Rate My Professor Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan

Dr Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies within the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia, part of the College of Human and Social Futures. She earned her PhD from the University of Newcastle in 2007, focusing on the translation into French of Dymphna Cusack's Australian novel Southern Steel, set in Newcastle in 1942. Her earlier degrees include a Maîtrise, a Licence de Lettres, and a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées from the University Lumière Lyon II, France. Throughout her career at the University of Newcastle, she has held significant administrative roles, including French Discipline Convenor from 2003 to 2014, Head of Languages and Language Studies from 2014 to 2017, Program Convenor for the Diploma in Languages from 2010 to 2017, Assistant Convenor for the Bachelor of Arts, Discipline Liaison for Languages and Language Studies, and Cluster Leader for the Screens, Languages, English and Writing Cluster for 2020-2021. Vuaille-Barcan has extensive experience in developing flexible teaching techniques for foreign language acquisition, notably creating six fully online courses for the French language major. Her teaching covers French language and culture at all levels, literary translation theories, and translation practice from English into French.

Research specializations of Dr Vuaille-Barcan include French language and culture, French literature, literary translation theories and practice (especially English to French), foreign language acquisition, translation theory, literary analysis, and digital humanities. She investigates the impact of the translator's style on original texts, collaborative translation projects such as those in French crime fiction collections, and employs computational analysis like stylometry to identify translators' stylistic fingerprints. Current projects explore French newspaper coverage of the #MeToo movement compared to Australian and American media. Key publications feature co-edited works such as Translating National Allegories: The Case of Crime Fiction (2018), Origins and Legacies of Marcel Duhamel's Série noire (2018), her translation Acier Austral (Southern Steel) (2015 with Dymphna Cusack), Masking Strategies: Unwrapping the French Paratext (2011 with Alistair Rolls), chapters on 'Boris Vian l'adaptateur adapté' (2020), and 'Transfert de langue, transfert de culture' (2012). She has earned awards including the 2017 Faculty of Education and Arts Dean's Award for Excellence, 2015 Faculty Dean's Team Award for Research Supervision Excellence, 2007 Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, and 2007 Carrick Institute Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Vuaille-Barcan serves as President of the Alliance Française de Newcastle, fostering French language and culture, and has guest-edited the Australian Journal of French Studies (50, 2013).