Deidre Dawson
Professor Emerita
Highlights
Ph.D. In French Literature, Yale University
Maîtrise de Lettres Modernes (M.A.), Univérsité Paul Valéry Montpellier III
Licence de Lettres Modernes (B.A.) Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier III
Biography
Deidre Dawson came to RCAH with a background in French and Francophone literature and culture and Enlightenment Studies, and is honored to have been one of the founding faculty members of the college. In addition to serving as Language Proficiency Coordinator for the first few years of the college, Deidre was faculty advisor for the study abroad program “African Studies in Senegal.”
Deidre designed several courses for the RCAH curriculum including The History and Practice of Letter-Writing, Preserving Endangered Languages, and Linguistic, Cultural and Bio-diversity in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Her essay about the Tolkien course, in which she cited the work of several RCAH students, was published in the Modern Language Society's Approaches to Teaching Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Other Works in 2015. In recent years, Deidre’s essays on the French and Scottish Enlightenments and on Tolkien’s legendarium have been published in The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment, 2nd edition (2019), Tolkien and Alterity, (2017) and The Scottish Enlightenment and Literary Culture (2016).
She continues her commitment to education through serving as a tutor for the Temple Literacy Council, and as an interviewer of prospective students for the Yale Club of Austin.