Laura Durand

Laura Durand, of Providence; Sept. 4, 2021, after a short illness. She was a professor emerita of French Literature. She was a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) and won a Fulbright grant to spend a year in Grenoble, France, studying French literature and earning a certificate in phonetics. She then attended Northwestern University for her master’s degree and met her future husband. Together they spent a year in Japan during his military service before going together to the University of Michigan for their PhD studies. They moved to Providence in 1960 when her husband became a professor at Brown. She, too, became a professor at Brown despite pre-existing policies prohibiting spouses from being on the faculty. She was very active in protesting unfair treatment of women at the University and chaired a committee of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors on the hiring of women at Brown. In addition to teaching, she served as an associate dean of the graduate school, department chair, and dean of special studies. She was a member of the Wednesday Club detailing group, enjoyed music, and was an avid reader. In retirement she played golf, learned to paint, sang in choirs, and traveled. Phi Beta Kappa. She is survived by her husband, Frank; sons David ’83 and John ’87; two daughters-in-law, including Kate
Hanley Durand ’87; and three grandchildren, including Laura Durand ’16.