Faculty

Michelle Beauclair, Ph.D., taught for a year at a French lycée in Paris during the 1987-88 academic year. Since then, she has led three Washington Community College Consortium for Study Abroad (WCCCSA) trips to Paris and has led SPU trips to France since 2001.

In addition to teaching language courses, Dr. Beauclair has also taught courses on francophone cultures and literatures and on understanding French civilization and society through the arts. "On each study trip, I made sure that students and I visit a museum every week in correlation with our coursework and led frequent walks through the city, especially those that led past by some of my favorite bakeries!" says Beauclair. "I am always excited to introduce students to this wonderful city and country, and love to see them put their French into practice."

Todd Rendleman, Ph.D., associate professor of communication has taught courses in film theory, film history and communication studies at SPU since 1999. In “The Art of Film,” he helps students to view films critically and appreciate the history of classical Hollywood cinema. For the past nine years, he has co-produced the Image SPU Film Festival. In the festival, movies sharing a central theme are shown free to campus and community audiences. Rendleman’s scholarly research explores the relationships between religious audiences and religious images in American movies.

In 2006 Dr. Rendleman traveled with the SPU group to Paris to study and research French film. He is looking forward to teaching with an emphasis on French filmmakers and cinema in Summer 2010.