Category: Alumni Updates: French & Francophone Studies

In the Fall of 2010 Casey Czajka started a PhD program in the Department of French and Italian at Tulane University. She intends to research the politics of death and mourning in France. In particular, she plans to study state funerals under the French Third Republic and the ways in which such public displays of grief were exploited by those in power.

Julia Osman (’04) will be returning to campus in November to meet with the students currently enrolled in Prof. Pacini’s senior seminar. In addition to speaking on Laclos’ novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (on this year’s syllabus for French 450), Osman will talk about her research and writing methods, and in particular about how she transformed an undergraduate term paper into a publishable article. Her essay, entitled “Laclos’s Novel Approach to Military Crisis and Reform,” is forthcoming in the Spring 2010 edition of the international journal Eighteenth-Century Fiction.

Julia Osman is currently a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is completing her dissertation, “The Citizen Army of Old Regime France,” under the direction of Professor Jay M. Smith. This work examines the transformation of France’s aristocratic army into a citizen army as an Old Regime, rather than a Revolutionary, phenomenon.

“I’m currently living in Washington DC, after having completed an MA in international administration at the University of Denver and 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa.  I now work for Population Services International (www.psi.org) an international NGO that works in malaria, reproductive health, child survival and HIV in over 60 countries worldwide.  I specifically support our programs in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Haiti and use French regularly in my job and get the opportunity to travel 3-4 times a year!  It’s been a great learning experience for me.”

Ariel received a Fullbright Scholarship to teach English in Andorra and is currently working at the Chronicle for Higher Education

“I came to William & Mary as a near-native French speaker and I was looking for a program that could offer insightful and current commentary on French language and culture.  Throughout my four years in the department there were always several fascinating courses offered every semester, and I always had a hard time choosing between them.  My professors encouraged me to explore a wide variety of topics and let me choose the ways I wanted to share what I was learning—not only through presentations and papers but also through creative works and applied projects.  The ideas and topics from my French studies often came up in other courses and helped me discover new lines of research and tie my interests together.

My French degree from William & Mary has put me in touch with a rich and diverse francophone community and given me the opportunity to explore many different career paths.  The skills I learned by participating in student-faculty conferences, working on the film festival, and serving as a TA have been invaluable since I’ve graduated, and the support and guidance of my professors encouraged me to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship.  I know that I have the continued support and advice of the department as I’m starting a new job after returning to the U.S. and considering graduate schools.”

Kevin Lonabaugh (French/Francophone Studies and Biology, Monroe student and Phi Beta Kappa), has just been informed by the French Embassy that he received an Assistantship for next year and that he will teach English in 2010-11 in a French lycée in Corsica.

“During my four years at the College, I decided to double major in both French and Biology.  The decision is definitely one of the best that I have made.  It’s permitted me to pursue a wide variety of interests – I’ve gotten to take the science courses relevant to my future career as a pharmacist, but I’ve also taken many liberal arts courses to develop interests aside from those which directly relate to my career.  I’ve had many exciting opportunities through the William and Mary French department.  I enjoyed taking the chance to participate in a summer study abroad opportunity through William and Mary in the city of Montpellier.  That experience solidified my interest in continuing French and made me want to return for a longer time period.  I’m going to get the chance to go back next year teaching English in Corsica through the French embassy.  I’ve also enjoyed the different classes and skills I’ve picked up in my French classes.  I’ve taken several classes which had strong emphasis on cinema, and my appreciation for movies and film-making in general has been greatly expanded.  I’ve learned how to make films, which is something I had never really considered when I started out here.  It was a wonderful decision completing a double major, and it’s made my experience here at the College truly a unique one.”

On June 5 I was ordained to the Catholic priesthood for the Diocese of Richmond. I currently serve at a cluster of four parishes in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, Virginia. I don’t use my French as much, but I put my developing Spanish to use regularly to serve our Latin American parishioners.

