Guided by the early phase of THRIVE 202429, the past year at The American University of Paris has been one of transformation and momentum. The priorities outlined in this Plan are already being seen and experienced across the University in new and meaningful ways.
As you’ll read in the pages ahead, there is much to celebrate in the many ways AUP has advanced this year, academically, institutionally and creatively. We’ve expanded our physical footprint with a new building at 129 rue de l’Université, enhancing opportunities for connection and collaboration and investing in student success, while deepening our roots in the heart of Paris’s 7th arrondissement. At the same time, beloved spaces like the Combes Lobby and AMEX Café have been reimagined, with the same commitment to our mission and priorities, to better serve today’s students. I hope you will be able to return to campus over the year ahead to see these changes for yourself.
This year, we also launched new academic programs, introducing new majors in Fashion
Studies, Quantitative Economics & Finance, and Global French Studies, each designed to prepare students for globally oriented careers that engage their intellectual agility, critical capacities and creativity. And very soon, in the Fall semester, we will welcome the inaugural class of our MFA in Creative Writing, amplifying further our longstanding commitment to the literary arts.
This was also a year of rich and varied intellectual exchange. AUP hosted a wide range of academic events and conferences, including Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin, Narrative Matters, the Three Societies Meeting, the annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism, the Care and Democracy series, and many more. These gatherings drew more than 1,000 scholars and professional practitioners to our campus, serving as a testament to the depth and diversity of AUP’s exceptional faculty research and scholarship, as well as their extensive academic networks.
This issue also highlights the remarkable contributions of our alumni. Their work—in fields such as sustainability, public service, entrepreneurship, and the arts—demonstrates
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kilian Ordelheide
WRITERS & COPY EDITORS
Amanda Murphy
Savannah Gerlach
PROOFREADER
Carrie Chappell
IMAGERY
the powerful paths AUP graduates continue to forge around the world. At Commencement 2025, we honored this spirit by awarding Shannen Kaylia Henry ’19 and Alix Lebec ’02 the Distinguished Alumni Award for their inspiring efforts to create a more just and sustainable future.
In that same spirit of connection and engagement, we were very excited that, with the help of long-serving alumni volunteers on the President’s Alumni Advisory Council, we were able to launch AUP’s new Alumni Association, an organization designed to strengthen ties across generations through mentorship, lifelong learning and shared community. The feature story highlights the ways in which you can get involved, and I very much look forward to seeing you at events and gatherings throughout the upcoming year.
Thank you for being part of this extraordinary global community and for everything you have done to support AUP and uphold our shared values in your life and work. I hope you will find your own AUP experience reflected in these stories and be inspired by all that lies ahead.
Warm regards,
Peter Feaver
Krystal Kenney
DESIGN
Leland International
Questions or comments? communications@aup.edu
Sonya Stephens President of The American University
of Paris
Yearin The Review
In a year that brought the world to Paris, AUP served as a global meeting place for students, academics, creatives, and bold ideas. Here we look back at 12 months of life on campus.
FALL SEMESTER 2024
Paris Hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics August 2024
Professor Jurgen Hecker’s Olympic Reporting Practicum offered AUP’s MA in Global Communications students firsthand journalism and communications experience during Olympic events.
AUP Welcomes New Leadership September 2024 The University welcomed Provost Hannah Westley, Chief Financial Officer MarieLaure Nave and Associate Vice President for Student Life Audrey Kajumbula.
Celebrating James Baldwin September 2024
AUP celebrated Baldwin’s legacy by hosting the exhibit Frontline Prophet, honoring his life and ongoing cultural impact. Firstyear students read his Encounter on the Seine as AUP’s first-ever common read.
Academic Innovation
October 2024
AUP introduced new majors and minors in Fashion Studies, Quantitative Economics & Finance, and Global French Studies, and launched the MFA in Creative Writing that welcomes its inaugural class in Fall 2025.
AUP Launches New Strategic Plan
October 2024
The University launched its new strategic plan, THRIVE 2024–29, emphasizing enhanced student experiences, sustainable growth, new partnerships and increased global recognition.
