Olivia Choplin
Professor of French in the Department of World Languages and Cultures
Department: World Languages and Cultures
Email: ochoplin@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-5815
Brief Biography
Olivia Choplin received her Ph.D. in French Literature with a Minor in Psychoanalytic Studies from Emory University in 2009 and joined ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ's faculty that same year. Her teaching and research interests include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as it relates to foreign language pedagogy, intercultural learning and study away, and alternative grading practices. In her discipline, her current work focuses on contemporary Québécois literature, literature of the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora, and French theater (from the farces of the Middle Ages to the post-dramatic theater of contemporary France). At ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, she served as an Associate Director in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning from 2021-2025, developing faculty in researched-informed and inclusive teaching practices while continuing to teach all levels of French.
News & Notes
Education
Ph.D. in French Literature (Minor in Psychoanalytic Studies), Emory University 2009.
Dissertation: “Staging the Psyche: Representing the “Other Scene” in the Theater of Michel Tremblay, Marie NDiaye, and Wajdi Mouawad”
Diplôme d’Études Approfondies in Identités Linguistiques, Images Nationales et Transferts Culturels. Université de Nantes, 2003.
Thesis : « Silence : Le mot, le concept, et la mise en scène dans le théâtre de Tennessee Williams et de Michel Tremblay »
Maîtrise de Lettres Modernes, Université de Nantes, 2002
Thesis : « Du Refus global au réalisme magique :« PLACE A LA MAGIE ! » dans les Chroniques du Plateau-Mont-Royal de Michel Tremblay », mention très bien
B.A. in French and English, summa cum laude, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, 2000.
Publications
Choplin, O. “Making the Invisible Visible to Our Students: Reading Marie-Célie Agnant within a Social Justice-Oriented French Curriculum.” Québec Studies, Québec Studies Volume 79, summer 2025.
Choplin, O., Ford, E. “Student-Faculty Partnerships as Intercultural Encounters: Co-Constructing the Pathways to Global Learning” with Emily Ford, Frontiers: the Journal of Study Abroad, Volume 36, No. 1, 2024.
Vandermaas-Peeler, M., Choplin, O., Doehler, K., Sturgill, A., Namaste, N., Buckmaster, M.“The “Authentic” Me: New Understandings of Self and the World as a Result of Global Learning Experiences” Teaching and Learning Inquiry, Volume 9, No. 2, 2021.
“Remembering and Forgetting the Duvaliers,” Journal of Haitian Studies (Spring 2019).
“Traces of Trauma in Wajdi Mouawad’s Forêts.” The French Review. Volume 91, No. 4, 2018.
“French Theater in Production: Lessons from an Intensive Course.” The French Review, Volume 88, No.2, December 2014.
“Staging the Structure of Traumatic Experience in Michel Tremblay’s A toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou.” American Review of Canadian Studies, Volume 44, Issue 1, 2014.
“Où placer les bombes ? Art and Violence in Wajdi Mouawad’s Le sang des promesses” Québec Studies Volume 54, Fall 2012/Winter 2013.
“The Playwright’s Autre Scène in Michel Tremblay’s Le vrai monde?” French Forum, Volume 34, No.2 (2009).
Presentations
Selected recent presentations include:
“Lessons from the Field: Sustaining Peer Mentoring Programs Through Faculty, Staff and Student Collaboration” with Krista Craven, Diana Gregory, Gabriel Kwek, and Margarita Safronova. Center for Engaged Learning Conference, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, NC, June 2025.
“Assessing Peer Mentoring Programs through a Social Justice & Student-Centered Framework: A Comparative Study from Canada, Singapore, and the United States,” with Diana Gregory. SoTL Commons, Savannah, GA, February 2025.
“Transformative Learning for Faculty: A Collaborative Approach to Fostering Faculty Development in Inclusive Pedagogies,” (Poster, with co-authors Jill McSweeney & Jennifer Uno), SoTL Commons, Savannah, GA, February 2025.
“Fostering a Culture of Pedagogical Progress and Care,” (with Sophie Adamson, Kristina Meinking, Scott Windham), Society for Research on Higher Education, The Value of Dialogue for Learning, Teaching and Assessment, Zoom, February 2025.
“Quand la littérature fait tomber des murs: Vers une pédagogie solidaire en conversation avec Marie-Célie Agnant,” American Council for Québec Studies Biennial Colloquium, Québec, Canada, October 2024.
“Using a MOOC to Create Multiple Points of Entry for DEI Faculty Development” with Carla Fullwood, Jill McSweeney and Jennifer Uno, International Consortium of Educational Developers Conference, Nairobi, Kenya, June 2024.
: “Student-Faculty Partnerships for Co-Constructing Learning,” Podcast guest (2024).
: “Demonstrating Knowledge Using Oral Assessments” – Podcast Guest (2023).
“Intercultural Learning via the Study of Québec in an Intermediate French Course,” American Council for Québec Studies Biennial Colloquium, Baltimore, MD. October, 2022.