I taught French at the University of Richmond for over 20 years, retiring in 2000 I but did some night school classes for a couple of years after that. At UR, in addition to teaching, I was the Director of the Intensive French Program, hiring and training Drill Instructors, and I was also the Director of the Summer Study Abroad Program in La Rochelle, France. After I left UR I continued to teach at Virginia Commonwealth University part time from 2001-2006 and then really retired! I had started a Summer Study Abroad Program in France for VCU in 2003. Prior to my stint at UR I taught French in an elementary school, grades 4-7 and in 2 high schools. I have hosted students from around the world who get my name and number through whatever organization has brought them here! I have thoroughy enjoyed meeting and housing them.

Would you believe that one can combine language skills with teaching skiing? Yes, it is possible. For a decade straight out of W&M I used French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish with private clientele at Keystone, CO, part of Vail Resorts. Then fell into international bike guiding with Vermont Bicycle Touring http//www.vbt.com headquartered in Burgundy, France. Eventually combined Human Resources with both organizations. Now I head up the Employee Center at Keystone, which is similar to a student union. Later this week I’ll help 100+ international housekeepers on-board. To keep my French up, I loan my organizational skills to the local Le Cercle Francais. In my spare time, I am the director of the Center for Lifelong Learning for Colorado Mt College http://www.coloradomtn.edu/cll My true indulgence for CMC is offering Italian workshops. You have to make life grand! Feel free to contact.

(BA, MA, ED French/Elem.Ed., Museum Education): Currently I am a French Tutor ! 🙂 (Updated 2010)

(BA International Relations & French): Foreign Service Officer serving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia until summer 2011. (Updated 2010)

(BA French): I have my own greeting card and design business (Fast Snail Greetings & Design). One of my “specialities” is French motifs. People love the Eiffel Tower! (Updated 2010)

(BA French): Getting to homecoming at W&M is never easy. I am an Associate Professor of French at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. I am also currently serving as the Chair of the Foreign Languages and Literature Department. I can only imagine all the work gone into setting up this website – good job! Have a great time at homecoming. (Updated 2010)

(BA French): I work with several American study abroad programs in Aix-en-Provence, France. Enjoy seeing W&M students in my groups! (Updated 2010)

(BA French & History): After teaching English for two years in France, I returned to the U.S. for grad school. I finished my master’s degree in 2004 and am nearly finished with the coursework for my PhD in education.

Joe Zaccaria (class of 1981) writes: “If not for my French studies at W&M . . . I probably wouldn’t have known of Montpellier other than as a three-minute train station stop on the way to Carcassonne or Barcelona. I wouldn’t have discovered the joys of the landscapes, language, “vieilles pierres”, and people of Languedoc and Provence. I wouldn’t have needed to find a way to get back to France after my junior year, and I wouldn’t have had my W&M professors to help me get a French government teaching assistantship in Marseille, so I wouldn’t have lived there for three years. I wouldn’t have met the people there who made me think it would me fun to live in Denmark, so I wouldn’t have been in Copenhagen teaching English and French for three years. I wouldn’t have met the French friend there who introduced me to my Canadian wife, so I wouldn’t have lived in Ontario for a year (which I could do by getting a work permit to teach French) while I applied to law schools. I wouldn’t have gone to Michigan Law School because it was closest to Ontario, and I wouldn’t have moved back to Canada with my wife for good after practicing law for a few years in the States. So I wouldn’t be in Southern Ontario now, and I probably wouldn’t be back to my first love, teaching (which I first did as an “apprentice teacher” under Professor Cloutier in ’78-’79 and ’80-‘81). I wouldn’t be so happy teaching Grade 5 and 6 in a really good French Immersion school, and I wouldn’t have a wife and daughter who understand (well, sort of) why there are still lavender buds in the pocket of my jacket from our trip to France three years ago.”

