SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Under the tenure of Lars Erickson, associate professor of French and director of the French International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island, the program has grown from a 20-student enrollment to 70 students in 15 years.
Many of the students he has taught have interned at French companies and gone on to receive their doctorates at French universities.
In recognition of his dedication to the study of French language and culture, the government of France is naming Erickson a Chevalier, or knight, of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques at a ceremony later this spring to be held at the Consulate General of France in Boston.
“It’s an honor to be recognized,’’ said Erickson in a statement. “I’ve worked hard at sharing my passion for France and for French with my students. It’s a pleasure to do something I love every day.”
The award dates to 1808, when Napoleon I established the honorary title to recognize university members.
URI’s French International Engineering Program is a five-year program in which students receive joint engineering and French degrees and spend a year studying abroad. That year is split in half, for six months students study at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne followed by a six-month internship at a company in France.
A South Kingstown resident, Erickson began working at URI in 2001 and received a full professorship in 2014. He received undergraduate degrees in French and chemistry from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minn., and his doctorate in French from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
JoAnn Hammadou-Sullivan, also a URI professor of French, received the award in 2017, and Joëlle Rollo-Koster, a URI history professor and a native of France who specializes in the late European Middle Ages, was honored in 2016.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
