Professor of French & International Studies

Books

French National Identity in the European Union (in progress)

Issues and Methods in French for Business and Economic Purposes.  Dubuque, IA: American Association of Teachers of French and Kendall Hunt, 1995. 

Commercial French.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1982.

Summary of Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Cummins has published extensively in the area of business French.  Her textbook Commercial French (1982) was the first American textbook in this recently created field within French civilization.  She was among the first to prepare Americans for international exams of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, beginning in the mid-1970s, and her text has been referred to as a classic in reviews of later books.  During the 1990s she
chaired the American Association of Teachers of French Commission on French for Business, and she published Issues and Methods in French for Business and Economic Purposes (1995.)  Her recent articles and current research on business French have expanded to include France and the European Union and national identity issues within the European Union.  She teaches courses in business French that allow students to take the exams of the Paris Chamber of Commerce every other spring, and she does occasional consulting with local businesses and government agencies.  She also teaches courses on the European Union, and she includes in her contemporary French civilization classes components that focus on France’s role within the European Union.  She served as a VCU representative in hosting 2005 World Affairs Council programs on the European Union. 

Forthcoming article:

“Reform of Higher Education in France,” France in the Twenty-First Century Birmingham, AL:  Summa Publications, 2008.

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