Dr. Elizabeth Brandon, Ph.D., Beta Beta

 

Dr. Brandon was born in Wolkowysk, Poland where she attended the Conservatory of Music in Vilno and was an accomplished classical pianist. She attended the University of Vilno and received her M.Ph. at the University of Warsaw. In 1936 she moved with her husband to Paris where she received received her Masters Degree in French from the Sorbonne. Dr. Brandon moved with her family to the U.S. in 1947 and began her teaching career at the University of Houston and later earned her Ph.D. in French from the Université de Laval where she studied under the Québecois folklorist Luc Lacourcière. She taught at the University of Houston for thirty-three years, served as the chair of the French Department, and was twice awarded the Palmes Academiques by the French Ministry of Education. She also served the as President of Phi Kappa Phi at the University of Houston in 1959. Dr. Brandon's doctoral thesis on Vermilion Parish folklore and folklife, Moeurs et langue de la paroisse Vermillon en Louisiane (1955), includes songs and tales as well as social history and folkways; she was one of the foremost authorities in French Folklore of Louisiana. Dr. Brandon passed away in Houston on September 22, 2002.

 

*Estimated dates of service based on available historical documents.