Anne R. Larsen Appointed the
Lavern '39 and Betty De Pree '41 Van Kley Professor of French

Dr. Anne R. Larsen has been appointed the Lavern '39 and Betty De Pree '41 Van Kley Professor of French.

The Lavern and Betty De Pree Van Kley Endowed Professorship was established by the Van Kleys to recognize an outstanding teacher-scholar who exemplifies in personal and professional life the Christian values which have marked the Hope experience since the college's founding. The professorship is open to faculty from any department, with appointment for a four-year term.

"An endowed professorship represents an advanced stamp of approval on professors who have proven their worth to the academy," said Dr. James E. Bultman, president of Hope College. "A major initiative at Hope has been to secure more endowed professorships that will reward, recognize and retain some of our most distinguished professors."

Bultman noted that the college is grateful to those who, as through the Van Kley professorship, help provide an exceptional education for students by supporting talented and dedicated faculty. "It's a very visionary act and generous act for a couple or person to establish an endowed professorship that will ensure long-term quality teaching, scholarship and attentiveness to the mission of the institution," he said.

Raised in Zeeland, Lavern and Betty Van Kley each attended Hope for a year, with Lavern going on to Loyola School of Dentistry and a career in dentistry. They have been active in the life of the college for many years, and provided a leadership gift for the Van Kley Museum in the college's A. Paul Schaap Science Center, a biology museum that is a resource for the college in addition to being popular with school groups and children attending science camps at the college. In recognition of their involvement in the life of the college, they received the annual Second Century President's Award from Hope. .

Larsen has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1984. Her teaching interests include intermediate French language and culture; the myth and reality of Paris; French and Francophone drama; Francophone literature of Algeria, West Africa and the Caribbean; literary theory; early modern French society; and writings by French women intellectuals. Her research interests include French Renaissance and 17th-century women writers, and early modern French drama.

She is the editor of multiple books, including four collections of articles on early modern women writers and four volumes featuring works by Madeleine and Catherine des Roches, a mother and daughter who wrote in multiple genres in addressing issues of the day in 16th century Poitiers, France. She has also published many scholarly articles and book chapters, and more than 50 book reviews.

Larsen has presented papers at national and international conferences in Canada, France and the Netherlands as well as in the United States. She is active in professional associations including the American Association of Teachers of French; Société française des Etudes du Seizième Siècle; SIEFAR (Société Internationale pour l'Etude des Femmes de l'Ancien Régime), of which she is the U.S.-Canada treasurer; Renaissance Society of America; Women in French; Society for the Study of Early Modern Women; and Sixteenth Century Society and Conference. She is also currently on the editorial board of Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature.

National recognition of her work has included two year-long fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in support of her research, 1997-98 and 2004-05, an NEH Summer Stipend, as well as several NEH and American Philosophical Society travel grants to archives in France. She has also attended five NEH Summer Seminars and an NEH Summer Institute for college teachers. She received the 2008 "Roland Bainton Prize for Reference Works" from the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference for the book "Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England," which she co-edited, and the 2007 "Translation or Teaching Edition Award" from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women" for her book "From Mother and Daughter: Poems, Dialogues, and Letters of Les Dames des Roches." She has spent sabbatical leaves at Notre Dame, Harvard and UCLA.

She graduated from Hope with a French major and a Spanish minor in 1970, and completed her M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1971 and 1975 respectively. Prior to returning to Hope to teach, she taught for more than a decade at Colgate University and the University of Tulsa.

The new professorship reflects the college's emphasis on adding more of the professorships to recognize outstanding faculty members, along with providing them with funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support. The college now has a total of 20 endowed chairs for faculty and three endowed administrative positions, and is seeking to establish more.

Endowed chairs are established by donors who wish to assist the college on a permanent basis through the support of a faculty member. The gift is placed in the college's endowment fund with investment income used to support the work of the honored professor.

Learn more about establishing an endowed professorship