Cheryl Krueger

Cheryl Krueger is a Professor in the Department of French Language and Literature at the University of Virginia's College of Arts and Sciences, where she has held significant administrative roles including Department Chair (2009-2011), Director of Undergraduate Program (2016-2020), and Language Program Director (1992-2008). Her office is located in New Cabell Hall, Room 365, with Spring 2025 office hours scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00-3:00PM.

Professor Krueger specializes in nineteenth-century French literature and culture with groundbreaking work in olfactory studies. Her research examines how language, film, literature, and culture interact, particularly focusing on perfume culture's intersection with literature during France's industrialization period. She investigates how French perfume became industrialized, democratized, cosmeticized, and feminized in the nineteenth century, and how literary texts evoked scents despite longstanding assertions that languages cannot adequately describe olfactory experiences. Her scholarship bridges literary criticism with sensory history, revealing how olfactory language conveys a text's distinctiveness, style, and engagement with readers through what she terms 'signature scent' analysis.

Her publications demonstrate consistent scholarly productivity with major works including Perfume on the Page in Nineteenth-Century France (2023), Perspectives on Teaching Language and Content (2020), and The Art of Procrastination: Baudelaire's Poetry in Prose (2007). Her article output shows thematic continuity in exploring sensory dimensions of literature, particularly focusing on Baudelaire, Flaubert, and perfume culture, with recent work expanding into hypnotism and paranormal phenomena in fin-de-siècle France.

• IAU Residential Fellowship Summer, Aix-en-Provence (2023)
• Buckner W. Clay Endowment Award and Florence Gould Foundation Grant for the 43rd Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium (2017)
• Camargo Foundation Residential Fellowship (2015)
• 2014 INCS Essay Prize Honorable Mention for 'Decadent Perfume: Under the Skin and Through the Page'
• Multiple Summer Research Grants and VPR Research Support from University of Virginia
• All-University Outstanding Teaching Award (2000-2001)

Professor Krueger has dedicated her career to mentorship, directing graduate and undergraduate research on diverse topics including flânerie, women readers, and fashion magazines. As Director of the Undergraduate Program, she launched the department's first peer-tutoring program and created alumni networking opportunities. Her teaching philosophy uniquely balances technological innovation with 'slow education' approaches, encouraging creative student projects while allowing time for deep textual engagement. She has designed innovative courses like 'The Smelly Nineteenth Century' and 'Slow Bovary' that reflect her interdisciplinary approach.

Professor Krueger maintains active professional engagement as a research associate for l'Osmothèque, conservatoire des parfums, and member of the Odeuropa PastScent network. Her upcoming December 2024 book talk at the University of Orléans demonstrates her continued scholarly relevance and international recognition in the growing field of sensory studies.