College French Professor Awarded L’Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique Award
October 18, 2019 – Professor Miléna Santoro of the Department of French and Francophone Studies, received the L’Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique Award as recognition for her work that promotes French culture in North America.
This award was bestowed by the Conseil supérieur de la langue française on October 9, 2019 to those have worked to develop the French language. Santoro was one of 7 recipients of this award.
Winners from this year’s L’Ordre des francophones d’Amérique award. From left to right: Guy Breton, Allister Surette, Ekaterina Isaeva, Guy Jobin, Suzanne de Courville Nicol, Michel Tremblay, Mme Alicia Despins, Miléna Santoro, François Larocque, Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette and M. Pierre Boutet, President of the Conseil supérieur de la langue française.
“This unexpected honor of receiving the Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique is incredibly gratifying to me, as a non-native scholar and teacher of French and Quebec Studies,” Santoro says. “I am indebted to all the teachers who helped me improve my mastery of French along the way, and to my colleagues in the Department of French and Francophone Studies, who are my daily sources of inspiration and support, along with Georgetown’s wonderful students, who continually challenge all of us to be better at what we do.”
About Santoro
Throughout her time at Georgetown, Santoro has worked tirelessly to grow awareness of the impact that the art and society of Quebec have had on an international and transatlantic scale.
“In my nearly 25 years at Georgetown, the courses I have taught, and the many events and visits by guest speakers that I have organized, have provided the opportunity to increase awareness of the wealth of literary, cinematic, and intellectual talent coming out of Quebec and Canada,” says Santoro.
Miléna Santoro at the 2019 Award Ceremony
Santoro has written extensively on this topic, publishing several books and articles including Mothers of Invention: Feminist Authors and Experimental Fiction in France and Quebec. Her most recent book project is Hemispheric Indigeneities: Native Identity and Agency in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and Canada, co-edited with Professor Erick Langer, in 2018. Her work has also appeared in Quebec Studies, The American Review of Canadian Studies, The International Journal of Canadian Studies, Women in French Studies, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, The French Review, Francographies, Etudes francophones, the Antigonish Review, and the International Poetry Review.
She is a member of several professional associations, serving in a leadership capacity for many. This includes the Association Internationale des études québécoises for which she served as president from 2015-2018, the Executive Committee for the Francophone Division the Modern Languages Association on which she served a five-year term, the American Council for Québec Studies, as Secretary, the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (Secretary from 2003-2007, Executive Council Member 2011-2015), the Women in French Studies Journal Book Review Editor, and The International Journal of Canadian Studies journal for two terms as an associate and then co-editor. She is currently on the Editorial Board of Quebec Studies.
Continuing the Streak
This is not the first award that Santoro has recently received for her work. In an 18-month span in 2017 and 2018, she received five major awards.
“I hope this award, which recognizes my commitment to teaching the French language and my engagement in and service to the field of Quebec Studies, serves as proof that great things can happen when you have a passion for learning, and when you seek ways to collaborate and share your discoveries with others along the way,” says Santoro. “I feel both privileged and humbled to be recognized with this singular honor for simply doing the work I love to do.”
-by Shelby Roller (G’19)