BLACKSBURG, Va., Nov. 14, 2008 – Sue W. Farquhar, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, was conferred the "associate professor emerita" title by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors during the board's quarterly meeting on Nov. 3.
The title of emeritus may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who have given exemplary service to the university and who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1989, Farquhar taught French, and through her scholarship on the French Renaissance and on Michel de Montaigne in particular, she had a major impact both nationally and internally in her field. Her scholarship was inspired by ethics, law, cultural history and theory, gender studies, and rhetoric to focus on a set of issues in early modern France: the emergence of subjectivities, citizenship and changing identities within the growing nation state, the production of knowledge and its circulation, violence, and civility.
She was a dedicated teacher, scholar, and mentor to her peers and students. Her excellence in the classroom inspired students for nearly two decades on both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
She received his bachelor’s degree from Sweet Briar College, a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University.