KU Department of French, Francophone & Italian Studies

The Paris Summer Language Institute, the University of Kansas’s oldest continuously running summer study-abroad program, is in full swing! The 5-day travel portion was directed by Prof. Abigail Fields and the four-week stay in Paris is directed by Prof. Paul Scott, and Hayden Ullmann is the graduate assistant.

Last week une canicule (heatwave) hit Normandy and Brittany and so did the Summer Language Institute! Only sunny days as the group visited Omaha Beach, Mont-St Michel, and Giverny. Participants tried calvados and pommeau (specialties of Normandie) at a 16th-century farm and stopped in Cancale where some of the group tasted oysters for the first time (Prof. Fields is pictured with an oyster platter).

Students arrived in Paris on Saturday and have been navigating the capital, home stays, and rain. As well as language classes, students have had a boat tour on the Seine, a walking tour in the Marais (with a coffee tasting at La Caféothèque), and a visit to the quirky hunting and nature museum. All of these activities are entirely in French to provide an immersive linguistic and cultural experience to student participants.

As always, the end of the academic year was filled with many activities. An important highlight was our celebration of our friend and colleague, Professor Caroline Jewers, who is retiring. Friends, colleagues, and students gathered in the North Gallery of the Spencer Research Library to pay tribute to our incredible colleague. We could have filled the room several times over with all the people whose lives have been touched by Caroline. We cried, we laughed (nothing could top the inimitable Anne Patterson who dressed up as a fellow Essex girl to celebrate Caroline). We wish her all the best for her retirement. We also know that she’s not going anywhere and that she remains a member of our department family. Cheers, Caroline!

A surprise ambush was arranged to mark Prof. Bruce Hayes’s decade-long tenure as chair of the department. He was presented with a gift card for Sunflower (he is a passionate cyclist) and we are grateful for his service and commitment to the department’s mission. Merci, cher maître ! Grazie, capo !

Last week the graduate students and faculty gathered for our annual graduate student appreciation dinner. This year we have a bumper crop of graduates, with four students who will be receiving their MA and two students receiving their PhD. Félicitations!

On April 22, we gathered for our annual department honors ceremony. With over 100 people in attendance, we had a large and lively crowd to cheer on the students who received prizes. We celebrated the students who have received tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships for study abroad. And for the second year in a row, we honored one of our outstanding alums, John Magerus. John completed his PhD in French at KU almost 50 years ago and has had an impressive career as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. John's generosity has meant that over the past decade, all of our students who have presented their research at conferences have had their expenses covered. This is quite a legacy. We so enjoyed welcoming back another wonderful alum to our department. Rock chalk!

We marked the close of the semester yesterday with our traditional coffee tasting at Repetition Coffee led by owner Amy Pope, who studied in Paris and has several languages. The event is organized by French and Italian Clubs and thanks to all who came!

It's that time of year again! ☕🍰 Join us for our end-of-semester coffee tasting with Repetition Coffee this Thursday from 5-6pm!

Last week we had another important milestone for one of our PhD students--Ousmane Diop successfully defended his dissertation. Congratulations to Dr. Diop and his dissertation director Van Kelly. En avant!

Last Saturday was our fifth annual soccer death match between the French and Italian Clubs. Going into this game, the Italians held a 3-1 win advantage. After a hard-fought match, French Club immerged victorious, putting the current record at 3 wins for Italian Club and 2 wins for French Club. French Club was helped by their adorable mascot, a dog named Blue. Until next year!