Voices of the Global Majority
December 2024
Voices of the Global Majority, a new club amplifying underrepresented perspectives, hosted its first student-led conference with talks, performances, and visual art.
SPRING SEMESTER 2025
RNCP Accreditation Renewed
January 2025
AUP’s MA in Global Communications and MSc in Strategic Brand Management have renewed the prestigious French RNCP accreditation, which enhances employment opportunities in France for graduates.
Gold Thread Exhibition at Musée du Quai Branly
February 2025
Professor Magali An Berthon cocurated Au fil de l’or, a Musée du Quai Branly exhibition explored by AUP’s Fashion Studies students as part of their coursework.
AUP Students Win at Model UN
April 2025
Artem Atamanov, Angel Karchev and Carson Hall won “Best Delegate” at the prestigious 2025 UAB Model United Nations competition, surpassing over 160 delegates from leading global universities.
Interdisciplinary
Environmental Collaboration
April 2025
Professor Elena Berg, AUP Green, and student senators led an interdisciplinary poster project involving over 150 students promoting environmental awareness and action.
AUP Hosts “Narrative Matters” Conference
May 2025
The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention brought over 300 international scholars to AUP for discussions on “Crisis, Conflict, and the Possibility of Hope.”
Three Visionaries Awarded Honorary Degrees
May 2025
AUP honored artist Julien Creuzet, writer Édouard Louis, and scholar Marina Warner BY recognizing their boundarychallenging work that provokes reflection and imagination, and sheds light on complex histories and human experiences.
AUP HIGHLIGHTS On Campus
Top-floor view from 129 Université
AUP Expands with New Campus Hub on Rue de l’Université
Significant campus transformations are underway, highlighted by AUP’s upcoming move into a newly leased building at 127bis–129 rue de l’Université later this year. This exciting development follows renovations of the AMEX Café and redesigned and repurposed lobbies in both the Combes Student Life Center and Quai d’Orsay Learning Commons and reaffirms AUP’s commitment to remaining rooted in the 7th arrondissement.
Continuing AUP’s ongoing investment in campus renewal, which notably included acquiring the Quai building in 2019, the move aims to significantly enhance the student experience through a new Academic Success Center while modernizing the working environment for employees. In addition to offices and spaces for collaboration, the new site includes AUP’s first on-campus student dormitory, offering housing for 20 students in a central, university-owned space.
“Our focus has always been functional, welcoming spaces,” notes David Horn, Director of Campus Planning and Facilities. “We’re prioritizing dedicated areas where students feel comfortable spending time.”
The new facility will additionally host a Welcome Center to warmly receive visitors, alumni, prospective students and families exploring campus. Make sure to visit the new campus on your next trip to Paris!
Read the article
Zona Zarić (L) at a Care and Democracy Seminar in 2025
AUP’s Center for Critical Democracy Studies Creates “Care and Democracy” Series
“What if democracy began not with the vote, but with the act of care?” This question, deceptively simple yet deeply disruptive, lies at the heart of the Care and Democracy seminar series, launched this year at AUP. If democracy is the name we give to the fragile art of cohabitation, then care is what renders that art possible.
The series was conceived by the Center’s scholars, including Professor Stephen W. Sawyer and Lecturer Zona Zarić, in collaboration with philosopher Sandra Laugier (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), whose long-standing work on the ethics of care, ordinary language philosophy, and democratic pragmatism provided a conceptual anchor. The series seeks to interrogate how care—understood both as an ethical imperative and as a political practice— could serve as a diagnostic and reparative force in the face of democratic disaffection.
The transdisciplinary, intergenerational and bilingual series is not a passive lecture sequence; it offers an experimental space turning the classroom into a site of collective reflection and practice. Students not only attended the seminars but co-facilitated discussions, conducted interviews with speakers and produced analytical responses to major questions facing our societies today. Looking ahead, the 2025 program will expand the scope of the conversation, with confirmed sessions featuring Carol Gilligan, Pascale Molinier, Stephen W. Sawyer and Vanessa Nurock, in continued collaboration with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Discover the 2025-26 schedule and more
Women in Business Club Hosts Alumni Panel
AUP students Jenna Farra ‘24 and Rona Phi ‘25 founded the Women in Business club at AUP, aiming to equip members with the tools, knowledge and confidence needed to excel in their careers through engaging workshops, inspiring guest speakers and interactive sessions.
