Francis Balace received his M.A. (1966) and his Ph.D. (1975) from Liège University but, as a Fulbright grantee, attended post-graduate courses at George Washington University, Washington DC in 1966-1967. He has published three books on various aspects of Belgian-American relations during the American Civil War (diplomacy, arms trade and Federal recruiting in Belgium), the last one having received the Ernest Discailles prize of the Belgian Royal Academy. He has also edited in book form documents from American archives on the same periode. Among the courses taught by him in Liège are two post-graduate courses in United States History and he has directed a dozen of M.A. thesis on American subjects, mainly on international relations, Belgian immigration and US domestic politics. In 1997, he organized in Brussels a symposium on Belgium and the Marshall Plan.

Gert Buelens received his Ph.D. in American Studies at Sussex University in 1990.  His research interests include American Literature (esp. Henry James; Jewish-American fiction), literary and cultural theory (esp. gender, queer studies), literature and ethnicity, literature and ethics. He is associate editor (Europe) of MELUS: Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, editor (with Richard Hathaway) of the Henry James E-Journal, and Member of the Editorial Board of Jaarboek voor Literatuurwetenschap and Canadian Review of American Studies.

Johan CALLENS
Professor of English, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Johan Callens holds an MA from the University of Texas at Austin (1981) and a Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (1989). Subsequently he was a research fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (1991-2000) before becoming a Professor of English, specializing in American theater. A former president of the Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Assocation (BLASA) and the Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education, he is currently International Secretary of The American Theatre and Drama Society. He is the author of Double Binds: Existentialist Inspiration and Generic Experimentation in the Early Work of Jack Richardson (Rodopi, 1993), Acte(s) de Présence: Teksten over Engelstalig Theater in Vlaanderen en Nederland (VUBPress, 1996), and From Middleton and Rowley's "Changeling" to Sam Shepard's "Bodyguard": A Contemporary Appropriation of a Renaissance Drama (Edwin Mellen, 1997). He has guest-edited a two-volume special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review on Sam Shepard (Routledge, 1998). 

William L. CHEW III
Professor of History, Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Vesalius College
President of the Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Association (BLASA)

William Chew is a specialist in image studies and Franco-American relations during the 18th and 19th centuries. His publications include A Bostonian Merchant Witnesses the French Revolution (Center for American Studies of the Royal Library, Brussels,1992), a collection of imagological essays entitled Images of America. Through the European Looking-Glass (Brussels, VUBPress, 1997), and National Stereotypes in Perspective. Americans in France, Frenchmen in America (Amsterdam, Rodopi Press, 2001). He has organized several international conferences for BLASA. He is a contributor to the encyclopedias Women in World History (Yorkin Publications) and Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery (ABC-Clio), as well as to the forthcoming CD-ROM Napoleonic Europe (eds. Charles Mckay, Dennis Trinkle, Kyle Eidahl).

Gilbert Debusscher is a past president of the Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Association (BLASA) and a past secretary of the European Association. He has taught at the University of Texas, Austin and Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. His publications focus primarily on contemporary dramatists such as Edward Albee, Jack Richardson, Willy Russell, Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Edward Bond and on avant-garde theater. He is presently Dean of the Faculty of Philosopy and Literature at the ULB.

Henri Delanghe obtained his 'Licentiate' in History from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, a masters of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Eonomic History from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He has held positions at the United Nations' Development Program, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation Through Science and Technology in Flanders. His research is on competition, foreign direct investment and innovation in the 20th century.

Michel Delville teaches English and American literature as well as comparative literature at the Université de Liège, where he directs the newly-founded Centre Interdisciplinaire de Poétique Appliquée. His publications include The American Prose Poem (UP of Florida, 1998), J.G. Ballard (Northcote House/The British Council, 1998), and more than fifty articles on contemporary poetry and fiction. His academic awards include the 1998 SAMLA Studies Book Award, the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award, the Prix Léon Guérin, and the 2001 Alumni Award in the field of Human Sciences. He recently co-edited two volumes of essays on post-war U.S. poetry (The Mechanics of the Mirage, 2000; Sound as Sense: US Poetry &/In Music; forthcoming) and completed two new books, Hamlet et ses héritiers (with Pierre Michel) and Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and the Secret History of Maximalism (with Andrew Norris).

