- Professor of French, Director of French IEP
- Phone: 401.874.4702
- Email: lars@uri.edu
- Office Location: Swan Hall 103
Biography
As Director of the French IEP, Dr. Erickson has developed numerous experiential learning opportunities. “The six-month paid internship is the cornerstone of the IEP experience. Our students have interned with companies such as Total, Vinci Construction, Renault, Rhodia (now Solvay), Hutchinson, and Saint-Gobain. We prepare our French IEPers so that they have rewarding experiences while interning in France,” says Dr. Erickson. He has been instrumental in the creation of exchange programs with the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (one of France’s most innovative engineering schools) and with the Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada.
Dr. Erickson lives in South Kingstown, Rhode Island with his wife and three children. He grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota and has lived in San Francisco, North Carolina, and Colorado. He has studied in Fribourg, Switzerland and Rennes, France. When not engaged in his passion for teaching and research he can be found surfing at some of southern Rhode Island’s surf spots or training for short-distance triathlons. He claims to be one of the best professors of French at open ocean swimming.
Research
Dr. Erickson’s research interests include the relationship between science and literature, eighteenth-century literature and culture, and the educational and developmental variation of learning experiences abroad. In his book, Metafact: Essayistic Science in Eighteenth-Century France, he examines how the literary essay influenced methodological change in the sciences. Journals such as The French Review, Australian Journal of French Studies, and Global Business Languages have published his research.
Education
Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998
M.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994
B.A. Hamline University, 1989
Selected Publications
De Bruin, Karen, Lars Erickson, and JoAnn Hammadou. “A Meaningful French Education: Experiential Learning in French.” The French Review. Forthcoming in volume 87.3.
Erickson, Lars. “Developing Engineering Internships in France.” Global Business Languages. Forthcoming in September 2013.
Erickson, Lars. “Blueprint of Technical Professions: Changing Conceptions of Work and Education in Eighteenth-Century France.” The French Review 85.6 (2012)
Erickson, Lars. “I Can Intern in France! Student Perceptions of Success during International Engineering Internship.” Online Journal of Global Engineering Education. 6.1 (2011).
Erickson, Lars. “Nationalism and Technical Professions: La Chalotais’s Essai d’éducation nationale.” The Australian Journal of French Studies. 46.1-2 (2009): 126-138.