Phyllis Franzek, an associate professor of writing in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, died in Los Angeles on January 3. She was 65 years old and had suffered from pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Franzek joined the faculty at the university in 1997 and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses through last November when she was diagnosed with cancer.
A native of Lewiston, New York, Dr. Franzek was a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, where she majored in political science. She earned a second bachelor’s degree in English at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Franzek earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Virginia and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Southern California.