MOUNT VERNON — Diane Crowder, a Cornell College professor of French and women’s studies, has been named the Richard and Norma Small Senior Faculty Chair for 2000-2002.
“Professor Crowder has been a very effective classroom teacher, maintained a highly respectable scholarly life and contributed regularly and conscientiously to our community,” said Dennis Moore, dean of the college, in selecting Crowder from among Cornell’s senior faculty.
Crowder’s plans during the two-year appointment include research on current topics in feminist theory and travel to the Francophone Antilles. She will receive a faculty development stipend and deliver a senior faculty lecture during the second year of the appointment.
Crowder joined Cornell’s French department in 1977. She co-founded the women’s studies program in 1984, taught the first courses offered and developed all the core courses. Her research interests are varied and include the French novel of the 20th century, with a major emphasis on fiction published after World War II; feminist theory, pedagogy, French feminist movements and feminist semiotic theory; feminist utopian literature; queer theory and gender theory. Crowder holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University and master’s and doctoral degrees, both in French, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The faculty chair was established in 1996 with a $1 million endowment from Richard Small, a 1950 graduate of Cornell and former chairman of Cornell’s board of trustees, and his wife, Norma. Richard Small is retired CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors of Tri-Star Aerospace Inc. in Tulsa, Okla. Previous recipients of the faculty chair have been politics professor Craig Allin and religion professor David Weddle.