The club has collaborated with AUP’s ACE Center for CV and LinkedIn workshops; toured a womanowned fashion brand and studio from A to Z, thanks to a connection of faculty advisor Professor Kate-yue Zhang; and visited Station F, the world’s largest startup incubator, located in Paris.
In November of last year, the club hosted a panel featuring alumnae Poupak Sepehri ’99, Juliet Carter ’05, and Cornelia Weissfloch ’91, alongside Professor Zhang. Together, they shared insights into the challenges they’ve faced in their professional journeys with current students preparing to enter the business world.
At AUP, opportunities to build connections are countless, and clubs offer the possibility to pursue a wide range of professional and personal interests.
Discover student clubs at AUP today
Poupak Sepehri ‘99 (L) and Prof. Zhang (R)
World’s Fair Welcomes First-Year Students
World’s Fair remains a beloved AUP tradition that celebrates the University’s rich cultural diversity. Each year, students come together to represent different countries and cultures through food, drink, music, dance and other performances.
“With over 100 nationalities represented on campus each year, World’s Fair is always a huge success and has become one of the University’s most important and longstanding traditions,” explains Dean of Student Development Kevin Fore, who played a key role in shaping this year’s edition.
For the first time, the event was integrated into the First Year Success program, AUP’s advising and mentoring initiative that supports students in their transition to university life. First year students were given the lead in organizing the Fair and thus the opportunity to found crucial bonds with their incoming class. The result: 17 countries were represented, including 15 tables led by first-year students and two by upperclassmen. Participants showcased the cultures of Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, France, Greece, Haiti, Iraq, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Spain, Thailand and the USA.
The World’s Fair began in 1987 Scan to explore more historic dates
AUP Hosts Major International Surrealism Conference
Last fall, AUP welcomed over 500 scholars, researchers, artists and graduate students from around the world for the Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism—one of the largest academic events ever held on campus. The three-day conference was led by Art History Professor Iveta Slavkova and co-organized with Julia Drost (Centre allemande d’histoire de l’art), Fabrice Flahutez (Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne) and Olivier Penot-Lacassagne (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle).
Experts on Surrealism and the avant-garde gathered from prestigious institutions to present research and exchange ideas. The AUP Fine Arts Gallery hosted a special exhibition curated by Professor Stéphane Treilhou, featuring selected works from conference artists, fine arts faculty and AUP staff, including a collage by Aube Elléouët Breton, daughter of André Breton, whose sale supported student conference participation.
The AUP Library also contributed with a Surrealism-focused book display and partnered with Librairie Tschann to host 500 titles on Surrealism, including books authored by conference participants. The event underscored AUP’s commitment to the arts and international academic collaboration.
AUP Fine Arts Gallery Exhibition
AUP Launches MFA in Creative Writing
AUP has launched Europe’s only two-year, interdisciplinary MFA in Creative Writing, combining the American liberal arts tradition with the outward-looking, cross-cultural nature of the University and its prime location in the heart of Paris. Welcoming its first cohort this fall, the program connects students with writers, translators and artists from across the globe while offering full immersion in the literary life of Paris.
MFA students will join AUP’s already rich literary community and engage with the city’s vibrant networks of publishers, bookstores, archives, libraries and cultural institutions. The curriculum broadens students’ perspectives through the study of translated literature, the practice of translation, eco-politics and intermedial approaches to cultural exchange. Taught in English, the program offers workshops in Fiction, Poetry and Creative Nonfiction, while encouraging work that challenges boundaries between genres.
As Program Co-Director Biswamit Dwibedy puts it, “the focus is on storytelling—you will be trained in any genre your story needs to be told in.”
