Ratnoff also taught First-Year Studies in the fall and is teaching in the Gender Studies program. Her research interests have focused on questions of identity, feminist writing, and narrative theory. 

She came to Lawrence after a year as a visiting assistant professor of French at Kenyon College. She holds a Ph.D. in French from Harvard University. She earned a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in Paris and a bachelor’s degree with a double major in French and cognitive and linguistic sciences from Wellesley College.

We caught up with Ratnoff to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I say this at the start of each term, but I really view our class discussions as a long, ongoing conversation. A good conversation is never one-sided, mixes humor with seriousness, and sometimes goes off on a tangent. Conversations require generous listening, which means engaging sincerely with other people and remembering that we all share the goal of communicating something. Thinking about the work we do together with this framework seems to me to support many of the harder aspects of learning: admitting that we don’t know everything already, making the mistakes that force us to grow, situating our knowledge within the bigger picture of the world beyond ourselves. 

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at Lawrence that gets you the most excited?

I recently experienced Björklunden for the first time during the annual Language Immersion Weekend in January, and I can’t believe how lucky we are to have this Door County campus. In Spring 2026, I’ll teach a class called Nature and the New Novel (FREN 425). This course includes a number of guided and independent local fieldtrips to help us concentrate on depictions of the background and the environment in experimental novels. And I’m working to make Björklunden one of the sites of our fieldtrips.

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

First, a confession: I love mysteries. And while I currently can’t stop listening to Agatha Christie audiobooks, which have very satisfying resolutions, I am even more excited to read a book where the mystery can’t be solved. This was the origin of FREN/GEST 475: Is It Utopia? Feminist Francophone Fictions (offered alternately in French and in translation). Each novel we read in this class involves mystery and murder(s), but the murder is �Դdz���the mystery. Instead, it’s the protagonist who resists identification. As the story unfolds, the reader gets caught in a web of suspense, which is both frustrating and exhilarating. The ultimate focus of this course—the no-place of utopia—came out of discussions with students, who picked up on this keyword in the course description and ran with it. One of the things I love most about teaching is being surprised by what captures the attention of each group of students—it is always something new and different, which makes the mysterious texts we read together feel thrilling each and every time.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?  

When I was little, I wanted to be a paleontologist—Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History made a big impression on me as a 3-year-old. But in this hypothetical world where I am not teaching or writing, I think I would like to make things with my hands. I recently started dabbling in ceramics, which has been strongly encouraged by my friend Meghan Sullivan (assistant professor of ceramics and expanded media). There is something incredibly therapeutic about building something out of clay: your mind stays focused on the task literally at hand, and you have to let go of the idea of making something “perfect.” There’s an obvious and tangible transformation from the beginning to the end. The process is unpredictable, and sometimes mistakes you made (like when you didn’t thin out the glaze properly…) turn into happy, beautiful accidents. I have to say, this description also maps onto how I feel about my scholarly writing and creative side projects. So, I guess I’m saying, if I weren’t doing what I am doing now, I would still seek out ways to channel my creativity and to constantly keep learning.

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

I really like the John G. Strange Commons on the first floor of Main Hall. It’s a quiet and serene counterpoint to the foot traffic between classes and has lovely natural light for reading. 

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

Book: The Villain’s Dance, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, translated from the French by Roland Glasser (2020/2024). This was a 2024 finalist for the National Book Award for translation, and it follows a dizzying cast of characters from 1990s Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) into the diamond mines of Angola. It’s raucous, it’s a labyrinth, and I couldn’t put it down. 

Recording: Erykah Badu, “Window Seat” on New Amerykah Part 2. I’ve had this song on repeat since high school. 

Film: India Song, Marguerite Duras (1975). This film made such an impression on me as an undergrad. My professor told us that every time she went back to Paris, she would go see this film at the same tiny cinema every Friday at noon. The story is sentimental and lyrical, strange and haunting. The visuals are stunning. 

