A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.
A white silhouette of a person against a light blue background.

Melissa M. Wittmeier

Lecturer

Bio

BA, 1987, Hollins University; Diplôme Supérieur, 1987, Sorbonne; MBA, 1991, UC Berkeley; MA, 1995, Stanford University; MA, 1997, Duke University; Ph.D., 2000, Stanford University. Conferences: (Various Societies for literature and history) Galvaston, TX, 2014; Cambridge, MA, 2013; Portland, OR, 2012; Graz, Austria, 2011; Charleston, SC, 2011; Oxford, England, 2010; Davos, Switzerland, 2010; Lafayette, LA, 2010; Boulder, CO, 2009; Richmond, VA, 2009; San Francisco, CA, 2008; Oklahoma City, OK, 2008. Publications: Various Thoughts on the Education of Youth in 1715, 2015; Delphine Gay, Mme de Girardin, le Vicomte de Launay: A Monograph of the Muse, 2010; "The Eighteenth-Century Emigrant, Crossing Literary Borders", L'Erudit Franco-Espagnol, Fall, 2012; "The Art of the Table in Eighteenth-Century France", Western Society for French History Proceedings, 2012; "Wittmeier on Gill", H-France Review (of Eccentricity & the Cultural Imagination in Nineteenth-Century France, by Miranda Gill) Vol. 11, March 2011, No. 80; "Madame le Professeur: Her Own Worst Enemy?" Journal of the World Universities Forum, Vol. 3. Illinois: Common Ground Publishers, 2010. Awards: Consulate of France, 2011; NURG, 2008; NAAG, 2007; 7 teaching awards since 1996.

Personal Statement

Melissa Wittmeier is happy to have joined the vibrant community at the SAIC in 2016. Teaching French has long been her passion, as has French history and literature. Much of Professor Wittmeier's recent work outside of the classroom lies in the eighteenth century, and focuses on the history of social and political thought. She has a strong interest in the history of mentalities and social choice theory, a topic that is as vital today as it was three hundred years ago. Professor Wittmeier enjoys bringing historical and cultural perspectives into the classroom to explore the connection between language and culture. Professor Wittmeier is also an assistant editor of the Journal of the World Universities Forum.

Courses

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