Professor receives French honor

Who knew studying French was the path to knighthood?

Metka Zupancic, an associate professor of French and modern languages, was inducted as a knight in France's Ordre des Palmes Académiques, or Order of Academic Palms.

"This gives me a deep sense of joy and contentment, also to know that my colleagues appreciate me and continue to support me in what I do and what we all do together for the promotion of French culture here in Alabama," Zupancic said.

The Ordre des Palmes Académiques is an international honor given to those who have made substantial contributions to French culture. The French Consulate in Atlanta nominated Zupancic and UA French and linguistics professor Michael Picone provided a letter of support and other material.

Zupancic said the French Consulate secretly worked with Picone, who was the former chairman for the department of modern languages and classics.

"I couldn't believe my eyes, since I had no idea this has been forthcoming for a while. I was literally on cloud nine and wanted to share it with all my friends and students, but thought I better check it out with my colleagues to find out if they knew anything about it. And they did," said Zupancic.

According to the Web site for the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, it was created by Napoleon Bonaparte to honor distinguished members of the University of Paris. The Ordre was given to teachers or professors. In 1866, the award's scope of was widened to include French nationals outside of France who had made major contributions to the expansion of French culture in the rest of the world.

On October 4, 1955 the honor was re-established by President René Coty. Order is one of the world's oldest civil awards.

Zupancic is originally from Slovenia, a country in south central Europe. She earned her doctorate in romance philology from the University of Zagreb in 1988 and in 1977 earned a D[SM1]octorat de 3e cycle from the University of Strasbourg in France.

For the members of the Order who had inspired her, she said one of her first French teachers in college inspired her, whom she respected and admired and was also inducted in the order.

"She was definitely my model as I watched her dedication to every new generation of French students. Very deep inside I thought: maybe one day I can be like her, and maybe one day I will be inducted in the Order myself," said Zupancic. "And here I am, far away from Slovenia, and still doing the same work, making students aware of the beauty and the complexity of French language and culture."

Zupancic has published a collection of her essays, in French, titled "Helene Cixous: texture mythique et alchimique."

She also teaches courses at the University. At the undergraduate level, she teaches courses in French studies, French phonetics and English-French translation, commercial French and French civilization, as well as courses in contemporary French and Francophone literature.

She also teaches a seminar titled "Yoga: East and West" for the Blount Undergraduate Initiative. Her graduate courses include the 20th and 21st century French and Francophone novel, critical theory, feminism, myth and literature and film and literature.