Teaching Philosophy

I believe in making classes as connected to the real world as possible through visits to local francophone entrepreneurs in my French for Business class, visits by visiting francophone artists in my upper-level literature seminars, visits to ecological destinations in my ecological French literature class or explorations of our surroundings in my writing class. In 2015 I won a “Shining Star Recognition.” Student-nominated award for dedication in teaching, ODU (Fall, 2015); and in 2006 I was the Winner of  the Robert L. Stern Award for Excellence in Teaching (College of Arts and  Letters, Old Dominion University based on a five-year teaching period). I also love teaching graduate classes in GPIS and in Humanities. Directing Masters and PHD dissertations has also been so rewarding.                         

I believe in immersive hands-on learning outside and inside the classroom. Here is my Business French class visiting Lamia’s Crêperie
Here is my French Ecological Literature class visiting a local organic store
Here is our lovely study abroad class at UQUAM in Montreal with the amazing Dr. Djaouida Hamdi
Here we are with the brilliant Quebecois opera singer Soprano (cd Coloratures) Marie-Eve Munger who was performing at the Virginia Opera!

Here is my FR 312 advanced writing class exploring a bridge
Here is the great Quebec Sen rapper Webster visiting my graduate seminar Ghosts of French Colonization
So proud of my doctoral student Negar Moayed who defended her thesis on my birthday. It was such an honor to be her thesis director!