The passing of Professor Emerita Frances Deutsch Louis

It is with sadness we announce that Dr. Deutsch Louis of the Department of English passed on March 3, 2023.

Dr. Louis first served in the Department of Academic Development, former home of the Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge program (SEEK) and later in the Department of English. Dr. Louis served from 1975 to 1995. 

Known as "a noted Swift scholar, her Swift's Anatomy of Misunderstanding: A study of Swift's Epistemological Imagination in A Tale of a Tub and Gulliver's Travels is an elegant treatment of Swift satire – giving equal attention to exaggeration, incongruity, reversal and parody and the desire to vex the world. As a writer and scholar, Dr. Louis was a frequent contributor to the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, and Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Reviews."  

Dr. Louis is credited with having been integral to York College's Annual African American Read-in Day, celebrated in Black History Month.  Faculty, students, and alumni gather to read favorite selections of African American Writers, as well as share their scholarship. She served as York's first Freshman Year Experience (FYE) coordinator in the early 1990s, and was instrumental in bringing to campus noted African American authors, Keith Gilliard, and Octavia Butler, to name just two.