Explore the new program
AUP students with author Gaëlle Bélem
Alix Lebec
Shannen Kaylia Henry
Alumnae Honored for Sustainable Entrepreneurship at 2025 Commencement
Entrepreneurs Shannen Kaylia Henry ’19 and Alix Lebec ’02 received the Distinguished Alumni Award at the 2025 Commencement Ceremony for their exceptional contributions to building the sustainable and creative economy of tomorrow.
Fueled by rigorous research in biology, Henry’s groundbreaking regenerative fashion enterprise and luxury label Bottega Kaylia help to foster climate resilience and empower vulnerable communities as the next generation of creators. As she puts it, “developing bespoke garments and limited edition collections is fun, but it is also necessary for a much greater cause.”
Alix Lebec worked for the World Bank, the Clinton Global Initiative and Water.org before co-launching WaterEquity alongside Gary White and Matt Damon, the world’s first
impact investment manager dedicated to ending the global water crisis. As the founder and CEO of her firm LEBEC, she combines creativity and philanthropy to address global challenges alongside entrepreneurs and investors to maximize value for underserved populations.
“The greatest entrepreneurs are driven by solving a problem and being creative thinkers,”
Lebec says. “The more we fuel them with the financing that helps bring those ideas to life, the better.” The AUP community commends these alumni on their drive and success.
Read the full story on Alix Lebec
Discover the Kaylia Group
AUP HIGHLIGHTS Alumni
Nadira Shakur ‘04 and her family
Changing Global Narratives About African Cinema
Nadira Shakur ’04 originally aspired to become a surgeon, but a fainting incident during a high school internship prompted a change in direction. That shift led her toward a global career in communications, film and media.
“When we understood the power of the image—and also the power of controlling that image, it became our main mission to find ways to do our part to broaden those images, break some of those stereotypes and give voice to new narratives.
After earning her BA in International Communications from AUP, she went on to live and work in the US, Brazil, the Ivory Coast and Kenya all while supporting African filmmakers and helping broaden international perspectives on African cinema along the way.
In 2013, Shakur co-founded the NollywoodWeek Film Festival in Paris, dedicated to showcasing Nigerian films. Held annually at the L’Arlequin cinema, the festival has gained the support of many of Nigeria’s top filmmakers and artists. Alongside her husband Serge Noukoue, she also co-founded Okada Media, a company focused on expanding opportunities for African filmmakers and reducing barriers to entry in the industry.
Discover the Nollywood Week Paris
From the start, Shakur and Noukoue understood that a small number of decision-makers often determined which films reached global audiences. Through Okada Media, they aim to support African creatives in telling their own stories and sharing them with the world.
The Language of Fashion
For Symonne Torpy G’10, fashion is a language. As a fashion journalist and Associate Creative Director at the global advertising agency BETC, Torpy understands the power of fashion to express identity, values and history—often without a single word. After helping redesign AUP’s AMEX Café in 2014, Torpy secured positions at branding and event firms Creative Spirit and Publicis Luxe before joining BETC, a Paris-based agency with offices in Shanghai and New York.
Whether designing a campaign for Prada or analyzing gender fluidity through menswear, she draws on her unique background in writing, politics and global affairs to infuse her work with layers of meaning. Today, Torpy’s clients include Lacoste, Valentino Beauty, Givenchy and Armani.
Beyond fashion, Torpy’s creativity extends into voiceover and subtitling for French TV shows and brands from Dom Pérignon and L’Oréal to Coca-Cola.
Her edge in the high-speed environment of fashion and industry? Torpy’s deftness in understanding how sociopolitical contexts parlay into our brand consumption.
Read the article
Framing the World through Visual Stories
As Senior Photo Assignment Editor at The Washington Post, Olivier Laurent ’05 helps shape the way audiences around the world see and understand global events. From conflict zones to cultural movements, he collaborates with photographers to craft powerful visual stories that capture the depth and complexity of human experience.
Laurent’s interest in visual journalism took root at AUP, where he studied International Communications. His time in Paris sharpened his awareness of international issues—an outlook that would go on to guide his work at TIME, The New York Times and now The Washington Post
A turning point in his career came during coverage of the 2015 Paris terror attacks. His ability to help document such a charged and emotional moment with sensitivity and clarity underscored the role of visual media in public understanding.