Monica Loveley (’05) writes from Guyane: “I’m working right now in Cayenne, French Guiana, the capitol of the only French department in South America. I teach English to students from ages 10 to 21, mostly children of immigrants from Suriname, Brazil, Haiti, Dominica, British Guyana, and the metropole. Here is complete immersion in the French language, in a culture and a place completely its own. Every day I wake under my mosquito net and my first thoughts are in French; I get out of bed and I sweat; I go to school and I sweat; I leave school and the steering wheel of my car burns my hands and so I drive with my fingertips, dodging students and bikes and trucks blasting reggae as I careen through the vibrant pastel slums. I love the work I’m doing here and only wish I had more. In my inordinate amount of free time I’m learning Portuguese and travelling as much as possible, having just gotten back from spending a week in Paris, and spending three weeks in the Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe before arriving in French Guiana in late September.”

Drew Johnston (’05) is spending seven months in 2005 and 2006 as an “Assistant de Langue Vivante” in the French overseas department of Réunion, a tropical island located 500 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. He works 12 hours a week in a high school and middle school with small groups of nine to fifteen students. Réunion is an island rich in both culture and natural wonders, including the most active volcano in the world. When Drew isn’t at work, he spends his time on the beach, taking hikes in the mountains, and learning all there is to know about the island’s unique cuisine. Applicants to this program can request to be placed in any department in mainland France or in any of its four DOMs (Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, or French Guiana). Information on the program can be found on the French embassy website at: http://www.info-france-usa.org/visitingfrance/teach.asp. Anyone interested in taking advantage of this opportunity should also feel free to contact Drew at drewconnerjohnston@gmail.com if they have any questions or concerns.

Clara Odell ’04 writes about her experiences in France: “Returning to France as a teaching assistant was, for me, the perfect choice of what to do after graduation. My time in Albi was fulfilling in terms of gaining teaching experience and living in a beautiful Southwestern French town, but it also, in combination with my junior year abroad in Montpellier, clinched my realisation that speaking French and being immersed in French and Francophone culture is a necessity for whatever I do in life. My goal for next year is to study Francophone Literature in Paris, and later down the road get a Masters in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, hopefully looking into the role of culture and cross-cultural communication in conflict situations. So basically, to sum it all up, I really like baguettes and couscous, and that’s why I keep going back.”

In a letter from Niger, Katie Leach-Kemon ’04 reflects upon her current work in the Peace Corps. In particular, she discusses the relevance of last year’s honors thesis research on French women in the eighteenth-century public sphere. Katie writes: “In my senior honors thesis, I explored popular discussion about prostitutes as a social problem in 18th-century France. Much of this discussion was rooted in a general fear concerning women’s participation and subsequent influence in the public sphere. Today, one year later, I am working as a health volunteer in a highly religious Muslim community in Niger. The other day, a woman in my town was arrested on charges of prostitution. The punishment? The town officials shaved her head. The pages of the honors thesis that I wrote at William and Mary were flashing before my eyes: shaving the heads of prostitutes was a common punishment in early 18th-century France. Not only was the punishment similar, but also the Nigerian officials’ attitude towards the prostitute mirrored the attitudes of 18th-century French society. “What happened to the man who was found with her?” I asked. “Nothing. It is the prostitute who must be punished since she wanders around and seduces the men, causing them to sin,” I was told. Working in Niger has provided me with an incredible experience to work and research at the forefront of the the fight for women’s rights. After my two-year service is complete, I plan to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Development with a concentration in Gender Studies.”

Cybelle McFadden Wilkens ’97 has just defended her PhD in Romance Studies at Duke University. While at William & Mary, Cybelle wrote an honors thesis in French entitled “Imagining the Impossible: Alternative Visions and Representations of Women and Their Desire in Films By Kurys, Varda, and Akerman.” After graduation, she conducted research in Brussels as a Fulbright scholar. Cybelle’s doctoral dissertation focuses on “Women’s Artistic Expression: Reflexivity, Daily Life, and Self-Representation in Contemporary France.” She has also published an article entitled “Body, Text, and Language: Wittig’s Struggle For The Universal in Les Guérillères” in Women in French Studies 12 (2004). Cybelle has just accepted a Visiting Assistant Professorship of French at the Georgia Institute of Technology. We wish her all the best!