Back to CV
Dr. Cummins teaches French language, literature, and civilization, as well as interdisciplinary courses on the European Union, intercultural communication, and Egyptian Civilization. Her current research interests focus on the European Union and its language, culture and education policies. She plays a leadership role nationally in the LinguaFolio pilot projects modeled on the European Language Portfolio and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Before coming to VCU in 2000 as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, she taught and served as Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Toledo (1995-2000). At SUNY College at Buffalo (1989-1995) she served as Dean of Arts and Humanities, and at Northern Arizona University as Chairman of Modern Languages (1984-89). At West Virginia University (1974-84), she achieved the rank of Professor (1983), and served as Associate Coordinator of the Honors Program (1979-80) and as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School (1981-83); she was designated twice as an outstanding teacher.
Her publications cover French civilization, language pedagogy, and medieval literature. Her textbook Commercial French, designed for international exams of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, was identified as a classic in reviews of later books. One of her articles in French Review won a Gilbert Chinard prize awarded by the Institut Français de Washington. She won the 1974 Holmes prize for her dissertation in medieval studies, and she was selected to talk before the Medieval Academy of America as a winner in the Academy's 1977 Competition for Young Scholars. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs designated her a knight in the Order of Academic Palms for her lifetime contributions. More detail on these and other contributions appear under her web cv.
Dr. Cummins has taught a wide range of courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. At VCU she teaches French language, literature, and civilization, as well as interdisciplinary courses on the European Union, intercultural communication, and Egyptian Civilization. At the University of Toledo (1995-2000) she both served as a Dean of Arts and Sciences and taught French language and literature, multicultural literature, and interdisciplinary courses on the European Union. At SUNY College at Buffalo (1989-1995) she taught advanced French language courses and served as Dean of Arts and Humanities. As a department chairman at Northern Arizona University (1984-89), she taught courses on business French, French for international relations, and advanced French language. At West Virginia University (1974-84), she taught a wide range of French language and literature courses as well as humanities courses and honors courses. While at WVU she served for a year as Associate Coordinator of the Honors Program and two years as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School , and she was designated twice as an outstanding teacher. While finishing her dissertation, she taught advanced language and medieval literature for 3 semesters at Lafayette College (1973-74). |
