours:

2024 Fall Term Courses:

FREN 103: MW 11:10am-12:20pm; TTH 10:45am-11:50am; F 12:00pm-1:00pm
FREN 236: MW 1:50pm-3:00pm; F 2:20pm-3:20pm
Office Hours

Chérif Keïta (Ph.D., University of Georgia) teaches Francophone literature of Africa and the Caribbean, as well as advanced languages courses. A native of Mali, he has published books and articles on both social and literary problems in contemporary Africa. His special interests include the novel and social evolution in Mali, oral tradition, and the relationship between music, literature and culture in Africa. He is the author of Massa Makan Diabaté (L’Harmattan, 1995) and Salif Keïta: L’oiseau sur le fromager (Le Figuier, 2001). He has completed a documentary film entitled “Oberlin-Inanda: The Life and Times of John L. Dube” (Special Mention at 2005 FESPACO) about the life of the first president of the African National Congress of South Africa and his education in the U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century. He has a number of concurrent film projects on American missionaries and missionary education in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Professor Keïta also leads the Carleton Francophone Off-Campus Studies Program in Mali. He navigated midlife pretty well by taking up documentary film-making in South Africa instead of buying his dream Harley Davidson.

2024 Fall Term Courses:

FREN 204: MW 9:50am-11:00am; F 9:40am-10:40am
FREN 350: MW 11:10am-12:20pm; F 12:00pm-1:00pm
Office Hours:

Sandra Rousseau (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University) teaches courses in contemporary French and Francophone culture, history, and memory. She has developed classes focused on visual media, pop culture, and more particularly on bandes dessinées. Her research interests include stand-up comedy as memory, humor and trauma, politics and ethics, and contemporary French pop culture. Her current project investigates the intersection of humor and memory in the context of Franco-Algerian relations. In her classes Sandra has set up timeline projects and collaborations with St Olaf.

She has recently published articles on francophone stand-up, on Algerian cartoons and censorship, and on Graphic novelist Nawel Louerrad.

Sandra is interested in supporting all students on campus and loves to welcome you to her office for an intellectual or a casual chat.

When she is not reading or writing, she is cooking for friends while listening to her favorite podcast: La poudre.

A native of France, Christine Lac (Ph.D., University of Nebraska) teaches language courses, stylistics, and culture. She coordinates the French language sequence at Carleton, managing the Tuesday-Thursday classes as well as training and supervising the Teaching Assistants. She has published articles on contemporary French women writers, nineteenth-century writers of children’s literature, and pedagogy. The Department’s representative to the American Association of Teachers of French and the ACTFL, she also supervises Carleton students interested in becoming licensed to teach French.  She has served as the national Treasurer of Women in French as well as Program Reviewer for National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Cynthia Shearer (A.B., Brown University, M.A., University of California, Los Angeles) is a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow who specializes in French language and contemporary culture. Her teaching interests focused on second language acquisition and advising students and faculty on self-access language learning. She was active in the formulation of several Mellon grant proposals to enhance language learning at Carleton through technology while she served as director of the Language Center. She has published work on language laboratory design, participated in numerous conferences, and held administrative positions in both the Midwest Association of Language Learning Technologies and the International Association of Language Learning Technologies.  In her free time she pursues a passion for origami, yoga, and garment construction.

Dana Strand’s (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) teaching interests include contemporary French literature, French film, and the culture and literature of North Africa. Most recently, her research has focused on questions of national identity in French and Francophone literature and film. Dana has published a book on the short stories of the twentieth-century writer, Colette, and co-edited a volume of essays entitled, “French Cultural Studies: Criticism at the Crossroads” (SUNY Press). She is currently working on a postcolonial study of the newly constructed Musée du quai Branly. Committed to interdisciplinary research and teaching, she has served as Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program as well as Director of European Studies. In her spare time, she enjoys theater, biking, and hiking, particularly along any available coastline.