Gamalinda earned a Ph.D. in African cultural studies and a master’s degree in French studies, both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a bachelor’s degree in French language and literature at Amherst College. She was a 2021-22 Andrew Mellon Public Humanities Fellow and was awarded a 2019 Chancellors Pre-dissertator Fellowship at UW-Madison.

We caught up with her to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I learn something new every time I do whatever homework I’ve assigned for the class. I am always realizing something I’ve missed. When I was in college, I often felt like there was so much more I was supposed to be getting out of what I was doing, and sometimes I could only scratch the surface of things—especially if it was reading a book (really fast and late at night). I feel that I should tell students more often that this might just be how it goes, how it feels for right now. But if and when one of those things—a story, an idea, an image—cycles back around into your life, it can knock you back on your heels with how much more meaning you can find packed into it, especially thanks to how much you’ve grown since the last encounter. It’s an awesome experience, and it’s something to look forward to after the classes are all over.

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at Lawrence that gets you the most excited?

I am so excited to go with students to Senegal next Spring Term. I cannot wait to take Wolof classes—I love language learning.

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

On a more personal and intellectual level, I was surprised to realize that studying French became studying race and colonialism, and that in the end a lot of the questions that guide my research are ones I am asking myself about how to live and be in this world. I did not consciously pick French 101 in college because I wanted to know more about myself, but it turns out that the humanities, liberal arts, and cultural studies are awesome for drawing you into those kinds of questions, no matter what language or cultural context they’re in.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?  

I’d be running a yarn shop and café, knitting, spinning, crafting, and… probably still teaching (knitting).

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

The PQ stacks in the library—where all the French and francophone studies books live. Being overwhelmed by the number of books I haven’t read is really energizing.

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

A Tale for the Time Being (2013) by Ruth Ozeki: I laughed and cried and drifted in thought while reading this book. It’s “metafictional” and has the occasional footnote, which is totally up my alley, and was also the first book—I think—I read about a Japanese-American woman. It’s also written by a Japanese-Canadian woman.

Ctrl (2017 album) by SZA: Whatever reverb and mixing they did is perfection, and SZA is a vocal dream. The sound of the album creates a kind of physical space that feels so good. What better time to be twenty-something than when Ctrl was released.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) by Peter Jackson: It’s the movie I have seen the most times and for which I can quote the most lines (as in, all of them). It’s comfort food for sick days and holidays; I’ve watched it so many times with so many different people and it holds a lot of nostalgia and fond memories for me. The Two Towers is my favorite because we’re already in it and there’s no need to build conflict or resolve it; just crash through the thick of it for three whole hours.

Gamalinda earned a Ph.D. in African cultural studies and a master’s degree in French studies, both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a bachelor’s degree in French language and literature at Amherst College.

Gamalinda was a 2021-22 Andrew Mellon Public Humanities Fellow and was awarded a 2019 Chancellors Pre-dissertator Fellowship at UW-Madison.

Van Nguyen, economics

Nguyen earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Kansas and recently did independent research at the University of Paris 1 after receiving the Carol Drever Pimental Award.

Nguyen, who earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of Kansas, has research interests in monetary policy, open macroeconomics, inflation, and welfare.

Marcy Quiason, gender studies

Quiason comes to Lawrence from the University of Kansas after completing a Ph.D. in women, gender, and sexuality studies, with a concentration in political science (international relations and public policy).

Quiason earned master’s degrees in both political science and women, gender, and sexuality studies at Kansas, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Kansas in women’s studies and political science.

Whenever she felt stuck, Chamberlin would rely on the guidance and help of Hoft-March. Her knowledge, patience, and humor throughout the experience was invaluable, Chamberlin said.

And Hoft-March sang the praises of Chamberlin’s diligence.

“She was attentive to accuracy, register, aesthetic, and cultural connotations,” Hoft-March said. “For lovers of language, translation can be a banquet and a brain teaser at the same time. Claire knows all about both aspects of the art.”

At the end of summer, Chamberlin met with Privatt and passed along her work. Seeing that work then performed on stage was magical.

