News from the Director, Dr. Gayle Zachmann, Fall 2006

It is a pleasure to announce that the Paris Research Center has now welcomed over 90 UF scholars, hosted nearly 500 international scholars at UF-sponsored research events and facilitated study abroad development from all corners of the campus.  The facilitation of research for developing individual and group publications and projects significantly fosters the creation of new courses for UF students. Since the 2004 initiation of our innovative course programming, we have brought well over 350 students to Paris for study and research. In addition to the ample readings, intensive site-study and research projects for our courses, we are delighted to announce two student exhibitions on view this semester on the UF Campus. “Photographing Paris,” organized by Professor Sergio Vega, features a selection of work produced by students enrolled in the Honors in Paris 2006 program (Focus Gallery: November 15, 2006 - January 15, 2007). “The Architecture of Paris: Experiments of Space,” organized by Professor Nancy Clark, highlights student work from the May Intersession 2006 Architecture program (Reitz Union, 2nd floor:  October 4-17, 2006).

It has been a pleasure to work with such positive energy and to see the result of faculty and student enthusiasm. In this regard, numerous activities are forthcoming at the Paris Research Center, including new curricular development for the UF community and several conferences and workshops set to run in Spring and Summer 2007. For further information on PRC membership, to learn more about how you or your unit may benefit from the Paris Research Center, to propose workshops and activities, or to set up an information session on opportunities at the PRC for your unit, please contact us at paris-research@clas.ufl.edu or visit our website at www.clas.ufl.edu/PRC.

Workshops, Symposia and Expositions 2006

In the past year, the Paris Research Center was delighted to facilitate the following international initiatives:   

• In February, the Paris Research Center hosted an international workshop organized by Maureen Turim (University of Florida) and Christa Blümlinger (Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle).  The atelier, ‘I am (not) an Amazon’: Women and the Avant-gardes, focused on the still under-theorized issues surrounding writing and image making by women. Invited speakers addressed female artists of various contemporary arts, such as fine arts, photography, cinema, literature, dance, video and media art.
  
  Participants included: Nora Alter (U of Florida), Nicole Brenez (U de Paris I), Christine Buci-Glucksmann (U de Paris VIII), Chantal Duchet (U de Paris III), Lucy Fischer (U of Pittsburgh), Gertrud Koch (Free Univ., Berlin), Laura Mulvey (Birkbeck U, London), Chantal Pontbriand (Parachute, Montreal/Paris), Shelley Rice (NYU), Jennifer Wild (Paris), Elvan Zabunyan (U de Rennes II), and Gayle Zachmann (U of Florida).

• In April, the Paris Research Center and the Center for African Studies in conjunction with the Festival Francophone en France, organized Présences Africaines: Contesting Images and Creating Identities. A two-day interdisciplinary discussion joining international scholars, this workshop focused on how African communities in France have been imaged and imagined in French society and politics. Conference organizers: Leonardo Villalòn (University of Florida, Center for African Studies), Abdoulaye Kane (University of Florida, Anthropology) and Gayle Zachmann (University of Florida, Paris Research Center).
  
  Writers featured: Fatou Diome, Paulin Joachim, Jake Lamar, Daniel Maximin, Nimrod, Simon Njami, Maboula Soumahoro, and Abdourahman Waberi. Participants included: Brunhilde Biebuyck (Columbia U), Marcus Bruce (Bates College), Geneviève Calame-Griaule (CNRS), Odile Cazenave (Boston U), Jacques Chevrier (Sorbonne), Christophe Daum (U de Paris VII), Jean-Philippe Dedieu (EHESS), Romuald Fonkoua (Présence Africaine), Joan Frosh (U of Florida), Janet MacGaffey (Bucknell U), Steven Nelson (UCLA), Ayoko Mensah (Africultures), Victoria Rovine (U of Florida), Ibrahima Abdoul Sall (Mairie de Paris), Jean Schmitz (EHESS), Alioune Sow (U of Florida), film producer Bob Swaim, Mohamet Timera (U du Havre) and Steven Ungar (U of Iowa).

• In June, the Paris Research Center organized and hosted the second annual Paris Research Center workshop series in French studies. Organized by Gayle Zachmann (Paris Research Center) and Charles Stivale (Wayne State University), the workshop provides a forum for critical and collaborative discussion of Cultural Production in the 19th Century. This year, the two-day seminar was attended by over 30 distinguished guest scholars from France, Canada and the United States.
  
