Modern Languages-Faculty & Staff

Bio

Dr. Caldwell specialized in the 20^th and 21^st century Latin American narrative and gender studies.

She received a M.A. from the University of South Carolina and the Ph.D. from The University of Georgia.

She had served on the Fulbright National Screening Committee. Her research interests included the testimonial narrative, border literature, and foreign language pedagogy.  She had published articles in both English and Spanish in various peer-reviewed journals, such as Revista Iberoamericana, Cuadernos Americanos, Revista La Torre, Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, and Foreign Language Annals.  Her book, Narrative Voices and the Liberation Movement in the Mexican State of Chiapas was published in 2004.

Dr. Caldwell served as a faculty advisor for the Chi Theta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.

Ms. Crawley is from Monroe, Louisiana. She earned the B.A. in Spanish from Northeast Louisiana University and the M.A. in Spanish from Mississippi State University. She also received her TESOL certification from MSU. In 1997, she lived in Vigo where she taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at the University of Vigo. From 1998-2003, she taught Spanish and English as a Second Language (ESL) at MSU. In 2003 she lived in Seoul, Korea and taught EFL at One World American Language Institute. Ms. Crawley has also studied abroad in Mérida, Mexico, Bogotá, Colombia, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her academic interests include second language acquisition, historical linguistics, and online teaching.  She is a member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pi Delta Phi (National Collegiate French Honor Society), and the South Carolina Technical Education Association. She has been teaching at FMU since the Spring of 2005.

FMU Distinguished Professor

George E. Harding is a true Southerner. He was born in Alabama and has lived in every state from Texas to South Carolina, including Tennessee, and has worked in Kentucky. He studied at Birmingham-Southern College (BA German), Mississippi State University (MA German/French) and the University of Tennessee (PhD, Germanic Languages and Literatures). His field of study is medieval German and French literature. An avid traveler since 1966, when he first attended a summer school in Leysin, Switzerland, Dr. Harding has visited most of the countries in western Europe as well as Poland and the Czech Republic. In the western hemisphere, he has traveled in the Bahamas, Mexico, and Ecuador on various occasions. Since 2004 Dr. Harding has served as visiting professor in the German Language and Culture Course held every summer in Schmalkalden, Germany, and serves as faculty liaison for FMU with the University of Trier. Dr. Harding has also worked with the Atlantische Akademie in Kaiserslautern where he presented workshops on South Carolina and Southern Culture throughout the state of Rheinland-Pfalz. Additionally, he has led groups to seminars on history and political science to the PfalzAkademie in Lambrecht and in Berlin. He is married and has two sons and three grandchildren. A licensed private pilot and a certified keel boat sailor, Dr. Harding is married to Sara Harding,  an adjunct professor of Spanish at FMU.

Bio

Kristin Kiely joined the Modern Languages faculty in the fall of 2007.  She received the M.A. in Spanish from Miami University at Oxford with an emphasis on linguistics.  She completed her doctorate at Florida State University in December of 2008. Her research interests are 20th century Peninsular literature, specifically literature during Franco’s regime and post-Franco, and women’s literature. She also hopes to one day research documents and information regarding the Inquisition. She is currently working on graphic novels and comics from Spain, and is working on a translation of of the novel Pergamino: la Bylina del hijo del Cazador del libros by Sergio Sierra and Meritxell Ribas. She has been published in Hispania, Encuentros, and Women Write About Comics. 

Dr. Kiely was the Vice President of the FMU chapter of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) until 2015; she was the Editor in Chief of the South Carolina Modern Language Review (SCMLR) published by the Modern Language Department until it was closed down in 2016; and she is the webmaster for the Modern Language website.  Dr. Kiely is also active in the Florence community.  She is a charter member of the FMU Civitan Club and performed as a guest singer in the Florence Symphony Orchestra’s production of H.M.S. Pinafore in May, 2009.  Dr. Kiely was also a board member for the Philological Association of the Carolinas and is now a board member for the Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies (SEACS).

Dr. Smolen-Morton joined the English faculty in Fall 2006. With a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts, he specializes in Film and Cultural Studies centered on gender issues. An avid bird watcher, Dr. Smolen-Morton is a freelance writer, and researcher for the National Audubon Society. His wife, Kate, teaches English at South Florence High School.

Education

PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Massachusetts

B.A, Comparative Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Elizabeth A. Zahnd is a Professor of Modern Languages and French Program Coordinator at Francis Marion University. She holds a B.A. in French and Foreign Service from Baylor University (1992), a M.A. in French from the Middlebury College School in France (1993), and a Ph.D. in Francophone Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999). Dr. Zahnd teaches all levels of French literature and language as well as elementary Spanish. She was a founding editor of The South Carolina Modern Language Review and has published several peer-reviewed articles pertaining to Francophone literature and Caribbean studies, along with an intermediate ESL textbook, Let’s Get Real. Dr. Zahnd is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a PEO national scholar, a recipient of the Sampere-Ulloa Spanish scholarship and a recipient of the Francis Marion University Distinguished Faculty Award for community service. She lives in Florence with her husband Timothy Bergfeld and their daughter Anya and son Alex.