Ph.D., Professor of French
Education
Ph.D., French, University of Pennsylvania
M.A., French, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., French and Philosophy, University of California, Irvine
B.A., Fine Arts (Studio), University of California, Irvine
Research/ Teaching Interests
- Sixteenth-century French literature with specializations in the poetic and aesthetic theory of the Renaissance (especially the works of Pierre de Ronsard and the authors of the Pléiade)
- Laughter theory
- Early modern Orientalism
- French literary representations of cultural alterity
Personal Profile
Dr. Campo holds the PhD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania and BAs in French, Philosophy, and Studio Art from the University of California at Irvine. Presently, he is Professor of French and Head of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His research focuses on sixteenth-century French literature with specializations in the poetic and aesthetic theory of the Renaissance (especially the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard and the poets of the Pléiade), literature and the other arts, laughter theory, and early-modern Orientalism and representations of cultural alterity. Expertise-related service includes elected leadership and member positions on the Council of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, the executive committee of the MLA Division for Sixteenth-Century French Literature, terms as vice-president and president of the North Carolina American Association of Teachers of French, and regional leadership on the culture proficiency task force of the American Association of Teachers of French. He is also the recipient of major awards and honors, including UNCG’s Alumni Teaching Excellence Award and the Teaching Excellence Award for UNCG’s College of Arts and Sciences, election to UNCG’s Eta Delta Chapter of the Phi Beta Delta International Scholars Honor Society, and election to Phi Beta Kappa. In his current position and his previous assignment as Director of UNCG’s interdisciplinary International and Global Studies Program, Dr. Campo has made significant contributions to the internationalization priorities of the university. Besides quadrupling the size of IGS in the span of three years, he expanded curricular and co-curricular opportunities across the campus through experiences like UNCG’s Global Leadership Program, IGS’s monthly Global Spotlights, summer study abroad and exchange programs in Angers, France, and the Asian Autumn Festival. The latter event and new positions in our Chinese and Japanese studies programs were direct results of a $178,000 UISFL/Titles VI (A) grant project to develop UNCG’s major-level concentration in Asian Studies for which he was PI from 2008-2011.
Selected Professional Achievements
- Ronsard’s Contentious Sisters: The Paragone between Poetry and Painting in the Works of Pierre de Ronsard. Chapel Hill: North Carolina Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures, 1998.
- “Pierre de Ronsard: Biography and Bibliography.” In Megan Conway (Ed.) Dictionary of Literary Biography: Sixteenth-Century French Literature, (pp. 354-77). Columbia, SC: Bruccoli Clark Layman Books, 2006.
- “Ronsard’s Eutrapelian Gaillardise.” Neophilologus 87 (2003): 529-51.
- “The Oriental ‘Other’ and French Self-Fashioning from Turoldus to Camus.” Critical Essays on Contemporary European Culture and Society. Ed. Ursala Beitter. New York: Peter Lang, 2003. 1-17
- “Tyard’s Graphic Metamorphoses: Figuring the Semiosic Drift in the Douze Fables de fleuves ou fontaines.” Renaissance Quarterly 54 (Autumn 2001): 776-800.