Today, Laurent, who was recently named among the 100 most influential people in photography by Blind Magazine, continues to lead international photo coverage for The Washington Post by guiding photographers in capturing stories that reinforce the power of photography to connect us to each other across borders.
In 1989, while studying at AUP, Thomas Fuller ’92 learned from a classmate that the Berlin Wall was coming down. He immediately bought a plane ticket to Germany. At the airport, a security guard questioned the hammer in his luggage. “It’s for the wall,” he explained, and the guard waved him through. At that moment, Fuller felt part of history. “That’s what AUP is about,” he says.
That formative moment sparked a career in international reporting that has taken Fuller across the globe. Born in New York to a French mother, he grew up visiting France each year and knew early on that his path would be international. AUP offered the perfect bridge between his cultural roots and his growing interest in global affairs.
Over the next two decades, Fuller became a leading authority on Southeast Asia, serving as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times in Bangkok and covering everything from political uprisings to natural disasters. In 2016, he returned to the U.S. to become the paper’s San Francisco Bureau Chief and later a Page One Correspondent.
Through his reporting, Fuller has chronicled moments of deep social and political change. His work continues to reflect the curiosity and global mindset that first brought him to Paris— and to AUP.
Discover The Boys of Riverside
Thomas Fuller ‘92 in the recording studio
A Career at the Crossroads of Language and Leadership
Jane Basson ’99 is Head of Transformation and Corporate Secretary at Airbus Defense and Space, where she drives strategic change and supports some of the most complex aerospace projects in the world. Over the past two decades, she has helped shape Airbus’s internal culture and leadership development navigating the intersection of communication, crisis management and organizational transformation.
At AUP, Basson studied corporate communications, journalism and business, which led her to accept a junior position at Airbus in Toulouse, France in 2000. Her sharp writing skills soon propelled her to higher-level assignments, including executive speechwriting where her bicultural Franco-English background proved to be an asset.
When Airbus restructured its communications department, they called on her to lead the new writing team and oversee company-wide messaging. In 2003, she rose to Vice President of Internal Communications where she faced the high-profile fallout from the production delay of the A380.
Read the article
Having deftly managed these challenges facing the company, Basson later transitioned to human resources as Vice President of Culture and Change Management, and launched the Airbus Leadership University in 2016.
Building Careers and Breaking Barriers
Growing up in France as the daughter of Congolese immigrants, Rose-Marie BouboutouPoos G ’08 has worked to overcome personal and professional challenges and build a global career as a journalist, entrepreneur and coach committed to empowering others.
After her dual master’s degree at the Institut Catholique de Paris and AUP in International Affairs, she launched into international diplomacy and human rights by working for UNESCO, the United Nations and the human rights organization Tostan International. While assisting an African art gallery and library tied to Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, Bouboutou-Poos fell in love with journalism and began writing for prominent outlets such as Les Echos and Jeune Afrique before securing a pivotal role at BBC News in Dakar, where she expanded into radio and television broadcasting.
Following a communications role at the World Health Organization and agricultural consulting in Dakar, Bouboutou-Poos recently returned to Paris and began a new initiative that would scale her impact from individuals to organizations. Her new business, JobJourney, is a site that helps international companies expand their market presence and supports employees through professional development.
Read the article
Boris Pavlov ‘10 presenting in 2018 at Webit Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria
Founding a Better Way to “Stay”
Boris Pavlov ’10 is no stranger to taking risks. From relocating to countries he had never visited to founding businesses in unfamiliar industries, the former investment banker has built a career on bold self-directed choices.
His latest venture, Flataway, launched in October 2024 and is reimagining the vacation rental space. Unlike large online travel agencies, Flataway operates on a decentralized model that empowers property managers to build direct relationships with guests and earn commissions on bookings. The platform features only professionally managed properties and offers quality assurance and discounted rates to travelers.
Beyond business innovation, Flataway also integrates social impact by reinvesting a portion of revenue into community initiatives—part of Pavlov’s broader commitment to ethical entrepreneurship.
