Cristina Stanciu’s visiting professorship in France deepens VCU’s global humanities reach

By VCU News staff

Cristina Stanciu, director of the Humanities Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been named a visiting professor at Université Bordeaux Montaigne in France, a monthlong appointment this semester that will extend VCU’s footprint in global humanities research and collaboration.

Stanciu, Ph.D., a professor in VCU’s Department of English in the College of Humanities and Sciences, is a leader in Indigenous and multiethnic literary studies. She will be hosted from early March to early April by the UBM research unit CLIMAS – Cultures et Littératures des Mondes Anglophones – a center for international scholarship in American, Indigenous and Anglophone studies.

“Professor Stanciu’s appointment is a testament to the international impact of VCU’s humanities research and scholarship,” said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation. “Her work exemplifies how humanistic inquiry not only advances global conversations but also strengthens transdisciplinary research partnerships across fields and borders.”

During her month in Bordeaux, Stanciu will engage in research, teaching and scholarly exchange with faculty and graduate students across disciplines. She will serve as an invited lecturer in courses related to Indigenous studies and American literature, participate in research workshops and seminars, and collaborate with UBM scholars on interdisciplinary projects that bring together literary studies, history, cultural geography and Indigenous studies.

“Global partnerships are essential to the vitality of humanities research today,” said Stanciu, who has led VCU’s HRC since 2020. “This visiting professorship will allow me to deepen long-term collaborations with colleagues in France while creating new opportunities for scholarly exchange, mentoring and future student and faculty engagement. It also affords us the opportunity to strengthen other existing European partnerships between the VCU HRC and humanities centers in France, Germany, Poland and Romania.”

The visiting professorship also strengthens the relationship between Stanciu and colleagues at UBM. Since her first visit for an international conference in 2018, she has collaborated with French scholars on publications and conferences, including the co-organization of an international symposium at UBM in 2024 that marked the centennial of the Indian Citizenship Act. An edited volume emerging from that conference is currently in preparation.

“Faculty exchanges like this one are central to VCU’s global education mission,” said Jill Blondin, Ph.D., vice provost for global initiatives in the Global Education Office. “They create meaningful opportunities for sustained collaboration, mentoring, research and student engagement while expanding VCU’s global footprint.”