In memoriam: Valerie French
Dr. Valerie French, who taught ancient history at American University for over 30 years and was long a resident of the mid-Atlantic area, died suddenly at her home in Washington, D.C., on December 8, 2011. She was a much respected member of our community and was widely known for her collegiality and the quality of her teaching.
Professor French joined the faculty at American University in 1969, and during subsequent decades she kept classics alive at AU through her work in that university's Department of History. Following her retirement in 2004 she was named Associate Professor Emerita.
After earning a BA in chemistry at Cornell University, Valerie went on to be awarded a PhD in history from UCLA in 1971. Her publications included several papers on childhood and child-rearing in the ancient world. Among these were "Midwives and Maternity Care in the Roman World" (Helios, New Series 13(2), 1986), a detailed discussion of maternity care that examined the gap between "professional" care and folk medicine (reprinted in Rescuing Creusa: New Methodological Approaches to the Study of Women in Antiquity. Marilyn Skinner, ed.; Lubbock, TX: 1987); and "The Spartan Family and the Spartan Decline: Changes in Child-Rearing Practices and the Failure to Reform" in Hamilton and Krentz, eds., Polis and Polemos: Essays on Politics, War and History In Ancient Greece in Honor of Donald Kagan (Claremont, CA: 1997).
Professor French's background in science also led her to a deep interest in methodology. In Historians and the Living Past: The Theory and Practice Of Historical Study (Arlington Heights, Ill., 1978), Valerie and her co-author Dr. Allan Lichtman explained new ways of integrating science and history with the study of the past and contemporary life. For many years French and Lichtman taught a highly enrolled undergraduate General Education course based on their book, which remains in print.
Professor French's long tenure at American University also included time in significant administrative positions. She served as chair of the University Senate, chair of the Department of History, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and for ten years was director of Summer Sessions. She won both the CAS Faculty-Administrator Award and the University Faculty-Administrator Award for Outstanding Service.
"During my 38 years at American University I have never known a kinder or more generous person," said her co-author, Dr. Lichtman, now Distinguished Professor of History. "She was utterly dedicated to the craft of teaching, to helping and mentoring students, and to unstintingly serving her colleagues and her university."
Since her retirement from AU, Valerie served on the Board of Directors of the McLean Gardens Condominium Association and was elected President of that board just this past October. She is survived by her husband Robert Beisner, Professor Emeritus of History at AU, her son and daughter and their families as well as her stepson and stepdaughter and their families. A memorial service at the American University campus is being planned for later in the spring semester (2012).
