KateChopin.org
THE KATE CHOPIN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY
20 November 2009
HOME BIOGRAPHY THE AWAKENING AT FAULT SHORT STORIES

"The Storm"

"The Story of an Hour"

"Désirée's Baby"

"A Pair of Silk Stockings"

"A Respectable Woman"

"Athénaïse"

"Lilacs"

"At the 'Cadian Ball"
Kate Chopin's themes
Kate Chopin FAQs

Kate Chopin biography

Kate Chopin in popular culture

Kate Chopin's Louisiana home destroyed by fire

The Awakening

Short stories

At Fault

For Scholars:

Call for proposals for the American Literature Association Conference, May 27–30, 2010, San Francisco

Previous Kate Chopin presentations at scholarly conferences


About the Kate Chopin International Society

Become a member of the Kate Chopin International Society

About this web site


The Kate Chopin International Society


Our mission

The mission of The Kate Chopin International Society is to provide a network and forum for the study of American author Kate Chopin (1850-1904). The society encourages and supports scholarship and activities that illuminate Chopin’s contribution to the American literary tradition, and it seeks to preserve her literary significance for future generations.

Our history--we are five years old now!

The Society was formed in 2004 by Heather Ostman and Avis Hewitt, both English professors at American universities, after the conference of the American Literature Association, an organization made up of scholarly societies devoted to the study of American authors. Most better-known American authors have a society of their own, and Heather and Avis thought Kate Chopin deserved a scholarly society focused on her work, even though the Kate Chopin Society of North America, with a different emphasis, already existed in St. Louis.

The Kate Chopin International Society sponsored a panel at the 2005 ALA conference and created an advisory board made up mostly of Chopin specialists. It sponsored panels at the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 ALA conferences and will sponsor one at the 2010 conference. It also sponsors panels at other conferences. You can learn about those through the links on the left.

To comment about the Kate Chopin International Society, write to Heather Ostman here or at Heather.Ostman@sunywcc.edu

To comment about this web site, write to Bernard Koloski here or at bkoloski@katechopin.org

Our officers

Heather Ostman continues as president of the society and Avis Hewitt acts as secretary.

On the advisory board are Heather (State University of New York: Westchester Community College) and Avis (Grand Valley State University), Thomas Bonner (Xavier University of Louisiana), Barbara Ewell (Loyola University of New Orleans), Bernard Koloski (Mansfield University of Pennsylvania), John May (Louisiana State University), Kathleen Butterly Nigro (University of Missouri--St. Louis), Mary Papke (University of Tennessee), John Staunton (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Helen Taylor (Exeter University, UK), and Emily Toth (Louisiana State University).

Our members, 2009

Melanie M. Austin
Seattle University

Thomas Bonner, Jr.
KCIS Board Member
Xavier University of Louisiana
tbonner@xula.edu

Christina G. Bucher
Berry College
cbucher@berry.edu

Vickie Burns
Lord Fairfax Community College
vlb2037@email.vccs.edu

P. K. Collier
Author; Niantic, CT
PKcollier@yahoo.com

Suzanne L. Disheroon
Cedar Valley College, Lancaster, Texas
drsusiedish@gmail.com
sdisheroon@dcccd.edu

Kate S. Flynn
English Teacher, Roosevelt High School, Saint Louis
KateSFlynn@gmail.com

Meredith Frederich
Northern Illinios University
mfrederi@niu.edu

Avis Hewitt
KCIS Board Member
Grand Valley University
Avis.Hewitt@gmail.com

Lenora Hobbs
Kate Chopin Society of North America

Bernard Koloski
KCIS Board Member
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
bkoloski@katechopin.org

Sonja Lynch
Wartburg College, Waverly, IA
sonja.lynch@wartburg.edu

John R. May
KCIS Board Member
Louisiana State University
jmay2@lsu.edu

Kerry Meehan McCann
Northern Regional College, Northern Ireland
Kerry@mccannfamily.plus.com

Crescida McCue
Humble High School
Houston Baptist University
crescida.mccue@humble.k12.tx.us

Tom Morgan
University of Dayton
morgantz@notes.udayton.edu

Cindy Murillo
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
ccmur@unm.edu

Jennifer Nader
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
jennader@unm.edu

Kathleen Butterly Nigro
KCIS Board Member
University of Missouri--St. Louis

Kelli Purcell O’Brien
University of Memphis
Kobrien1@memphis.edu

Kathryn O’Donoghue
CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY
kathryn.erin.odonoghue@gmail.com

Heather Ostman
KCIS President
Westchester Community College, SUNY; Valhalla, NY
Heather.Ostman@sunywcc.edu

Mary Papke
KCIS Board Member
University of Tennessee
papke@utk.edu

Kyllikki Persson
Belmont University
Nashville, Tenn.
kyllikki.persson@gmail.com

Josh Privett
Bob Jones University
jpriv491@students.bju.edu

Verna B. Robinson
Anne Arundel Community College
Arnold, Maryland
vbrobinson@aacc.edu

Debby Rosenthal
John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH

Aparecido Donizete Rossi
São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil
adrossi@terra.com.br
lordhydden@hotmail.com

Meg Sempreora
Webster University, St. Louis, MO

Reinaldo Silva
University of Aveiro, Portugal
reinaldosilva@ua.pt

Martha Sledge
Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY
msledge@mmm.edu

John Staunton
Eastern Michigan University
jstaunto@emich.edu

Helen Taylor
KCIS Board Member
University of Exeter, UK
helen.taylor@exeter.ac.uk

Emily Toth
KCIS Board Member
Louisiana State University
etoth@lsu.edu
emtoth14@yahoo.com

Join us? Become a member?

We would be happy to welcome you as a member of The Kate Chopin International Society.

You can join us by email. Simply send us your name and your institutional affiliation or profession (or write to Heather.Ostman@sunywcc.edu). And tell us if you would like us to include your email address on our listing.

We have no dues, but a donation of $10 or more, sent to Heather Ostman, would help us with our work:

Heather Ostman, English Department, Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Rd., Valhalla, NY 10509

Other scholarly organizations

ALA: The American Literature Association

MLA: The Modern Language Association

SSAWW: The Society for the Study of American Women Writers