JYF names new interim director

Margaret Scouten (left) and Mary Jane Cowles


Sweet Briar College has announced the appointment of Mary Jane Cowles as the new interim director of its Junior Year in France study abroad program beginning July 1, 2014.

Cowles is a professor of French at Kenyon College. She is a JYF alumna and has been a member of the JYF Advisory Board Committee for more than 15 years. She directed the Paris Program as resident director in 2004-2005. She holds a bachelor’s from Mount Holyoke College and received her master’s and Ph.D. in Romance languages with a concentration in 19th-century French literature from Princeton University.

Cowles will replace associate professor of French Margaret Scouten, who will retire in July after serving as JYF director since July 2000. Scouten was previously the founding director of the College’s Office of International Studies, established in 1990.