Christophe Den Tandt’s publications focus on American fiction (The Urban Sublime in American Literary Naturalism), crime fiction (Down These Gender-Divided and Ethnically Fractured Mean Streets. The Urban Thriller in the Age of Multiculturalism and Minority Writing), science fiction (McLuhan, Pynchon, Gibson. The Informational Metropolis from the Global Village to Cyberspace), theory (Cultural Studies and the Realist Paradigm. From Georg Lukács to Neo-Pragmatism), music (Dylan Goes Electric. Inventing a Popular Idiom for the Postmodern Distraction Factory) and film (Hollywood Courtroom Dramas. The Politics of Judicial Realism).

Marc De Vos is a ‘Licentiate’ in Law from the Universiteit Gent (1993), a licentiate in Social Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (1994), and a Master of Laws from Harvard University (2000). He obtained his Ph.D. from the Universiteit Gent (2000), where he currently works as a postdoctoral researcher. His main fields of interest, in which he has published and lectured widely, include Belgian and European labor and employment law, fundamental rights, and contract law.

Theo D’Haen obtained his PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He taught at the universities of Utrecht (1978-1986) and Leiden (1986-2002) and was Academic Director of the Onderzoekschool Literatuurwetenschap/Netherlands Graduate Research School for Literature (1999-2002). In 2002 he became professor of American Literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He was editor of several magazines and publications. He was also Executive Board member of NASA/Netherlands American Studies Association (1990-1993), NSES/Netherlands Society for English Studies (1990-1993, and 2000-), ICLA/International Comparative Literature Association (1992-2001), International Association for Literary Theory (2000-), and Executive Director of IASA/International American Studies Association (2000-). Research areas and teaching interests include modernism and postmodernism, colonialism and postcolonialism, popular genres, and the relationship between literature and economics. Numerous publications on literatures in European languages.

After formative years at Indiana University (1969-1972) Joris Duytschaever earned his doctorate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel with a comparative thesis on Alfred Döblin. He spent visiting professorships at Antioch College (1975), University of California/Berkeley (1977), University of Georgia/Athens (1985 and 1987), and at the University of Pennsylvania (Breughel Chair, 1994). He published various works on literature and the arts in Dutch, French, German, and English. His special interest in American Studies focused on the post-Freudian theory of narcissism developed by the Chicago School, witness his article on Faulkner in American Literature in Belgium (ed. G. Debusscher, 1988).

Bart Eeckhout holds an M.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York (1991) and a Ph.D. in American Literature from Ghent University (1998). During the fall of 2001 he taught at Fordham University in New York as a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer and he has been visiting professor at New York University’s Gallatin School (summer 2009 & 2010). Before moving to the University of Antwerp in 2005, he taught at Ghent University (1989-2005) and the Catholic University of Brussels (2002-2004). His books include Wallace Stevens and the Limits of Reading and Writing (University of Missouri Press), City Life: verhalen uit de grote stad (an edited anthology of international urban short stories translated into Dutch), The Urban Condition: Space, Community, and Self in the Contemporary Metropolis (as principal co-author and co-editor at GUST), Literature and Society (co-edited with Bart Keunen), Post Ex Sub Dis: Urban Fragmentations and Constructions (as principal co-editor at GUST), and Wallace Stevens across the Atlantic (co-edited with Edward Ragg). He has also guest-edited two special issues of The Wallace Stevens Journal (Fall 2001 & Spring 2006), of which he is the Editor Elect. From October 2005 to 2011, he was the program director of the M.A. in American Studies.).

Robert Scott Gassler teaches courses in Comparative Economic, Industrial, and Governmental Environments. He is currently Professor of Economics at the Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Ursinus College and Adjunct Associate Professor of Information Studies at Drexel University. Professor Gassler, an economist, studied economics throughout his academic career. He received a MA from the University of Washington, a MS from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

Luc Herman received his M.A. from Harvard (1981) and his Ph.D. from Princeton (1989), both in Comparative Literature. He is the author of Concepts of Realism (Camden House, 1996), has guest-edited a collection of essays on Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow for Pynchon Notes (1998) and has co-authored a Dutch monograph on narrative theory that will appear in English with The University of Nebraska Press (2004). Herman also reviews American literature for De Standaard der Letteren. His current projects include essays on Thomas Pynchon and on the post-war encyclopedic novel in the United States. Herman is a board member of BLASA, a former president of BAAHE (Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education), and the initiator of the M.A. in American Studies.

Erik Hertog studied English Literature at the Universities of Leuven, Yale and Cambridge. He received his Ph.D. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He teaches, among other studies, American Cultural Studies and Current U.S. issues at the Lessius Hogeschool. His main publications are in the field of English Literature, translation and interpreting studies.

