Faculty & Staff

headshot of Dr. Kathrin M. Bower

Professor and Coordinator of German Studies

Interim Chair, LLC


Specialties:
  • East/West German Relations
  • German Cultural Studies
  • German Film
  • Holocaust Representation
  • Political Satire
  • Turkish German Comedy
Contact:
804-287-6060

Visiting Assistant Professor Italian Studies


Specialties:
  • Dante & Italian Medieval Literature and Culture
  • Decolonial Theory in the context of Italian film and literature
Contact:
(804) 289-8096
headshot of Dr. Julie  Baker

Director, French Intensive Language Program


Specialties:
  • French and Francophone Language and Culture
  • Language Teaching Methods
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Intercultural Competence
  • Medieval French Literature
Contact:
(804) 287-6817
headshot of Dr. Sonja  Bertucci

Assistant Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (Film Studies)

Contact:
headshot of Dr. Leslie  Bohon

Director of English Language Learning


Specialties:
  • U.S. Culture
  • Academic Writing
  • ESL Teaching Methods
Contact:
(804) 287-6305
headshot of Dr. Thomas P. Bonfiglio

Professor of Literature and Linguistics

William Judson Gaines Chair in Modern Foreign Languages

Program Coordinator, Linguistics


Specialties:
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Language and race
  • American dialectology
  • Historical linguistics
  • Linguistic relativism
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Comparative literature
Contact:
(804) 289-8102
headshot of Dr. Jessica Ka Yee  Chan

Associate Professor of Chinese Studies

Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator, Film Studies

Contact:
(804) 289-8096
headshot of Dr. Olivier  Delers

Professor of French


Specialties:
  • 18th Century French Studies
  • Film Studies
Contact:
(804) 289-8106
headshot of Dr.  Gengsong  Gao

Associate Professor of Chinese Studies


Specialties:
  • Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature and Intellectual History
  • Popular Culture and Modernity Theories
  • Technology in Foreign Language Education
Contact:
(804) 289-8096
headshot of Dr. Yvonne H. Howell

Professor of Russian and Global Studies

Global Studies Concentration Advisor: Cultures and Communications


Specialties:
  • Russian literature and culture
  • Czech literature and culture
  • Sociobiology in cross-cultural perspective
  • History of science (Soviet Union)
Contact:
(804) 289-8101
headshot of Dr. Kasongo Mulenda Kapanga

Professor of French

Africana Studies Advisory Board Member


Specialties:
  • Francophone Literature
  • Post-Colonial Criticism
Contact:
(804) 289-8104
headshot of Dr. Alaa  Magableh

Visiting Lecturer of Arabic Studies

Contact:
(804) 484-1643
headshot of Dr. Michael  Marsh-Soloway

Director, Global Studio


Specialties:
  • Technology-enhanced learning
  • Russian literature and culture
  • Linguistics
  • Intellectual history in the sciences
  • Translation
Contact:
(804) 287-6838
headshot of Dr. Natalie  McCauley

Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Studies

Contact:
(804) 287-6345

Associate Professor of French and Visual Culture


Specialties:
  • French literature, art, and culture
  • Art Criticism
  • Critical Museum Studies
Contact:
(804) 289-8109
headshot of Dr. Lidia  Radi

Professor of French and Italian Studies


Specialties:
  • Early Modern Studies (French)
  • Transnational Literature (Italian Studies)
  • Albanian Diaspora
Contact:
(804) 289-8110
headshot of Dr. Françoise  Ravaux-Kirkpatrick

Professor of French & Film Studies Emerita, Co-Director, Annual UR/VCU French Film Festival


Specialties:
  • Contemporary French literature and culture
  • French film
  • Semiotics
Contact:
(804) 289-8115
headshot of Dr. Hilary C. Raymond

Visiting Lecturer of French

Contact:
(804) 287-6377
headshot of Dr. Anthony  Russell

Associate Professor of English and Italian Studies

Coordinator, Italian Studies Program


Specialties:
  • Renaissance Studies
  • Comparative Literature (English, Italian, French)
  • Shakespeare
Contact:
(804) 289-8294

Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies

Contact:
(804) 289-8096
headshot of Mr. Akira  Suzuki

Director, Japanese Language Program

Contact:
(804) 289-8293
headshot of Ms. Gabriella  Valsecchi

Adjunct Professor for Italian Studies

Contact:
(804) 287-1893
headshot of Dr. Caroline  Weist

Associate Professor of German Studies


Specialties:
  • Performance in and of German-language literature
  • Theater and performance studies
  • Disability studies
  • Gender studies and queer theory
Contact:
(804) 289-8096