Dr. Susan Kenney

Biography

Susan Kenney received her Ph.D. in French from Rutgers University in 2020. Her dissertation, completed under the direction of François Cornilliat, explores the notion of hedonism in the spiritual poetry of Gabrielle de Coignard, a sixteenth-century poet from Toulouse, France. She earned a B.S. in French from Radford University, where she participated in various volunteer service projects in Belgium during her semester abroad in France. Kenney taught English as a teaching assistant in France, and she also completed her M.A. in Foreign Languages, Cultures, Literatures at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where she taught French to undergraduate students. Prior to her Ph.D., Kenney taught ESOL to Bhutanese and Haitian refugees in Virginia and has taught a variety of courses on francophone language, literature, and culture both in-person and online. In 2018, she received the Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences Award for Distinguished Contribution to Undergraduate Education. As an exchange student at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, she had the unique opportunity to assist as a coordinator for the Rutgers Summer program in Paris. Her research interests include poetry, pleasure, philosophy, religion, women's and gender studies, and pedagogy. Kenney is committed to continually exploring pedagogical approaches aimed at bringing linguistic, literary, cultural, and historical content to life for her students, fostering compassion, curiosity, and critical thinking.

Research Interests

Experience