“The things that actors did with the words that I had written were incredible,” Chamberlin said. “I am so grateful that so many people put so much effort into it and made it so beautiful.”

Accompanied by Chang, the students will stay with host families and study at the Baobab Center while being immersed in local customs and languages and working on independent study projects over the course of 10 weeks. They’ll return to campus in early June.

Some of the students are French majors, but not all. Many are double majors, with French paired with global studies, biology, music, geosciences, and government, among others.

Participating students need to have completed French 202, just two terms beyond Lawrence’s language requirement, but otherwise the program is open to all, Chang said. They’ll speak French and Wolof languages while living, studying, and working in Senegal.

“They’ll be in a completely different space,” Chang said. “Mentally, culturally, linguistically, they’ll be pushed out of their comfort zone. It seems like students are more willing to do that now.”

. It’s a program that is on the docket every two years. But COVID interrupted last year’s plans, pushing it back to this spring.

The four students on the 2019 trip—Greta Wilkening ’21, Bronwyn Earthman ’21, Miriam Thew Forrester ’20, and Tamima Tabishat ’20— to continue their studies in the Wolof language. That sort of enthusiasm gets around, and partly explains this year’s numbers, Chang said.

“The last group went out and showed that you don’t have to be a French major,” Chang said. “You can be an environmental studies specialist and you can come back and say I navigated this, I wrote a paper and did a presentation, and I did weekly service-learning internships, all at the Ministry of the Environment. We had a biology student who did work in traditional medicine while there. It’s open to all disciplines.”

Chang and the students have been keeping an eye on COVID numbers, not only here but in Senegal as well. They knew if the situation took a turn for the worse, the travel plans could be halted. As of now, all is promising, Chang said.

“As we’ve followed the COVID numbers in Senegal, they’ve been doing very well,” she said. “They’ve been handling the pandemic well. Their numbers have always been much lower than here in Wisconsin.”

And after two years in the pandemic, Spring Term couldn’t come soon enough, Chang said.

“They’re going to have this new world opened to them,” she said of the 10 students. “And it’s going to help Senegal, too. They also have struggled. They’ve been closed down and are finally starting to open up to the world. Our friends are waiting for us there.”

Jonathan Bass knew he wanted to major in music in college, but he also knew he wanted a broad academic experience. He found what he was looking for at Lawrence, where he opted for the liberal arts college’s five-year double degree program. He’s pursuing a bachelor of music degree in music performance (piano) and a bachelor of arts degree in French.

“I’ve really, really enjoyed the journey so far,” said Bass, a junior who developed a passion for music while growing up in Door County. “I appreciate the wide range of opportunities that are available to me at the Lawrence Conservatory –I have taken lessons in both classical and jazz piano, played in multiple chamber music settings, played in a jazz combo, sang in choir, and competed in multiple solo piano competitions.

He recently settled on French as a second major.

“Fluency in the language would of course give me greater facility in my study of the French piano repertoire and, at some point, I would love to do a study abroad program in France,” he said.

As a high school student in search of a college, Bass said he was drawn to Lawrence in part because of the glowing recommendations he heard from Conservatory alumni. He also connected with a Lawrence music professor who gave him a vision of what the Lawrence experience might look like.

“I would occasionally run into alumni in Door County who would invariably praise their time at LU,” Bass said. “I had several friends from Birch Creek Music Performance Center, a summer music program in Door County that I attended for several years, who went on to study music at Lawrence. My piano teacher senior year of high school, Michael Coonrod at the Interlochen Arts Academy, spoke very highly of the Lawrence Conservatory and felt that it would be a good place for me.

“Perhaps most importantly, I had the opportunity in October of my senior year to play in a masterclass for Professor Michael Mizrahi, who is now my teacher. I had been advised countless times that in order to successfully major in music, I needed to find a teacher I could work well with. Playing in that masterclass made me think, ‘I could definitely see myself studying with this professor for the next few years.’”

