Pamela Cheek

Pamela Cheek is a Professor of French at the University of New Mexico and serves as Associate Provost for Student Success. She is a core faculty member in the Department of Languages, Classics, and Literature, teaching courses from introductory French to advanced graduate seminars on transnational literature and gender studies.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University (1994)
• A.B., magna cum laude, in Literature from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges (1987)

Cheek's research centers on the globalization of gender and sexuality representations in early modern Western Europe, with special focus on transnational women writers of the long eighteenth century. Her work bridges French, British, and Atlantic World literary traditions, examining how narrative forms transmitted cultural values across borders. Key interests include the circum-Atlantic Gothic novel, race-gender intersections, and the political dimensions of literary production in Enlightenment-era networks.

Her publication record reveals consistent engagement with eighteenth-century European literature's global dimensions, evolving from foundational studies on sexual globalization to contemporary analyses of equity in educational systems. Recent scholarship demonstrates a strategic pivot toward institutional leadership while maintaining rigorous literary scholarship, particularly in transnational women's writing and cultural networks.

Her major recognitions include:

• Laura Shannon Prize in European Studies (2022)
• Lurcy Fellowship (1993-94)
• Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities (1987)

Cheek leads university-wide initiatives to eliminate equity gaps through grants including NSF-funded E-CURE for STEM undergraduate research expansion and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Student Experience Project. As former department chair and current Associate Provost, she directs multimillion-dollar programs focused on curriculum transformation, particularly through the Lumina Fund project integrating race and social justice into general education.

Her administrative leadership positions her at the nexus of academic scholarship and institutional innovation, driving systemic changes that connect historical literary analysis with contemporary educational equity frameworks across UNM's diverse student population.