Retired Faculty

In Memoriam

Ellen S. Ginsberg (1935-2020) received her PhD in French from the University of Chicago, specializing in the French Renaissance.  After teaching at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Maryland at College Park, she joined the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at Catholic University in 1972, retiring as Associate Professor in 2000.  Among the many graduate and undergraduate courses she taught were 16^th-Century French Literature, Senior Seminar, Practical Stylistics, Rabelais, Montaigne, and La Pléiade.  She served as chair of the Department for 8 years, coordinated the PhD Program in Romance Languages and Literatures from 1984-2000, and was a member of numerous university committees.  She was also active in Phi Beta Kappa and served on the Executive Committee of the Folger Institute for Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies.  Her publications include works on Jacques Grévin, Joachin Du Bellay and Marc-Antoine de Muret. With her husband Bob, she traveled to over 60 countries for research, teaching, lecturing and exploring. 

 

Chad C. Wright (1940-2020) received his PhD from Harvard University and she joined the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Catholic University as an Assistant Professor of Spanish in 1987 after previous appointments at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Virginia.  In 1994, he was promoted to Associate Professor.  An expert on the Spanish Realist author, Benito Pérez Galdós, Dr. Wright taught numerous undergraduate and graduate seminars on all aspects of 19^th- and 20^th-century Spanish Peninsular literature. He served on more than thirty doctoral dissertations, including about a dozen he directed. In the Department, Dr. Wright served for many years as coordinator of the Spanish section, academic advisor for all Spanish majors and minors, and faculty advisor for the Spanish Club and the Latin Alliance. For many summers, he taught medical Spanish to Harvard pre-med students in Guatemala.  He was twice elected to the executive committee of the International Galdós Association and served several terms on the executive committee of the Modern Language Association’s division on 18th- and 19^th-Century Spanish Literature.

 

George E. Gingras (1932-2016), originally from New Hampshire, received his M.A. and PhD in French from The Catholic University of America.  After teaching at Loyola University Chicago, he joined the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at Catholic University in 1961.  He dedicated himself to his research and teaching, focusing on Voltaire and other classical texts. In addition to having been Coordinator of the French Section and French advisor, Dr. Gingras served several terms as chair of the Department Chair.  After retiring from Catholic University in 2000, he continued his devotion to research and opera, remaining a regular at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.