That connection has led to something that Dominica Chang, the Margaret Banta Humleker Professor of French Cultural Studies and an associate professor of French, has never seen in her time leading the Lawrence immersion program in the West African country. Friendships blossom all the time during study abroad experiences. But this was different. Consider that all four of these students are now taking an independent study course with Chang during Fall Term to continue their studies in the Wolof language. That has never happened before.

“I reached out to Dominica about doing a Wolof tutorial just to continue learning Wolof,” Earthman said. “I mentioned it in a group chat, and then within a day everyone was like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”

Wolof is one of a dozen indigenous languages in Senegal, a francophone country with deep ties to France. While French is the dominant language, Wolof is spoken by many of the locals in Dakar, where the students were living and learning during their time abroad.

For the four students, the draw to continue with Wolof lessons this term comes from a place of shared passion, deeper than any of them would have anticipated when they set out on their study abroad excursion in late March. The time in Senegal created intellectual and emotional connections with the place and the people of Dakar, and all four said they wanted to embrace and build on that. And to do it together in Appleton, as a group, or unit.

“When Bronwyn proposed the Wolof thing, I was like, well, I already have 18 credits,” Tabishat said. “And they’re all saying, ‘I’m doing it,’ ‘I’m doing it,’ ‘I’m doing it.’ So, I adjusted my schedule because we don’t do anything with just three of us. I can’t just not. I had to justify that to my advisors. I said, ‘The other girls are doing it, and I don’t want to miss out because it’s just as important to me.’”

They now meet with Chang weekly for Wolof lessons in an independent study program designed to pick up where they left off when they departed Dakar in early June. Chang had accompanied the foursome to Senegal, teaching in the Baobab Center while there.

Celebrating the Wolof language was one of the students’ big takeaways from their time in Dakar. For 10 weeks, they met every day with instructors at the Baobab Center, learning terms and phrases and proper usage. They did their best to speak Wolof when greeting people at the market or in their neighborhoods, where they were living with host families. 

“It’s something we all value a lot and something we want to continue,” Wilkening said of the new studies with Chang. “For us, we learned it there and lived it there. It’s not just a language but more about how we communicated with our friends who we became so close to while we were there.”

The students gained the respect of Dakar residents because they made the effort to learn and use Wolof. Friendships grew from there.

“There’s that point of preserving something you started,” Tabishat said of her motivation to sign up for the independent study this term. “I think it’s partially academic but also emotional because we communicated with people who couldn’t speak French, which is the colonial language, so you had to use Wolof, and that’s such a deeper connection. In the market and other places, the reaction people have when you are able to speak Wolof is crazy. They are shocked, which is insane to me because French people have been there forever and yet they’re still shocked when you speak Wolof. It’s something we value because we value those people so much.”

The four students — they dub themselves the SeneGals on Instagram — come from different disciplines. Earthman is studying biology, Tabishat is in global studies, Thew Forrester has a double major in government and English, and Wilkening is in environmental studies. Each dived deep into an academic service project that related to their majors while in Senegal.

For Thew Forrester, that service project involved studying artistic identity and how government, politics, and language in Senegal interact with the pursuit of art and personal expression. That will now become a key focus of her graduate school studies, and she plans to return to Senegal to pick up on what she started.

The idea of going back wasn’t on Thew Forrester’s radar when she first arrived in Dakar. Not even close. She was more than a little anxious about the 10-week commitment, she said, having signed up only because she thought the immersion in the French language would help her in pursuit of a French minor. 

“I almost didn’t go,” she said. “I think now about what I would be doing, where I’d be if I hadn’t gone there and had that experience.”

Her SeneGals nod in agreement.

“I think all of us have a dream of going back at some point,” Tabishat said. “If possible, maybe together.”

Want to hear more from Earthman, Tabishat, Thew Forrester, and Wilkening? Tune in to the live ����vlog Giving Day webcast at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10. The four students will be talking with host Terry Moran ’82 about their Senegal experience.