Denis Robichaud found love at the Liberal Arts College

By Amanda Kelly

Denis Robichaud is completing an Honours History degree as well as a major in Western Society and Culture at the Liberal Arts College, and wrote his honours essay on Florentine late-15th-century intellectual history.

He did a provisional translation from Latin to English of a short excerpt from the work of Marsilio Ficino.

“I chose to translate Marsilio Ficino’s treatise on one of the books of Plotinus’s Enneads since he was one of Ficino’s largest influences. He was responsible for providing Europe with the first full translations of Plato and Plotinus into Latin.”

Surprisingly, the extract that Denis worked on had never been published in translation. “Only recently has Ficino’s own work begun to be translated from Latin into French and English. This passage revealed some interesting aspects of Ficino’s thought.”

Denis has been awarded a fellowship to pursue his studies in a six-year PhD program at John Hopkins University in Baltimore and Denis intends to continue his focus. “I will probably continue to study Early Modern and Renaissance intellectual history.”

He moved to Montreal from Moncton, N.B., and found the Liberal Arts College very supportive. The College facilitates a collegiate atmosphere with trips and structured activities.

That provided an opportunity for Denis to meet Viveca Pattison (in photo) in their first year of studies.

Viveca, a student from New York State, is finishing her major in Western Society and Culture at the Liberal Arts College this spring, with a minor in Art History.

“Since we both come from out of town, we didn’t have many friends in Montreal when we first moved here. We got to know one another better on a bus trip to New York organized by the Liberal Arts College.”

Viveca will also move to Baltimore in the autumn. She hopes to land a job in publishing with Thomson Delmar Learning, where she did her summer internships. The pair begin house-hunting in July.