Julia Caroline Knowlton

Promotion Review

Statement on Service

  1. Philosophy of Service

Balancing teaching, research and service is an inevitable challenge for any tenure-track or tenured faculty member working in a small, liberal-arts institution. I have met this challenge to the best of my ability since I joined the faculty of Agnes Scott in 1996; indeed, service demands necessarily increase post-tenure. Service to Agnes Scott College is an integral part of the mission of the faculty; this I fully respect.

  1. Committee Work

My curriculum vitae detail the various committees on which I have served since being tenured in 2002. I am dedicated to the Curriculum Committee, on which I am currently serving my second year in a three-year term. Since the curriculum is at the heart of our College’s mission, I have been pleased to help shape decisions that pertain to it.

  1. Service as Department Chair

Service as department chair is another so-called pillar of service at

any institution of higher learning. I willingly assumed my duties as chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures in August of 2005. At that time, the department was in a continued state of relative unrest as a result of an unwanted merger that pre-dated my arrival at ASC.

While, to everyone’s credit, there was no overt hostility, the lingering effect of the “arranged marriage” of French, German, Japanese, and Spanish continued to cause tensions with regard to academic policies and pedagogical outlook.

As a brand-new chair, I also confronted a significant difference of opinion within the department regarding the introduction of Mandarin to the curriculum. There was considerable resistance to this new initiative. I am proud to write that I was able to convince my departmental colleagues that the introduction of Mandarin was in keeping with national trends in foreign language-trends; indeed, we were behind the “pack” in not offering Mandarin. I approached this challenge by adopting a leadership style that emphasizes logic, impartiality, fairness, and compassion.

In 2006-2007, I began my second year of departmental leadership for the still-blended MFLL department. During that year, my major accomplishments as chair were 1) continuing to endorse the study of Asian languages at Agnes Scott and 2) shepherding the department through an “amicable divorce” with the help of Dean Zumwalt and under the direction of the new President, Elizabeth Kiss. Effective July 2007, the department was split into two: French/German and Spanish. Although all faculty members were in favor of the revised structure, there were important psychological nuances to our “good-bye.” I strive for a leadership style that takes into account such nuances.

In 2007-2008, I focused much energy on the newly identified Department of French and German. One of the initiatives for this new identity was a French-German film series in the spring of 2008. Regular study breaks for students with food from French- and German-speaking countries also contributed to our new identity. I am happy to write that relations with our neighbors in Spanish could not be more pleasant.

As chair of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures (2005-2007) and French and German (2007-present), I chaired the search for Assistant Professor Olivier Bourderionnet (2005-2006), visiting Assistant Professor of Susanne Wagner (spring 2007), and visiting Assistant Professor Julie House (spring 2008). I also oversaw part-time hiring and supervision/mentoring of part-time instructors in French, German, Japanese, and Mandarin.

  1. Program Director, French

I directed the French Program pre-tenure (2000-2001) during Professor Beryl’s sabbatical leave, and I have directed it consistently since 2004. As Program Director for French, my duties include:

* Mentoring junior faculty

* Hiring tenure-track faculty and adjunct instructors

* Extensive supervision of the annual <assistant> (teaching assistant)

* Hiring and supervision of work-study students

* Management of program budget

* Teaching observations of T.A., untenured faculty, and adjunct instructors

* Supervision of social/cultural programming (French club, etc.)

* Extensive advising re: study abroad

  1. Global Connections

My leadership role in the Global Connections program is the service role of which I am the most proud. My participation in this unique program has offered me much professional momentum and pride. I have led four international Global Connections trips:

1)Sole faculty leader, France/Switzerland, January 1998.

(eleven students)

2)France/Switzerland, May 2001. Co-led with Professor Michael Lynn. (twenty-five students)

3)Benin Republic, West Africa, May 2006. Co-led with Professor

Ojo (thirteen students)

4)France, May 2008. Co-led with Professor Michael Lynn. (eighteen

students)

As all who have led these trips know, the romance of international travel is off-set by the reality of being responsible for young, often naïve young women. My recollections from these trips form a mosaic, for which I would not trade a moment. From the sublime to the ridiculous, traversing continents with my students has taught me about what it means to teach to the whole person. From tending to a sick student at 3 am in her hotel room, to watching a student snap twelve photos of a grey, non-descript, rainy Paris runway—her first photo out of the USA—to wiping away a student’s tears due to homesickness, to translating endlessly from English to French: these are moments that I hope will imprint in my students’ lives.

The hardest moments: confronting the real need to repatriate a student from West Africa to the United States due to her inability to function psychologically on the trip. Also, literally having to carry a student from Avignon to Paris on the TGV (train de grande vitesse) (Knowlton/Lynn 2008). Such moments are offset by the gasps of appreciation when my students see the Roman ruins of Arles or the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It is my privilege to be present with them at these moments. Service as responsibility and privilege summarizes my overall approach to this component of my academic career.