Posted on Friday, March 20, 2026
LaGrange College English & Writing Publication Studies Professor Dr. Laine Scott has built her life and distinguished teaching career around three keen interests: language, literature and travel. She’ll draw on all three March 23 for a 3D Journeys presentation entitled “French Literature and Culture as Experienced by One American Francophile.’’
Set at 10 a.m. in the Dickson Assembly Room of Turner Hall, Scott’s talk is the closing lecture of this year’s 3D Journeys series that has focused on France. She plans to give the audience a “dip and dive” into highlights of French culture, as she experienced it from an apartment in Paris, and the centuries-old French literary tradition, ranging from the 17th-century fables of Jean de La Fontaine to Adam Gopnik’s 2000 memoir “Paris to the Moon.”
“I’ll give my personal greatest hits list,” she said. “Bear in mind, I don’t teach French literature. I hope the audience will have reasonable expectations.”
Scott’s interest in world travel, in general, and all things French, in particular, dates to her high school years in Mobile, Alabama. She discovered an affinity for the French language and studied it all four years. Her first significant international travel came at age 15, when she spent a month in Romania on a handbell choir tour.
Scott earned a B.A. in Modern Languages at William and Mary, concentrating on French but expanding her focus to include Russian, German and Spanish.
Later, she used a small inheritance from her grandmother to pursue a seven-week French-immersion program at Middlebury College in Vermont that led to 10 months of graduate study in Paris and resulted in an M.A. in French. After returning to the U.S., she earned an M.A. in English at Salisbury State in Maryland.
She was just warming up.
Before turning to academia, Scott worked in international business for almost a decade and lived in Germany for two years. She joined the faculty at LaGrange College in 1998, shortly after earning her Ph.D. in English at the University of Alabama with a concentration in rhetoric and composition. She spent a sabbatical teaching in Japan, accompanied by her son, Phelan.
Dr. Scott identifies with the lifelong learners who make up the typical 3D audience because she’s also a lifelong learner. Currently she’s teaching herself the difficult Icelandic language. (There are fewer than 400,000 Icelandic speakers, she explained, so she’s doing her part to keep the language alive.)
Scott believes in the benefits of travel, she said, because she has experienced them herself. It comes down to curiosity.
“People in other countries don’t live like we do. When we experience their culture, we can learn what works for them and learn from them,” she said. “We can try different foods and marvel at the architecture.”
In her three decades “on the Hill,” Scott has been deeply involved in campus life, carrying a heavy teaching load and serving in multiple roles outside the classroom. A past president of the Faculty Assembly, she chaired the Humanities Department and English Department for several years and received the United Methodist General Board on Higher Education Excellence in Teaching award for 2023-24.
Most of all, she’s seen the college enrich the life of the community and vice versa.
“I am very happy here and feel so lucky to be here,” she said. “I have seen this place pick up and shine.”
The Scott lecture will mark the close of the college’s 16th year of offering free lectures and optional travel through its 3D (discover, discuss, develop) series. In late May, President Susanna Baxter and Mark Huffman will lead more than 30 3D travelers to sites in France including Nice, the Côte d’Azur, Provence, Paris and Normandy.
“We thank Professors Kevin Shirley and Carolyn Ford for their stimulating lectures on the history and art of France and look forward to Dr. Scott’s presentation on literature and culture,” said Dr. Lauranne Buchanan, who co-chairs the volunteer 3D committee with Carolyn Wynens. “As always, we welcome anyone with an interest in learning to join us on March 23, and we invite everyone to look for an announcement of the destination for our 17th season of 3-D Journeys lecture and travel series in late June. Until then, bon voyage!”
Category: College, Academics, Global engagement
Keywords: Travel, Education