Marion Huibrechts (°1960) studied American History and American Government during a one-year residence in the United States of America (academic year 1978-1979). Upon returning to Belgium, she studied history at the University of Ghent from 1979 until 1983. In 1983 her master’s dissertation at the Hoger Instituut voor Bestuurswetenschappen “A Bundle of Compromises: Een onderzoek naar de oorsprong en de totstandkoming van de Amerikaanse Grondwet”, was awarded with the ‘best master dissertation of the year’ prize by the Province of Antwerp. In 2009 she obtained a Doctoral Degree by the University of Leuven, for which she defended her doctoral dissertation “Swampin’ guns and stabbing irons. The Austrian Netherlands, Liege arms and the American Revolution, (1770-1783)”. Over the past few years, she has given a number of lectures at international conferences. Since November 2009, Marion Huibrechts has held a one-day-a-week research fellowship at the University of Leuven. She is currently a teaching assistant for professor Johan Verberckmoes She also assists in the running of the American History course. In October 2010, Marion Huibrechts was appointed chair of the Lessius American Studies Center steering committee in Antwerp. www.lasc.be

Kerremans obtained a Ph. D. in Political and Social Sciences at then Universiteit Antwerpen in 1994. He is an associate professor at the KUL and currently teaches courses on international relations history, international organizations, international political economy, and U.S. government. He is also a researcher at the Institute for International and European Policy in Leuven. Visiting scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University (Washington DC) from 1998 to 1999. His topics of interest include U.S. international trade policy, U.S.-EU economic relations, and the mechanics of international economic organizations.

Marc Maufort obtained his B.A. in English from the University of Brussels in 1981; he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981-83, with the support of a Belgian American Educational Foundation Fellowship. After earning an M.A. in Theatre and Drama from the University of Wisconsin in 1983, he pursued doctoral studies at the University of Brussels, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1986. His major publications in the field of American literature include the following books: Eugene O'Neill and the Emergence of American Drama (editor, 1989), Songs of American Experience: the Vision of O 'Neill and Melville (1990), and Staging Difference: Cultural Pluralism in American Theatre and Drama (editor, 1995). His current research in the field of American literature focuses on contemporary multicultural drama (particularly African American, Asian American and First Nations drama).

Armand Michaux studied in Paris, Exeter and at Harvard and received the Luxembourg state degree of docteur en philosophie et lettres in 1961. He is the author of study guides and articles on William Dean Howells and Henry James and has edited and co-edited several English Studies volumes in the Publications du Centre Universitaire. A former board member and president of Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Association (BLASA), Michaux is currently engaged in a study of Eudora Welty’s fiction.

Alain Piette received his BA from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), his M.A. and Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Yale University. As professor of English, he teaches American Literature, American Institutions, Language and Translation at the Ecole d'interprètes internationaux in Mons. Alain Piette is currently director of the Ecole d'Interprètes Internationaux de l'Université de Mons-Hainaut. He is also visiting professor the Université Catholique de Louvain. Alain Piette is the author of an annotated electronic bibliography of David Mamet and has co-authored a number of books on drama. His latest book is: The Crommelynck Mystery. The Life and Work of a Belgian Playwright. Piette is a former President of the Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Association (BLASA).

Ilka Saal holds an MA in American Studies from the University of Leipzig and a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University. Since 2002, she has taught American literature and culture at the University of Richmond, VA. Her research interests include American drama, theater and film, ethnic literature, the narrative construction and performance of nationhood, literary and cultural theory. Her book New Deal Theater: The Vernacular Tradition in American Political Theater (Palgrave 2007) won the 2008 Samla Studies Book Award. She is the co-editor of Passionate Politics: The Cultural Work of American Melodrama from the Early Republic to the Present (Cambridge Scholars 2008). Her essays on American literature and culture have been published in South Atlantic Review, Amerikastudien, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, and New Theatre Quarterly.

Ria Snellinx obtained both her MA and PhD from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She currently teaches English at the Faculty of Applied Economics, and a course in Sociolinguistics (Language and Relations) in the post graduate programme Relatie- en Communicatiewetenschappen, both at the LUC. She is a guest professor at Ehsal where she teaches Critical and Analytical Reading in the International MBA programme. Her research interests are American Literature, American Drama and Sociolinguistics. Ria Snellinx has founded the "youngest" Center for American Studies, which is now part of the university library at the LUC.

Kristiaan Versluys received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University in 1979 and currently teaches American literature in Ghent. His specialties, about which he has published widely, include Jewish-American literature and the literature of the American city. He is a regular guest professor at Columbia University in New York.