Bio

Dr. Suzanne LaLonde, assistant professor of French, holds a Ph.D. in French Language and Literature from the University of Maryland ’01 and studied at the Université de Strasbourg, France and at the Universität München, Germany as part of her graduate career.  She works broadly on the intersection of literature, philosophy, and psychology.  Her central research interests include feminine psychology, existentialism, and the 20th century French novel.  She has also done research

in broader fields of the humanities and feminism and has written refereed articles and delivered talks at the Modern Language Association’s meetings (’05 and ’06) and at the World Humanist Conference in Paris ’05  about these subjects. Recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities award (’06-’07) to conduct research on Latin American Philosophy, she delivered a talk at the annual American Philosophical Association meeting on Latin American Feminists.  Her newest area of research interest revolves around the intersection between art, literature, and science, and she spoke about Darwinism, Intimate Literature and Self-Portraiture in 19th century France at the ’07 MLA conference.

Her teaching revolves around two areas:  language and culture.  She uses a “total physical response” approach to engage students in role-playing and to insure that vocabulary and grammar are drilled in meaningful ways.  The excellent Multimedia Laboratory at UTB also affords students the opportunity to tap into the riches of French art, music, architecture, and literature, which are introduced through the web.  Outside of the classroom, students have the opportunity to practice their language skills in the French Club and to participate in the UTB sponsored study abroad program in France, which takes place during the summer.  As lead faculty advisor of the Paris program, Dr. LaLonde teaches Intermediate and Advanced French and a class entitled: “French Culture and Critical Thinking in Art,” which takes place at the museums of Paris.  Finally, as a recent addition to the graduate faculty, she teaches graduate level Literary Theory.