Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison (1967)
Professor of French Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
Welcome to my home page on the World Wide Web.
This is an exercise in shameless self-promotion and ego-boosting. "Home pages are tombstones for the living."
I came to Vanderbilt in 1967 after two years at Antioch College in Ohio. My dissertation on the theater of Albert Camus was the beginning of a career-long interest in theater, not just as literary texts, but also (even primarily) as produced on the stage. Soon after my arrival at Vanderbilt I began the tradition of an annual production of a play in French by our department, and I directed the majority of our plays over the years. My major research interest has been the study of the popular theater movement in France's state-subsidized theaters since World War II.
I also taught occasional classes on cinema, not just on French cinema, but also on commercial film as an art form.
For many years I also worked in the field of computer-assisted language learning, producing educational software, consulting at other universities and helping to re-organize (as member of the Advisory Board) the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO). I was interim (for eight years!) Director of the College of Arts & Science's Language Laboratory (now called the Language Center).
Since my retirement in 2001, I have completed a short story and a study of the stage and screen adaptations of Octave Mirbeau's novel Le Journal d'une femme de chambre. Also, I have studied music theory and harmony and begun writing songs ... jazz, popular, country. More on musical endeavors (including samples).
E-mail: dan.m.church@vanderbilt.edu
Link to complete curriculum vitae.
Photo by C. C. Couch.