Congratulations to Knight Maryse Mijalski!
The Department of European Languages & Studies is thrilled to announce that Dr. Maryse Mijalski, Senior Lecturer and French Program Director, has been awarded the prestigious title of Knight of the Order of Academic Palms by the French government.
Born in Limoges, in central France, Dr. Mijalski grew up in Ouistreham, an industrial port in Normandy, close to the D-Day beaches. Her father worked in the rail industry and her mother was an office assistant. Neither one finished high school but they wanted her to go to college. She came to the US in 1985 for what was supposed to be just a summer after finishing a year-long study abroad at University College Dublin and ended up staying since then!
Dr. Mijalski has long been affiliated with the French Program at UCI. She began teaching as a graduate student TA in the Department of French & Italian in the fall of 1994, only a few months after receiving her B.A. (magna cum laude) from the same program. Dr. Mijalski—as well as her students and colleagues—quickly realized that she has an immense gift for teaching: "I felt right away an easy connection with the students," she said in a recent interview; "I love human interaction, so the classroom is the perfect workspace for me." For over thirty years, students have responded enthusiastically and gratefully to that "easy connection" manifested in a natural teaching style, a sincere care for her students, and a deft control of her subject.
Eager to learn more about pedagogical models, Dr. Mijalski pursued a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Southern California, receiving her degree in 2014. She then brought additional tools to UCI, mobilizing them to develop innovative curricula for all levels of instruction in her role as French Language Program Director in the Department of European Languages & Studies.
As a first-generation student herself, Dr. Mijalski is particularly sensitive to class, ethnic, and religious differences. She spearheaded the successful series, French for Spanish Speakers, and created a true community for French students, organizing on her own time extracurricular activities such as Francophone Day, the French Job Fair, and a French & Francophone Film Festival (along with Dr. Laura Klein). She has relentlessly encouraged UCI students to study in France and has worked tirelessly to ensure integration among the various levels of the French curriculum, modeling--for the colleagues who have had the privilege of observing her--effective, organic ways of introducing literary and cultural texts into the classroom. Whether moderating discussions of a Montaigne essay or the use of the subjunctive, Dr. Mijalski is able to make every student feel appreciated and engaged. Her superlative teaching and inspired leadership have strengthened UCI's French Program at a time when similar programs throughout the United States have been losing students or closing entirely.
When asked whether there was a teaching moment she found particularly meaningful, Dr. Mijalski answered: "A student in French for Spanish Speakers once brought sweet tamales to our end-of-quarter potluck because I had said I loved tamales. But I didn’t know about sweet tamales! The students ended up sharing their family tamales recipes and traditions, and I shared my recipe for crêpes, which I made for them. It was a very touching moment of connection through food and culture." Dr. Mijalski recalls with fondness the moments in her classroom when she has learned about the diverse backgrounds of her students, and she recalls with pride the moments when she has taught her students to appreciate perspectives different from their own.
In 2017, Dr. Mijalski's emphasis on sharing and mutual respect brought her the greatest honor she could receive from UCI, the Campus-Wide Lecturer of the Year Award from the Office of the Vice Provost for the Division of Teaching & Learning. Her accomplishments were then recognized nationally when she received the Distinguished French Educator Award from the American Association of Teachers of French in 2023. This year, the French government has turned its spotlight on Dr. Mijalski, awarding her the ultimate recognition of her qualities as an Ambassador of French Culture. Her admiring colleagues in the Department of European Languages & Studies would like to take this occasion to thank Dr. Mijalski and to congratulate her for this well-deserved honor.