  Participants included: Anne-Marie Baron (Société des Amis d’Honoré de Balzac), Dorian Bell (U of Pennsylvania), Eric Bordas (U de Paris III), Vincent Duclert (EHESS), Elizabeth Emery (Montclair State U), Lucienne Frappier-Mazur (U of Pennsylvania), Françoise Gaillard (U de Paris VII), Andrea Goulet (U of Illinois), Melanie Hawthorne (Texas A & M), Elisabeth Ladenson (Columbia U), Brigitte Mahuzier (Bryn Mawr College), Anne McCall (Tulane U), Nicole Mozet (U de Paris VII), Michel Pierssens (Univ. de Montréal), Jean-Marie Roulin (U Jean Monnet—St. Etienne),  Gisèle Seginger (U de Marne la Vallée) and Marie-Eve Thérenty (U de Montpellier III), among others.

• In June, PRC Scholars-in-Residence and students were delighted to attend the Palais de Tokyo Center for Contemporary Art opening of Sergio Vega’s “Crocodilian Fantasies.” The multi-media installation was featured in the three-month “Tropico-Vegétal (Lost in Paradise)” exposition. The opening was followed by “A la recherche du paradis,” an afternoon event of guest lectures and discussion by Sergio Vega and Jean Delumeau (Collège de France).

• In September, the PRC hosted Pathways for Women, a two-day workshop involving academics, policy makers, and practitioners. The purpose of the workshop was to evaluate and fine-tune a proposed survey of the different ways women in international business environments utilize mentoring and networking to achieve career goals. "Pathways for Women” was sponsored by the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, and Indiana University.  Organized by: Terry Dworkin (Indiana U), Angel Kwolek-Folland (U of Florida), Virginia G. Maurer (U of Florida) and Cindy Schipani (U of Michigan).

Upcoming Critical Discussions and Workshops

• The PRC is pleased to hold the third annual Florence Gould Foundation Lecture Series in Landscape Architecture “Unbuilt Works/Projets non réalisés” (Fall 2006). Speakers featured in the 2006 series include: Florence Mercier (Landscape Architect, F M Paysage, Paris), Pierre Clement (Architect, Arte Charpentier, Paris), and Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture R. Terry Schnadelbach (University of Florida). Scholars featured in the past include: Faye Harwell (Landscape Architect, Rhodeside & Harwell, Washington, DC), Philippe Nys (Université de Paris VIII & Université de Paris I), Jacqueline Osty (Landscape Architect, Paris), Philippe Robert (Architect/Landscape Architect, Riechen et Robert, Paris) and Rosemary Wakeman (Fordham University & Université Paris-Creteil).
• Reconsidering the Relational in Art (Spring 2007).  This workshop, organized by Alexander Alberro (Art History), will revisit the concept of relationality, questioning its social dimensions and political density in the contemporary moment.  The conference will be structured around the work of Jacques Ranciere. 
• Cultural Production in the 19th Century: Voices and Visions of the Contemporary (June 2007), the third edition of the annual Paris Research Center workshop series in French Studies, organized by Gayle Zachmann (Paris Research Center) and Charles Stivale (Wayne State University), will welcome approximately 30 Scholars from Europe and the United States.
• In Fall 2007 we are looking forward to hosting the second edition of Quantum Dynamics of Complex Molecular Systems.  Planning is currently underway with the organizers, David Micha (Physics) and Irene Burghardt (Ecole Normale Supérieure). The first workshop was attended by 47 scholars from 9 countries and resulted in the October 2006 publication Quantum Dynamics of Complex Molecular Systems (Springer; Eds. David A. Micha and Irene Burghardt). It was an enthusiastic working group, and we are delighted to welcome them back to the Center.
• The international translation conference, New Approaches to Translation Pedagogy on Both Sides of the Atlantic: Sharing Best Practices, is also currently in planning.  Organized by Elizabeth Lowe (Translation Studies), the mission of the conference is to bring together academics and students engaged in translation studies on both sides of the Atlantic, to examine new approaches to translation pedagogy and to share best practices in the field.

Distinguished Guest Lecturers 2005-2006

• Jennifer Allora, Multimedia installation artist
• Pierre Clement, Architect, Arte Charpentier

• Georgiana Colvile, Professor of English and American language and literature at the University of Tours
• Vincent Duclert, professeur agrégé, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
• Holly Fischer, Filmmaker, producer, director, camera, editor
• Faye Harwell, Landscape architect, Rhodeside and Harwell, Washington, DC
• Daniel Maximin, Poet, novelist and essayist; recipient of the Grand Prix de l’Académie Française Maurice Genevoix in December 2004
• Florence Mercier, Landscape Architect, conseil des Yvelines
• Philippe Nys, maître de conférences, Université de Paris VIII; professor Université de Paris I
• Shelley Rice, Associate Arts Professor in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University
• R. Terry Schnadelbach, Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida
• Veerle Thielemans, Head of Academic Programs for the Musée d’Art Américan Giverny and the Terra Foundation for American Art
• Steven Ungar, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa
• Sergio Vega, Photographer, Installation artist, Associate Professor of Photography, University of Florida
• Rosemary Wakeman, Associate Professor of History, Fordham University and Université Paris-Creteil

Scholars-in-Residence 2005-2006

UF Scholars-in-Residence

The Paris Research Center provides logistic, consultative, research and administrative services to member unit faculty. In 2005-6 we were pleased to welcome many UF faculty members as Scholars-in-Residence, each of whom benefited from the Paris campus facilities in diverse and discipline-specific ways.

