The French Department is hiring two new professors for next semester: senior professor Thomas Kavanagh GRD ’70, a specialist in 18th-century French literature, and junior professor Julia Prest, an expert in 17th-century French literature.

Kavanagh was hired after a three-year search involving dozens of candidates. French chairman Edwin Duval said that Kavanagh is interested not only in 18th-century French literature, but in economics and painting. Duval said that in addition to generalized courses in literature and more specific courses in his field of expertise, the new senior professor will also teach courses in French cinema.

Kavanagh has previously taught at SUNY Buffalo, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Prest is coming after a shorter search, which started after it became clear the French Department could not get senior professors for both 18th-century France and 17th-century France. After getting her doctorate from Cambridge University, Prest was a junior research fellow at Oxford University.

–Bridget Kelly