|
 |
 Dr. Jay Lutz was amazed to see the crowd of
nearly
100 in the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art on February 27.
Current students, museum board members, alumni, staff members,
trustees and friends gathered to see Lutz honored by the French
government.
Diane Josse, Cultural Attachée of the French Consulate in
Atlanta, was on hand to present Lutz with the medal of Chevalier
in the order of Academic Palms, created by Napoleon in 1808 to
reward devotion and accomplishment in teaching.
“As we are honoring Dr. Lutz for his efforts and passion in
teaching French language and culture, we are also honoring him
for what he represents in a larger picture: he is an emissary
for a multicultural, multilingual world, in which the French
language is a participant,” Josse said. “He is connecting
students to the world, by connecting them with French language
as well as European culture. In other words, this language does
not belong only to France; but on the contrary, belongs to all
those who embrace it worldwide!”
“Oglethorpe is honored to have Dr. Lutz receive this
distinction,” said Oglethorpe President Lawrence Schall. “He is
the anchor of our foreign language program and has helped
facilitate study abroad opportunities for countless Oglethorpe
students and their international counterparts. As a teacher and
scholar, he has inspired several generations of students to
immerse themselves in French language and culture.”
Lutz, the Frances I. Eeraerts ‘76 Professor of Foreign
Language and chair of Oglethorpe’s foreign language department,
has been with the university since 1988. He has a bachelor’s
degree in literature from Antioch College in Ohio and a master’s
and doctorate in French literature from Yale University. He is a
teacher, author, speaker and translator in both French and
Swedish. Lutz spent nearly ten years living in France and
working as the translator for Joe Allen Restaurants. He was
recently appointed to the board of the Oglethorpe University
Museum of Art. |
