A native of Virginia, Col. Abbey Carrico has been at VMI since 2013. Col. Carrico received her BA in French and concentration in Education from the University of Richmond, her MA in History (European Area Studies) from Virginia Tech, and her Ph.D. in French Literature from Emory University. Professor of French, she is the head of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures where she teaches all levels of French and holds the Lieutenant General John W. Knapp ’54 Chair of Academic Excellence. In 2019, she was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, presented to a VMI faculty member “who is deemed especially talented at inspiring students in the development of their intellect and character.” Since her time at VMI, Col. Carrico has created a teaching forum, “Pedagogy 400,” co- directed the summer study abroad program in Paris, and served as an Assistant Inspector General/Title IX Coordinator.

Her scholarly research centers on representations of the environment in 19th-century French literature and has been published by journals and presses including Revue Flaubert, Dix-Neuf, Classiques Garnier, Les Cahiers naturalistes, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and the Modern Language Association. She is active in the Foreign Language Association of Virginia and has presented her teaching strategies at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Convention.