I did my Bachelor's and Master's in French at the University of Colorado in the 60s, however, I came to the U of A in 1970. Dr. Edouard Morot-Sir was a professor in the French section at that time, and it was largely due to his influence that I enrolled in the doctoral program. I finished my course work in 1974, but went on to other pursuits without doing the dissertation. I went to Mexico that year, and later to Costa Rica, where I began teaching ESL at a Bilingual Colegio where I stayed until 1980. Having become an ESL/EFL teacher, I returned to the USA and taught ESL there for a couple years, when my boss asked if I would teach on a project in Saudi Arabia. I accepted, and taught and did curriculum development there until 1984, when I returned to French teaching for a few years in Colorado. In 1988, back in the Arabian Gulf, I was hired as one of the original faculty for the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates, a system where I taught for a total of six years. Although I taught French language and literature again at Frostburg State University, I did return to the Gulf and spent a great deal of time here, especially in Dubai. I have seen Dubai grow from an unknown backwater, to a world-class tourism, travel and business hub. I did my Ph.D. dissertation on the early 17th century 'polygraphe' Francois de Rosset under the thoughtful and expert guidance of Dr. Lise Leibacher, and was fortunate to be able to do much of the primary research at the old Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. I convey my best regards to my old classmates and other alumni as well, as well as my professors. Inshallah after not so long now, I shall retire. Maybe even to a hot dry desert town like Tucson.
