Ohio’s French and Italian language ministries will join the French Embassy’s list of centers of excellence Credit: Christian Harsa | Assistant. photo editor
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The Ohio Department of French and Italian Language has been named a Center of Excellence by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, joining a network of just 22 famous universities.
According to the cultural services of the French Embassy, the network of centers of excellence aims to strengthen Franco-American relations and to arouse students’ interest in France, the French language and French-speaking literature. Not only does the Center of Excellence offer an additional prestige undergraduate program, but it also automatically provides for said program $ 3,500 per year and up to $ 20,000 more per year when schools apply for a specific project.
Once a university program is named a Center of Excellence by the embassy, it is a permanent title, said Dana Ringa, professor and head of the French and Italian department and co-director of the film studies program.
Ringa said FRIT is probably known as a center of excellence because of its distinguished foreign exchange programs, study programs and faculty – and she said one in particular had followed the bureaucratic application process and “drove the mission to achieve it”.
This is something the department, especially Professor Hoffman, has been working on for a few years actually, where they’ve reached out to other colleagues and got a lot of support, and also networked with places in Columbus where we. hopefully the book he invites can stay and go online. Students and teachers, ”Ringa said.
Ringa said Benjamin Hoffmann, associate professor in the Department of French and Italian and director of the Ohio State Center of Excellence, was already a much revered novelist in France. By establishing the FRIT as a center of excellence, Hoffmann said that the funding and the reputation that it generates will help to strengthen the focus chosen by the center on contemporary French and Francophone literature.
“I would say the symbolic element is really important,” Hoffman said. I hope this is a way for us to make our graduate program more competitive, as we will be able to say to our future students: ‘You see, we have this financial institutional support to bring academics on a regular basis and thinkers at OSU. ‘ ‘
Renga said FRIT’s undergraduates would reap the benefits of being part of the network as well, using Hoffmann’s “super-popular” creative writing course as an example of how to improve the overall value of the network. university teaching of FRIT.
“[Hoffman’s] The plan is to integrate these very popular writers into the course and in doing so connect students to future internship opportunities if they wish to study abroad or work abroad in a French speaking country, ”a Ringa said.
Bringing in creative writers is an initiative Hoffman hopes to implement not only through the FRIT program in general, but also in the form of a residency program. Residents – who may come from overseas – will work on their creative writing projects throughout their stay in Columbus, with many lectures to students.
Hoffman said the Creative Writing Residency program has yet to be officially offered to the FRIT department and then to the Embassy for project-related funding, but Ringa said she expects it to be. ‘he receives the full support of the department.
“The goal now is to bring a French or French-speaking writer on campus for a period of five weeks to two months,” Hoffmann said.
Hoffman said he wants to find a balance between expectations and freedom when it comes to what a resident would do in Columbus.
“We would like this person to be able to give two lectures: one at the start of their stay and one at the end – so that we can reflect a bit on their experience – and contribute at least one or two classes of our colleagues. ”Hoffman said. “But the idea that was at the heart of the proposal was always just an admission that it is difficult for writers to have enough time to work on projects.”
Hoffmann said that those who have been accepted into the residency program will be encouraged to pursue a United States-related project, which reflects the mission of the French Embassy’s cultural services – but other projects don’t spoil the case.
“We would like this person to pursue a related project in the United States because he will be one of the few French people in writing in the United States,” Hoffman said. “But at the same time, if we received a particularly attractive project from an experienced writer who is not necessarily tied to the United States, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
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