An expert in comparative literature and visual arts, Bohn credits foreign language education with a lot more than aesthetic value. “In my admittedly biased opinion, to call themselves educated, college graduates have to have studied certain subjects. Foreign language is one of these—not because it enables a person to become fluent in the language, which is rare, but because it broadens students' perspectives and familiarizes students with the culture of another country (or several countries),” Bohn said. His teaching philosophy reflects these sentiments, as well: “My twin goals are to increase individual enjoyment and/or understanding and to encourage students to relate their own experience to that of others in society. Regarding foreign language study per se, I feel a language is essentially a tool to be employed in the pursuit of some greater goal. There is no reason, however, why the acquisition of this tool cannot be enjoyable and beneficial in itself. Insight into foreign cultures, appreciation of foreign mentalities, discovering the value of international communication, a greater understanding of one's own language, an increased awareness of the learning process itself—all these benefits, and more, accrue from foreign language training.”
Bohn himself enjoys these benefits of foreign language education. Frequently asked to travel abroad for his teaching and research, Bohn has had such incredible experiences as celebrating the new millennium in Oxford, recognizing Bastille Day in Paris, and traveling for a summer through Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Cambodia. In 2001, he was chosen to be a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. In 1999, he was elected Fowler Hamilton Visiting Research Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford University, where he spent the fall semester at Christ Church College, which was founded in the Middle Ages. There, Bohn completed work on his forthcoming Marvelous Encounters: Surrealism and the Critical Poem about surrealist poems written in response to other works of art.
He has been the recipient of grants or fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Fulbright-Hays Commission, the Camargo Foundation in France, the Institut Français de Washington, and the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain's Ministry of Culture and United States' Universities. A grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation allowed him to live in Venice for three weeks and research in local libraries; from which he released The Other Futurism.
In addition to Marvelous Encounters and The Other Futurism, Bohn has authored over 100 articles and 12 books, including Apollinaire and the Faceless Man (1991); The Aesthetics of Visual Poetry (1986, 1993); Apollinaire, Visual Poetry, and Art Criticism (1993); The Dada Market (1993); Apollinaire and the International Avant-Garde (1997); Modern Visual Poetry (2000); and The Rise of Surrealism (2001).
Bohn received his PhD in French from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Chancellor's Fellow and where he also obtained degrees in English and in Comparative Literature. He taught at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and at the University of California at Santa Cruz before coming to Illinois State University, where he is Professor of French and Comparative Literature. He was designated Outstanding University Researcher in 1988 and appointed Distinguished Professor in 2003. He currently serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Foreign Languages.