That same spirit was evident in 2022, when Pavlov paused his work to respond to the refugee crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In partnership with the Bulgarian government and a network of volunteer IT professionals, he helped build an online resource platform to assist displaced Ukrainians navigating resettlement.
From digital hospitality to humanitarian aid, Pavlov continues to apply his entrepreneurial instincts to create solutions that connect and support people across borders.
Alumni Meet the AUP
Association
23,000 Strong
When a student comes to The American University of Paris, what stays with them, years after they leave? For many, the answer is the network, people and community. Today, after six decades of welcoming global citizens in the City of Light, AUP is delighted to launch the AUP Alumni Association.
The Association will unite more than 23,000 alumni worldwide, bringing local chapters, interest groups, and community leaders under one roof and empowering members through vibrant programming and key University support. Membership lasts a lifetime and begins the moment a student matriculates at AUP.
Recent graduates at the Alumni Soirée on the Seine, celebrating the launch of the Alumni Association during Alumni Weekend 2025
The news broke at the Alumni Weekend Soirée in April 2025, where over 100 alumni and guests had gathered on the River Seine to celebrate with a night of dancing, bonding, and river rides. Alumni, many of whom had traveled from around the world to attend the event, expressed enthusiasm for this new chapter of officialized and empowered alumni engagement across the University.
Since the University’s founding in 1962 as the American College in Paris, alumni have always found ways to connect with one another through reunions, local events and personal networks. The new Association formalizes these ties and creates new opportunities for engagement. “Creating an association brings alumni back to the heart of our institution, where their involvement and expertise make our community stronger.” explains Courtney Stombock, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations.
Since Stombock’s appointment in 2023, her team, the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, has been working to strengthen ties between alumni and the University. The goal is to make sure the 23,000 graduates and former students around the world know how to connect and how to access the resources available to them.
Key components of the new Association’s role include life-long learning opportunities, like the recent sessions held by professionals
on topics such as investing in Paris realestate or understanding tax implications for expats in France; opportunities for travel, such as joining cultural program study trips; the revitalization of local chapters and the formation of affinity groups based on identity, profession or interests, such as Black Alumni, LGBTQIA+ groups, food and wine professionals, entrepreneurs and creatives— as a way to further build community around shared interests.
Additional goals include increased alumni visibility in student life, through mentoring and career development, as well as opportunities for involvement in student recruitment. An alumni awards program, in addition to the annual Distinguished Alumni Award at graduation, is also under consideration, intended to celebrate outstanding contributions across professions, communities and the University itself.
Alumni and staff celebrate the Alumni Association launch at the Boat Party during Alumni Weekend 2025.
Built on the foundation of the President’s Alumni Advisory Council (PAAC), the new AUP Alumni Association reflects the efforts of a transitional board of 22 alumni. Working in partnership with the University, Development and Alumni Relations, and the Board of Trustees, this team spent a full year engaging with the AUP community, culminating with the creation of the Association’s charter and bylaws and a framework to guide the future. As volunteer John Myers ’86 explains, “Our team has had to work with a wide range of interests and inputs to get this across the finish line.”
With this foundational work in place, the Association will be led by an elected board of dedicated alumni following a public call for nominations.
Unlike the PAAC, which comprised a small group of alumni and primarily advised University leadership, the Alumni Association is designed to bridge the gap between the University and all alumni. “AUP provides a unique resource that is a global network,” says Myers, who is currently leading several projects in impact investment and international development alongside fellow alumni. He sees the Association as a way to make this network more accessible—and powerful—for graduates at every stage of their personal and professional lives.
With alumni empowerment and inclusivity at its core, the Association is an integral part of the institution, with no fiduciary
responsibilities and no membership dues. Support will come from dedicated resources managed by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the University.
Efforts to establish a formal alumni group date back to the mid-1980s, when a group of North American graduates explored forming a registered organization in the United States.
Since then, the University has maintained a strong rhythm of global alumni programming, including chapter events in cities around the world. But this year’s launch marks AUP’s strongest commitment yet to building a lasting and vibrant alumni community.
