Congratulations to Dr. David Harrison, Professor of French at Grinnell College, who was enthusiastically elected Executive Director of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies (SE17). He will serve as Executive Director-Elect in 2025 and, at the start of 2026, will succeed Katherine Dauge-Roth, Associate Professor of Francophone Studies at Bowdoin College, who has led the Society since 2005.
An accomplished scholar of 17th-century French literature whose interests range from Saint-Simon’s Mémoires to Madame de Villedieu’s narrative fiction, David has also recently co-authored the award-winning translation and bilingual pedagogical edition of La Princesse de Clèves (Lever Press, 2022; co-authors: Hélène Bilis, Jean-Vincent Blanchard, and Hélène Visentin), for which he translated the English edition and provided several critical essays. In addition to his publication record and areas of expertise, David also brings to this role a wealth of experience in university administration, having served as department chair and as the Director of the Center for International Studies at Grinnell. David's aim, in his own words, is to rekindle “the delight that we find in the objects of our study” and to ”make SE17 the site for celebrating such pleasure and nourishing the friendships that develop out of it.”