Professor Bill Marshall, Professor of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at Stirling, has been appointed Director of the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study.
Professor Marshall began his part time Directorship on 1 September and will be on secondment to the School of Advanced Study for two years. He says: “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to contribute to the development and support of our modern languages disciplines in all their diversity.
“I will seek to encourage and enable collaboration, including joint research applications, between subject areas at Stirling and the ten Institutes in the School of Advanced Study."
Bill Marshall’s first degree was in French with Spanish at the former Westfield College, University of London, before going on to postgraduate study in Paris and Oxford. He taught for 16 years at the University of Southampton before taking up a Chair in Modern French Studies at the University of Glasgow and, in 2008, a Chair in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at Stirling.
Professor Marshall’s research interests lie on the interface of culture and politics in the French speaking world since 1900. He has written extensively on French and Francophone cinema, on Quebec and on issues of gender and sexuality. His recent work has contributed, via the idea of ‘the French Atlantic’, to reformulations of the field of French and Francophone Studies.
Professor Roger Kain, Dean and Chief Executive of the School of Advanced Study, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to make such an excellent appointment. Professor Marshall brings with him a wealth of contemporary knowledge and experience, which will prove an invaluable asset as the Institute continues to evolve and prosper.”
Professor Douglas Brodie, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, says: “Bill Marshall is a highly accomplished scholar and I am delighted that his talents have been recognised through this appointment. Stirling’s excellent reputation for the study of languages will be enhanced as a result.”