Scholars-in-Residence this year include: Farid AitSahilia (Industrial & Systems Engineering), Nora Alter (Germanic & Slavic), Nancy Clark (Architecture), George Dawson (Levin College of Law), Joan Frosh (Center for World Arts), Robert Hatch (History), Peter Hirshfeld (Physics), Melissa Hyde (Art History), Gary Ihas (Physics), Abdoulaye Kane (Anthroplogy), Elizabeth Lowe (Translation Studies), Brian McCrea (English), Vasudha Narayan (Religion), Scott Nygren (English/Film & Media), Mark Orazem (Industrial & Systems Engineering), Victoria Rovine (Art & Art History), Christopher Slobogin (Levin College of Law), Alioune Sow (Romance Languages and Literatures), Henry Tosi (Warrington College of Business Administration), Maureen Turim (English/Film & Media Studies), Sergio Vega (Photography) and Leonardo Villalòn (Center for African Studies).  This fall we are pleased to welcome Robert D’Amico (Philosophy), Angel Kwolek-Folland (History), Virginia G. Maurer (Warrington) and Terry Schnadlebach (Landscape Architecture) as Scholars-in-Residence.

Visiting Scholars-in-Residence

In 2005-6 the Paris Research Center welcomed two Distinguished Visiting Scholars-in-Residence, Steven Ungar (University of Iowa) and Ziad Elmarsafy (University of York).

Study Abroad Initiatives

Since the 2004 initiation of innovative course programming, the Paris Research Center has welcomed over 350 students to Paris on a wide array of discipline-specific high motivation programs from units across campus.  

Introducing International Affairs and the Public Sphere, Fall Term  

The UF Paris Research Center is pleased to announce the inauguration of International Affairs and the Public Sphere (IAPS), a program designed to promote cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary understanding for students of all majors. In the fall of 2007, students may enroll in coursework in business, law, journalism, cultural studies, language, and political science. Courses offered in cooperation with the Warrington College of Business Administration, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and the College of Journalism & Communications.

Honors in Paris 2006

Conceived as a four-month research seminar, the Honors in Paris program unites UF scholars from different fields to create a comprehensive academic experience for highly motivated UF students.  Last year’s theme, Imaging the World: the Cultural Production of 20th Century Paris, joined Abdoulaye Kane (Anthropology & Center for African Studies), Maureen Turim (English), Sergio Vega (Photography/Art & Art History), Leonardo Villalon (Center for African Studies) and Gayle Zachmann (Paris Research Center & RLL). Next year’s program, Mapping French Culture: Visual, Literary and Political Movements of 20th-Century France, joins Alexander Alberro (Art & Art History), Nora Alter (Germanic & Slavic), Roger Beebe (English) and William Calin (RLL). 

Intensive Study Abroad 2006: Spring Break & May Intersession

The PRC offers a wide range of courses over Spring Break and May Intersession. This year’s courses were created by: Nancy Clark (Architecture), Brian McCrea (English), Vikram Rangala (Honors), R. Terry Schnadelbach (Landscape Architecture), Maureen Turim (English/Film & Media Studies), and Sergio Vega (Photography/Art & Art History).

Summer in Paris 2006

The summer term brought 32 undergraduates and 2 graduate students to Paris.  Teaching on the program were: Robert Hatch (History), Richard Conley (Political Science), Melissa Hyde (Art & Art History), and Scott Nygren (English/Film & Media Studies). Highlights of the program included a visit to the Prime Minister’s residence at the Hotel Matignon, a guest lecture and film screening by the award winning filmmaker Holly Fisher, and more.

Summer Law Program in Paris & Montpellier, France

In summer 2006, the PRC was pleased to welcome 24 students from the Levin College of Law. While on-site students took advantage of discipline specific visits to the ICC & International Court of Arbitration, the Palais de Justice and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), among others.

Fall Semester Landscape Architecture Studio in Paris

This year, in addition to program coursework, excursions and a week-long tour of Italian landscapes, the PRC is once again the recipient of a grant from the Florence Gould Foundation to support the annual lecture series “Unbuilt Works/Projets non réalisés.”

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Other Director News

• Fall 2005
• Fall 2004
• Fall 2003

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