The goal, explains Stombock, is to encourage alumni to engage with AUP and with one another. For many, the first step will be visiting AUP Global, the alumni platform where users can connect with one another, find volunteering opportunities, join chapters and affinity groups, register for events, and watch as their personal and professional networks flourish. Earlier this summer, the University launched a directory project which will allow alumni to update their information, purchase a hardcopy and digital directory, and connect directly with classmates.
To kick off the Association’s first year, a series of Rentrée Soirées will be held this fall to bring alumni together and mark this milestone moment. To join, visit AUP Global and save your place.
Paris Writing in
For writers, artists, and intellectuals from around the world, Paris, a city where ideas linger in cafés and drift through the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter, has long-served as a haven for free thought and creative expression.
In the 1920s, Paris became a vibrant hub for the Lost Generation that included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound.
In the 1960s, Paris continued to attract expatriate writers such as James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Chester Himes, who sought creative freedom and escape from racial discrimination in the United States and found refuge in the city’s intellectual and artistic circles.
In 2025, writers still flock here, drawn by the city’s openmindedness, dynamism and diversity. This photo essay captures some highlights of literary Paris, looking back in time as well as to AUP’s own students in their writing element as they become the new generation of writers and creative thinkers working between languages and cultures in the City of Light.
Paris has long been home to literary salons and artistic circles. Many contemporary writers and thinkers still adopt this model to encourage discussion and exchange.
1 The Salon of Victor Hugo (1802-85), 21 rue de Clichy, illustration from La Chronique Illustrée
2 In Paris, you will find people reading everywhere, in parks, on the metro, and even walking down the street.
3 The iconic Shakespeare and Company Bookstore was founded by Sylvia Beach. Featured here is the original bookstore located at 8, rue Dupuytren from 1919 to 1921. From the right: Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Beach, and two friends.
4 From Café de Flore to Les Deux Magot, the famous eateries of Paris often doubled as lieux for intellectual exchange and meeting places for the literary greats. Still today, students may spend hours at their local café reading, writing and observing their surroundings.
5 The 1980s have arrived, and new student publications like The Planet, L’Esprit, Scripta Politica and Paris/Atlantic signal the rise of student journalists, fiction writers and poets on campus.
6 Today, our community produces more than 12 magazines, journals and creative works. Students serve as writers, journalists, editors, producers, videographers and podcasters, laying the foundation for rich international careers.
7 In 2025, AUP’s literary season included a visit from Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri (top left), as well as study trips devoted to creative writing in Iceland (top right), India, and across France (below).
8 In 2025, the Writer’s Retreat at the Royaumont Abbey, just 30 km outside Paris, offered students a moment to reflect, recenter and collaborate. Transported by 13th century architecture and a community of resident writers and artists, students unlocked new inspiration for their work.
10 A destination for tourists and travelling authors alike, Shakespeare and Company remains a literary landmark where anyone may attend book readings and signings.
11 Some things in Paris never change. The banks of the Seine are lined with bouquinistes, sellers of used or antiquarian books, postcards and souvenirs.
9 Author and guest lecturer Guadalupe Nettel led AUP students on a tour of Père Lachaise Cemetery, a final resting place for the world’s literary elite.
ALUMNI WRITERS
Our shelves are overflowing with works from our alumni community. Have you released a new book, article, collection, film, or creative work? Write to us at communications@aup.edu.
JOURNALISTS
THOMAS FULLER ’92
NYT CHARLA CARTER ’82
Previous editor of Vogue Australia
STEPHANIE AMBERG G ’15 Décanteur Media
SCREENWRITERS
NADIA CONNERS ’92
Wrote and directed The Uninvited
SEENA HADDAD ’12
Recently promoted to write for the show Paradise
TIERNEY BONINI ’07 Al Jazeera
FARAH NAYERI ’84
NYT (author of Takedown: Art and Power in the Digital Age)
BOOKSTORE OWNER
JEANNINE COOK ’22
Owns Harriett’s Bookshop, in Philadelphia and helped organize the Josephine Baker Symposium
ALUMNI WRITERS
AUTHORS
LINDSEY TRAMUTA
G ’09
The Eater Guide to Paris
CAROLINE WRIGHT
’05
Lasting Love
KIM CHAKANETSA ’05 Africana
ROBIN DAVIS
G ’17
Surviving Paris (soon to be published by HarperCollins)
TENDAYI CHIRAWU
G ’12
The Man of the Lie
ANNA KLOOTS
’09
My Own Magic
ANNE STARK DITMEYER
G ’10 OVERRIDE!
