
Professor Rousseau-Raaphorst was a native of Tours, France. She earned a law degree in France and worked as an attorney for L’Oreal before moving to Houston in 1953 with her husband and two daughters. In 1959 she earned a Ph.D. in French literature at Rice University.
Dr. Rousseau-Raaphorst taught at Texas Southern University and Ohio Wesleyan University before joining the Rice University faculty in 1963. She taught French at Rice for 26 years until her retirement in 1989. Professor Rousseau-Raaphorst was chair of the French department at Rice from 1972 to 1979.


