This fall, two delegations visited Yale to further build ties between the university and institutions in France. Yale received visitors from the government, and from École normale supérieur (ENS), where Yale maintains a decades-long graduate student exchange program.  

On November 7, a delegation from the French Republic toured campus, including the Ambassador of France to the United States, Laurent Bili, and the Consul General of France in New York, Cédrik Fouriscot. The delegation also included Edward Yakubayev, Special Advisor at the Consulate General of France in New York; Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France in the United States and Director of Villa Albertine; and Inès Arcia, Program Officer on Higher Education of Villa Albertine. 

During their visit, the delegation met with Steven Wilkinson, Yale’s vice provost for global strategy, and Pamela da Silva, director for Latin America and Europe at Yale’s Office of International Affair. They also spoke with members of the Yale French Department, including faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students in a reception hosted by the French Department Chair Maurice Samuels at the Humanities Quadrangle.  

Prior to this, a delegation from ENS visited campus on October 29. This delegation included Frédéric Worms, president of ENS; Caroline Guény-Mentré, director of ENS Foundation; and Cédric Guillerme, director of International Affairs at ENS-PSL. 

Hélène Landemore, professor of political science at Yale and an alumna of ENS, met with the delegation. Later, the delegation met with Steven Wilkinson and Pamela da Silva, along with Brendan Walsh, senior associate provost for global strategy. The delegation toured the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library guided by Michael Morand, Beinecke director of community engagement. The delegation later had lunch with colleagues from the French Department and alumni from ENS. The delegation finished their visit by meeting with ENS and Yale graduate students at the French Department. 

Yale and France share a rich history of partnership and pedagogy. ENS archives hold a document dated to 1920 on the visit of Albert Feuillerat, representative of the French Embassy in the United States, to Wilbur L. Cross, Dean of Yale’s Graduate School, to create a Chair of French Literature at Yale. 

Since the mid-century, Yale and ENS have maintained a graduate student exchange with a select number of graduate students sent between the two schools each year. ENS graduate students typically teach at the French Department as exchange scholars while graduate students from Yale attend courses and research at ENS. 

For decades, this program has strengthened the relationship between instructors and researchers at both institutions. Edwin Duval, emeritus professor of French and former chair of the French Department, spent two years at ENS through this exchange program while several ENS alumni — including Landemore — are now faculty members at Yale.