Two members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of French and Italian have been named Chevalier dans L'Ordre des Palmes Academiques, an honor bestowed on scholars, scientists, and those in literary and artistic fields by the French Ministry of Education.
Aliko Songolo, a professor of French and African languages and literature, and Ritt Deitz (M.A.'90, Ph.D.'94, French), the executive director of the Professional French Masters Program, were honored May 5 in a ceremony at the UW-Madison French House presided over by Graham Paul, the consul general of France in Chicago.
Songolo's publications include Aimé Césaire: une poétique de la découverte (1985) and two co-edited volumes, Twenty-five Years After Dakar and Fourah Bay: The Growth of African Literature (1998) and Atlantic Cross-Currents/ Transatlantiques (2001). He is also the chair of the Department of African Languages and Literature.
Deitz, who edited the 2010 book of essays Post-Francophile: Stories from the Professional French Masters Program and its 2014 follow-up, Francophonia, teaches courses on professional communication, research methods, and Quebec culture and society.