Richard J. (Joe) Golsan is Distinguished Professor of French and Department Head. He received his BA in Geology and French from Washington and Lee University in 1974 and his PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1980. (He remains a rabid Tar Heel fan.) He taught at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio before coming to Texas A&M University in 1986. His research areas include the literary, cinematic, and legal legacies of World War II in France, fascism, the 1970s, and political involvements of writers and intellectuals. He teaches the history of French Cinema. He is Editor of South Central Review.

Recent publications include French Writers and the Politics of Complicity (Johns Hopkins UP, 2006) as well as essays on American politics for the French review Le Meilleur des Mondes, published in Paris.