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French Graduate Program at UConn

The Program in French and Francophone Studies offers degrees leading to the M.A. and the Ph.D. in all periods of French literature and culture. The Program is designed to acquaint students with the diversity of French literary and cultural production within the contexts of European and world cultures. The Program has an interdisciplinary focus, involving faculty with specializations in literary theory, psychoanalysis, philosophy, feminism, cultural anthropology, and discourse analysis, as well as related fields such as film, media and the visual arts, and gender and cultural studies. The Program also has a vigorous language and pedagogy program leading to certification for secondary school teaching. Admission is competitive, and qualifying graduate students are financially supported as teaching or research assistants.

Master's Degree

Students are expected to complete 24 credits in French, with 6 additional credits of courses in literary theory and critical methodology. Courses involving cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives, and francophone literature are also part of the curriculum. Each student works closely with a three-person committee, chosen by faculty in consultation with the student. Students may substitute a thesis -- on a topic not previously submitted -- for one course, but all students must successfully pass the Master's exams.

Doctoral Degree

Students must complete 48 credits (24 beyond the Master's) in French, with 6 additional credits of courses in literary theory and critical methodology. (If a student has already completed the course in theory and methodology, he or she may take additional courses in comparative cultures and literatures). Courses involving cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives, and francophone literature are also part of the curriculum. Students must pass a proficiency exam in Latin and in a second foreign language, or in two foreign languages other than French. The proficiency exam may be replaced by a grade of B or above in a foreign literature. All students must pass general qualifying exams and write a doctoral thesis.

Graduate Contact:

French Graduate Program, U-57, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1057

Permanent Faculty:

  • Anne Berthelot :
    Education: Doctorat ès Lettres, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, 1987
    Areas of Expertise: Medieval French language and literature, Medievalism, Québec Studies
  • Roger Célestin :
    Education: D.E.A. Sorbonne, University of Paris IV, 1981; Ph.D. Graduate Center, CUNY 1989
    Areas of Expertise: 20th Century French Literature and Culture, the French Enlightenment,
    Theory and Criticism, Travel Literature, Film
  • Eliane DalMolin :
    Education: Ph.D. Cornell University, 1991
    Areas of Expertise: French Cultural Studies, Poetry, Cinema, Feminism, Psychoanalysis,
    Contemporary France, Comparative poetics, Creative writing
  • Solange Guénoun :
    Education: Ph.D. Princeton, 1980
    Areas of Expertise: Seventeenth century French literature, Theory and Criticism, Psychoanalysis
  • Lucy McNeece:
    Education: Ph.D., Harvard University, 1985
    Areas of Expertise: 20th Century French and Francophone literature, Film and Film Theory,
    Comparative literature
  • Valerie Saugera:
    Education: Ph.D. Indiana University, 2007
    Areas of Expertise: Language Contact, Sociolinguistics, Pedagogy
  • Jennifer Terni Education: Ph.D. Duke University, 2006.
    Areas of expertise: 19th Century French Literature and Culture; Theory and Criticism; Visual culture

Distinguished Visiting Faculty & Guest Lecturers

The Program regularly hosts visiting faculty in a variety of fields, as well as French and Francophone writers, either as guest lecturers or as visiting professors for several months.

Recent visitors have included Jean-Yves Pouilloux (Paris VII), Mary Ann Caws (CUNY), Henri Mitterand (Columbia University), Aminata Sow Fall (CAEC, Dakar, Sénégal), Abdelwahab Meddeb (Tunisia), Françoise Gaillard (Paris VII), Ambrose Kom (Cameroun), Vladimir Krysinski (University of Montréal), Jacques Rancière (Paris VIII), Gaëtane Lamarche-Vadel (Ecole des beaux arts, Dijon), Judith Feher-Gurewich (Harvard) and Gérard Dessons (Paris VIII).

Among the writers who have spoken here are Annie Ernaux, Maurice Dantec, André Velter, Michel Houellebecq, Pierre Michon, and Leïla Sebbar.