FACULTY AT FRENCH SECTION
Benjamin J Palmer,
French Section Head
I have been employed at EMU since 1970, having spent three years as a Teaching Assistant at Northwestern University and one year in France writing a dissertation on the 18th-Century novelist, Crébillon fils. In 1980 and 1981 I was a Senior Lecturer in French and English at Song Sim College for Women in Korea under the auspices of the Fulbright Program. I spent the 1987-1988 academic year as a Visiting Professor of French at Mills College in Oakland, CA. From 1996 to 2004, I served as the Grievance Officer for the EMU-AAUP, after having undergone training in employee advocacy through the American Arbitration Association. While primarily interested in the literature of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, I participated in a retraining program beginning in 1978 in order to acquire proficiency in Business French. I teach language, literature and the language of business at all levels. My research interests are history, literature, and civilization of the Enlightenment in France.
My wife and I have five daughters, three who are Korean-born and two who are from China. We travel frequently, having visited France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico and the Czech Republic in the last several years.
345 Alexander Music Building
Ypsilanti, MI 48170
Tel. (734)487-408
Email: bpalmer@emich.edu
Geneviève M. Peden,
Professor,
Ph.D. in French Literature,
Dr Peden, a native speaker of French, received her Ph.D. in French literature from Michigan State University in 1989. She started her teaching career in the United States at Michigan State University as a teaching assistant in 1983, then taught at Dickinson College in Carlisle (PA) before coming back to Michigan in 1989.
Her research interests lie in 19th and 20th century French culture and civilization, and in 19th and 20th century literature. She is an active member of several state and national professional associations. Every year, she participates in a number of conferences where she presents the results of her research.
Since she has been at Eastern Michigan University, she has developed new courses to respond to the changing needs of the students and the curriculum. Teaching remains the most gratifying part of her job for her.
349 Alexander Music Building
Ypsilanti, MI 48170
Tel. (734) 487-1498
Email: genevieve.peden@emich.edu
Thomas Vosteen,
Professor,
I was born and raised in Medina, (Western) New York, where I attended high school. After college, I spent 25 years working intermittently as a French-English interpreter under contract with the U.S. Department of State. My duties consisted of accompanying French-speaking official guests of the International Visitor Program of the State Department and interpreting for them in their official meetings and also unofficially in everyday situations. Nearly simultaneously, I taught French intermittently, starting in 1967, at a number of colleges in Iowa and South Dakota until I finished my Ph.D. in 1990 and came to Eastern in 1991.
343 Alexander Music Building
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Tel. (734) 487-0191