Dr. Vanessa Borilot, Assistant Professor of French, is a native of the Guadeloupe Islands and has recently joined the Elizabethtown College staff. Those French-speaking islands are located in the Caribbean and are known for their rich literary history, which has resulted in many authors, poets and professors like Borilot. She specializes in French and Francophone, or French-speaking countries, literature and culture.
In 2005, Borilot applied to be a language assistant in the United Kingdom. After her application was accepted and she experienced another country for the first time, she was excited and nervous. After deciding that she could live on her own in another country, Borilot moved to the United States to attend graduate school. She received her master’s degree in French and Francophone Studies from the University of Delaware and her Ph.D. in French and Francophone World Studies from the University of Iowa. She chose to study and eventually teach in these disciplines, explaining why she liked that her curriculum focused on French history and culture.

“I always wanted to investigate and learn more about not only Gaudeloupe, but the Caribbean in general,” Borilot said. “In my graduate studies, I discovered other countries that shared the same history but had different stories to [tell].”
At Etown, Borilot teaches French 112, 211 and 370. Her classes are focused on the language and the situations that shaped it. She includes culture and history in her language lessons in order to teach her students the areas of the field that she felt had been left out of her curriculum in school.
Although Etown differs greatly from the University of Iowa in terms of size, Borilot has found that she is enjoying her time both in and out of class at Etown.
“I love the connection with everyone here,” Borilot said. “Iowa was big, but here with the small number of people, you get a chance to meet people, to really put a face to a name.”
In addition to teaching her classes, Borilot will be hosting French Table each Thursday from 3 p.m. until 4:10 p.m. in Wenger Hall. French Table will be a conversation-based meeting during which students can practice their language skills each week.
“It was important to me to get French Table up and running her very first semester here so that she could get to know our students, and vice versa,” Dr. Charla Lorenzen, chair of the department of modern languages, said.
“A conversation table is a great way to get to know one another while practicing the language and learning about both language and culture,” Lorenzen continued.
Although Borilot only started teaching at Etown in August, she already has plans to expand and improve the French department. She hopes to see more students take more upper-level classes. She also would like to offer more classes in French and Francophone film and literature.
“I would like to teach classes in film, literature and culture in French and English, so all students can take them,” Borilot said. “I want to make the classes accessible for those who love the language and those who just want to make connections.”