Joan Grimbert

Joan Grimbert is Professor Emerita of French and Medieval Studies at Catholic University of America, where she began teaching the language, literature, civilization, and culture of France in 1987. Before completing her graduate studies in Romance Philology at the University of Chicago, Joan lived and worked in Paris for six years as a student, researcher, and translator. Her research is focused on medieval French literature, and she is an expert on Chrétien de Troyes and the legend of Tristan and Iseult from the 12^th century to the present.  Joan has published six books and numerous scholarly articles, primarily on Arthurian literature and film. A dual citizen of France and the United States, she was recently named Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes académiques in recognition of her work promoting French culture.

Kevin D. Murphy

Kevin D. Murphy holds the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University where he is also Professor and Chair in the Dept. of History of Art. He is an architectural historian who has spoken and lectured widely on French art and architecture. His first book concerned the restoration, in the mid-nineteenth century, of the Church of the Madeleine at Vezelay, a famed Romanesque pilgrimage church in Burgundy. Also, Murphy has published articles on Le Corbusier and other modern French architects in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and other academic journals and general-readership magazines.

Murphy knows France well. As an undergraduate, he lived for six months in Grenoble, and then as a doctoral candidate, for several years in Paris. He once hitchhiked from Nice to Bourdeaux and has made several tours of the Loire Valley to which he is anxious to return. Throughout his career, Murphy has taught onsite in the US and abroad. Recently, he traveled as a faculty expert on a trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. A former Fulbright Fellow, as well as Mary Davis Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (National Gallery of Art, Washington), and Chester Dale Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Professor Murphy received his Ph.D. in Art History at Northwestern University, his M.A. in Preservation Studies from Boston University, and his B.A. in Art History from Swarthmore College.

(Photo © Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) 

Cassandra Potts Hannahs

Cassandra Potts Hannahs is a historian with special expertise in Celtic, Viking, and Anglo-Norman studies. She has enjoyed traveling with Smithsonian Journeys on more than 50 tours and cruises, sharing her passion and knowledge of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.

With a Ph.D. in medieval history, she was a tenured professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she taught courses on a wide range of subjects, from ancient history through the Reformation.  A Fulbright scholar and recipient of several grants, she has also spent considerable time living in France pursuing research.  Her publications include a book exploring the Viking settlement of Normandy in northern France during the 10th and 11th centuries, and the revival of monasticism that took place as the new rulers encouraged monks to return to the region after the Viking raids. 

In her research and lectures, Cassandra explores the cultural and political exchanges that have historically linked Britain, France, Ireland, and Scandinavia. She looks forward to sharing her love and knowledge of these lands, their history, music, and literature, with Smithsonian Journeys travelers.

Janetta Rebold Benton

Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, New York. She has lectured for many years at the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has served as the speaker on trips worldwide for both institutions. A former resident of Paris, she was Visiting Professor in the graduate school of art history at European University in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the graduate school of art history at China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, on two Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards in 2012 and 2018.

Dr. Benton is the author of eight art history books (with translations into French and Chinese), as well as numerous scholarly articles and reviews published in Austria, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and the U.S. She holds degrees/diploma from Harvard University, Brown University, George Washington University, and Cornell University.