14064: Vedrine: French / Creole researcher earns French government's highest award (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>



[Excerpt from:
http://www.indiana.edu/~frithome/alumni/summer01/valdman01.html

French Ambassador to the United States François Bujon de l'Estang presents
Professor Valdman with the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

On Oct. 26, 2000, IU Bloomington's Rudy Professor of French and Italian and
Linguistics, Albert Valdman, received the highest academic honor that the
government of France can bestow to recognize outstanding contributions and
devotion to teaching, scholarship, and research: the Commandeur dans l'Ordre
des Palmes Académiques.

L'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, established in 1808 by Napoléon Bonaparte,
comprises three ascending ranks: Chevalier, Officier, and Commandeur all
three of which Valdman has now been awarded.
The award ceremony took place before an overflow audience in the Moot Court
of the School of Law. It was presided over by French Ambassador to the
United States François Bujon de l'Estang, accompanied by General Consul
Jean-René Gehan, Cultural Counselor Pierre Buhler, and Cultural Attaché
Olivier Boasson. Dean of International Programs Patrick O'Meara and Dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences Kumble Subbaswamy delivered the
introductions.

The ambassador praised Valdman as a "staunch defender of the linguistic
diversity of French" and cited him as one of the world's top specialists in
the study of French-based Creole languages. Valdman has received numerous
international honors and accolades in a lifetime dedicated to research and
teaching of the French language, French linguistics, pidgin and Creole
studies (especially Haitian and Louisiana Creoles), second language
acquisition, and bilingual education. His work and scholarship have been
recognized by the French government, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the
International Association of Applied Linguistics, and the American
Association of Teachers of French. He also holds an honorary degree from the
Université de Neuchâtel (1991).

In addition to authoring and editing numerous books and textbooks, Valdman
founded IU's Creole Institute in 1964, and he is founder/editor of the
journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition, the leading international
journal in the field. Among his most recent books as senior author and
editor are A Learner's Dictionary of Haitian Creole (1998), Dictionary of
Louisiana Creole (1998), and Chez nous: Introduction au monde francophone
(1998), a first-year French language textbook co-written with Cathy Pons,
MA'81, MA'84, PhD'90. Moreover, Valdman has written more than 200 articles
and reviews for the major professional journals in his fields of research.

In response to the ambassador's remarks, Valdman paid tribute to the
dedicated teachers of French in the United States, to IUB for supporting a
French graduate program specializing in linguistics as well as language and
literature, and to colleagues and students willing to work on
non-mainstream, French-based language varieties outside of France. ]


Courtesy of
E.W.VEDRINE CREOLE PROJECT, Inc.
P.O.Box 255 110
Dorchester, MA 02125-5110 (USA)


_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus