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IU French scholar to be awarded France's highest academic honor
Oct. 19, 2000
EDITORS: The ambassador will be available to answer questions from the media after the award ceremony. For more information, contact George Vlahakis, manager of media relations, at the number above, or Amanda Ciccarelli of West European Studies at 812-855-3280 or weur@indiana.edu
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- France's ambassador to the United States will visit Indiana University on Thursday (Oct. 26) to present a lecture and to award an IU professor his nation's highest academic honor.
His Excellency François Bujon de l'Estang will speak in English on the subject, "The State of the European Union and the Priorities of the French Presidency," at 5 p.m. in the Moot Court Room (Room 123) of the IU School of Law. The IU Department of West European Studies is serving as host for his visit.
Immediately following the lecture, he will decorate Albert Valdman, the Rudy Professor of French and Italian and Linguistics, with France's highest academic award, the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
The Palmes Académiques was established in 1808 by Napoleon Bonaparte as an award for devotion and accomplishment in the areas of teaching, scholarship and research.
These arts and sciences awards have been cherished in France for nearly 200 years. While the form of the award has changed, as has the organization that administers it, the Palmes have survived social and political storms which have shaken France and it has an esteem not readily equaled in that country. In 1955, the greatest change in the award's history happened when the Palmes Académiques was officially raised to the status of ministerial order administered by the Ministry of Education. Valdman will hold the highest rank in the order, Commandeur.
Valdman has been the recipient of several other prestigious international awards, including other honors from the French government, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the International Association of Applied Linguistics and the American Association of Teachers of French. He served as president of both of these associations.
He also was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. He is a respected scholar in the fields of French linguistics and language teaching, Haitian Creole and applied linguistics.
Valdman is a world authority on pidgin and creole languages, especially Haitian and Louisiana Creole. He founded IU's Creole Institute and is the senior author of several dictionaries on French Creoles, including the recently published Dictionary of Louisiana Creole, the unique resource for the language. He has authored or edited more than 40 books and written some 200 articles.
A native of Paris, France, Valdman earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University before coming to IU in 1960. He has served as chair of the Department of Linguistics and is currently chairman of the Committee for Research and Development in Language Instruction and director of the Beginning French Program.
He also is the founding and continuing editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, the leading international journal in the field. In 1998, the IU Office of International Programs presented Valdman with its John W. Ryan Award, which honors faculty members at any IU campus who have made distinguished contributions to the development of the university's international programs.
Ambassador Bujon de l'Estang has served as ambassador to the United States since 1995. A graduate of the Institut d'Études Politique de Paris, the École Nationale d'Administration and Harvard Business School, he has dedicated himself to government service and work in the nuclear energy industry.
He was first appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966, as a special adviser to the staff of President Charles de Gaulle. He also served as senior adviser for diplomatic affairs, defense and cooperation under Prime Minister Jacques Chirac from 1986-88. He has been assigned to embassy postings in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. In the private sector, among numerous corporate positions, he has served as president and chief executive officer of COGEMA's U.S. operations and on the boards of several companies.
In his lecture, he is expected to discuss why this is a crucial period for Europe. Negotiations are under way which should transform the institutions and the functioning of the European Union, prior to its enlargement. At the same time, governments and the European Central Bank are confronting the new situation created by the adoption of a common currency, which is transforming the European economic landscape with important implications for trade and business worldwide.
The ambassador will address these issues and, more generally, give his views on this period of important transition toward a more united Europe. France has the responsibility of the presidency of the European Union until the end of this year.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)