Areas of Expertise
French language, French literature, French culture, medieval French literature
Education
Ph.D., French Literature, Tulane University, 1994.
M.A., Romance Languages, University of New Orleans, 1989.
B.A., Magna Cum Laude (Judaic Studies), Newcomb College of Tulane University (including Junior Year Abroad at Hebrew University, Jerusalem,
Israel), 1976.
Biography
Shira Schwam-Baird is a Professor of French in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. She acquired her Ph.D at Tulane University in 1994. Her speciality is medieval French literature, particularly of the late Middle Ages. She teaches French language and culture classes at all levels, and literature classes both in French and in English translation. She also organizes the Strasbourg French Language Study Abroad program.
Dr. Schwam-Baird's current primary research project is the edition and translation of a Franco-Italian medieval epic, Huon d'Auvergne in collaboration with Dr. Leslie Zarker Morgan.
Awards
The list below includes development work:
Granted sabbatical for academic year 2010-2011
Granted funding from UNF Transformational Learning Opportunities program to offer scholarships for the French Language Study Abroad Program for 2006 ($8000), 2007 ($8000), 2008 ($10,000), 2009 ($10,000), 2010 ($11,000), 2011 ($11,000), 2012 ($11,000) and 2013 ($16,000)
Obtained donation from outside donors to award scholarships for the French Language Study Abroad Program for 2006 ($4000), 2007 ($9000), 2008 ($9000), 2009 ($6000), and 2012 ($2000)
Worked on successful proposals in 2007 to obtain major endowment donations to Department of World Language French Studies Program and Study Abroad: $100,000 Harriet LeMaster Scholarship Fund, $350,000 Cascone Family Foundation (shared with International Business program in CCOB)
Granted competitive full-pay sabbatical semester, fall 2002
Recipient of Academic Affairs summer research grant, 2002
Recipient of departmental summer research grant, 2001
Recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in a Summer Seminar for College Teachers at Princeton University under the direction of Dr. Karl Uitti, 1994.
Exchange fellow at Université de Strasbourg, 1991- 1992.Graduate assistantship and tuition scholarship, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 1989- present.
Graduate assistantship, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 1987 - 1989.
French government scholarship to summer study program in La Rochelle, France, 1989.
Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, 1976.
National Merit Scholar, 1972.
Affiliations
Modern Language Association of America
American Association of Teachers of French
Medieval Academy of America
International Courtly Literature Society
Société Rencesvals
Southeastern Medieval Association
Publications & Presentations
Articles
“Translation in the Late Fifteenth Century: Octovien de Saint-Gelais’s L’ystoire de Eurialus et Lucresse.” Medieval Perspectives 26 (2011 [2012]), 77-88.
"The Letters of Lucretia and Euryalus in Text and Image: An Illuminated Manuscript of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini's Story of Two Lovers." Medieval Perspectives 22 (2007 [2011]), 126-144.
"The Romance Epic Hero, the Mercenary, and the Ottoman Turk Seen through the Lens of Valentin et Orson (1489)." Medievalia et Humanistica 34 (2008), 105-127.
"A Husband to Her Liking: The Wily Saracen Queen Rozemonde in the 1489 Valentin et Orson." Olifant 26.1 (2007), 45-66.
"Terror and Laughter in the Images of the Wild Man: The Case of the 1489 Valentin et Orson." Fifteenth Century Studies 27 (2002), 238-256.
"King Arthur in Hollywood: The Subversion of Tragedy in First Knight. Medieval Perspectives 14 (1999), 202-213.
"Would a Courtly Gentleman Belt a Lady? Chastity Belts (and Knots) in Marie de France's Guigemar. Mediaevalia 22.2 (1999), 323-342.
"The Crucified Heart of René d'Anjou in Text and Image." Fifteenth Century Studies 25 (2000), 228-252.
"Sweet Dreams: The Pursuit of Youthful Love in Jean Froissart's Joli Buisson de Jonece and René d'Anjou's Livre du Cuer d'Amours Espris. Le Moyen Français 38 (1996), 45-60.
Books
Valentin et Orson: An Edition and Translation of the Fifteenth-Century Romance Epic. Tempe, AR: ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), 2011. 543 pp.
Adam de la Halle: Le Jeu de Robin et Marion. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1994. 153 pp.