CAITE DOLAN-LEACH
G ’10
Dead Letters (just signed a deal with Netflix)
IMANI BARBARIN G ’18
If I Were You, I’d Kill Myself
REBECCA SOLNIT ’78
Multiple books and essays, including Men Explain Things to Me
ELIOT DUNCAN ’17
Ponyboy (graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Truman Capote Fellow, his book was the first with a trans protagonist to be nominated for the National Book Award)
Breaking AUPFaculty New Ground
At The American University of Paris, intellectual curiosity may start in the classroom, but it certainly does not stop there. Across departments and disciplines, faculty are finding creative ways to explore pressing questions and engage deeply as global citizens, often with students working alongside them.
This kind of exploratory, experiential work has received generous support through the newly established John H. Lewis Jr. Faculty Development Fund, made possible by a gift from Cher Lewis. The fund honors the memory of her father, John H. Lewis, Jr., and recognizes her friend Brenda Torney for her longstanding service to AUP.
Distinct from AUP’s existing faculty development support, which primarily funds conference travel and research-related expenses, this new fund offers up to €5000 per academic year for small academic and classroombased initiatives.
It is specifically designed to support pedagogical innovation, research that enhances student experience, and the development or completion of substantial academic projects, many of which would fall outside the scope of traditional grant support.
Since its launch in spring 2024, the fund has already empowered fourteen faculty members and research teams to launch creative initiatives—from field-based projects and collaborative student research to crossdisciplinary workshops and publications.
In this feature, we meet six professors and their collaborators whose work reflects the spirit of the fund. Whether they are designing immersive learning experiences, conducting in-depth research, or convening global conversations, their projects share a commitment to curiosity and the transformative power of experiential learning.
Cooperative Taste and the Mise en Commun
Christy Shields, Associate Professor of Anthropology, in collaboration with students Eliza Schwartz ’24 and Annika Lövgren ’25
Food anthropologist Christy Shields has spent over a decade exploring the cultural politics of taste, most recently through the lens of one of France’s most iconic cheeses: Comté. Her longterm ethnographic research, partially funded by the Comté industry, led her deep into the world of cooperative production and a unique tasting collective known as the jury terroir, responsible for preserving the quality and taste that define Comté.
Rather than on the food itself, Shields’ courses and research focus on the forms of community that emerge from food-related activities. At the heart of her work is the jury terroir—a sensory panel where farmers, cheesemakers, and regional inhabitants come together to describe Comté’s diverse flavors. What makes this practice unique is its mise en commun (literally “placing in common”)—the same term used when farmers pool their milk each morning to make cheese cooperatively, a process that is required in making Comté cheese.
“Instead of ranking tastes as ‘better’ or ‘worse,’ the jury terroir treats all Comté cheeses as different but equal,” Shields explains. “It’s a form of sensory democracy.”
Shields first encountered this practice through the Comté Practicum, annual AUP study trips she organized from 2010-2020 with taste educator Claire Perrot. These immersive experiences introduced students to sensory ethnography while building the relationships that enabled her deeper research.
In June 2024, thanks to the John H. Lewis Grant, Shields returned to the Jura mountains with graduates Eliza Schwartz and Annika Lövgren to explore the mise en commun as a form of “everyday utopia.” Rather than viewing the notion of utopia as an impossible ideal, the research team took it as a real practice, an experiment aimed at resisting standardization and creating new possibilities.
“We discovered that when people share sensory experiences equally, without judgment, it becomes transformative,” says Shields. “The farmers told us it changed how they listen to each other, and to their cheeses.”
The team’s collaborative research resulted in an article published in Politika magazine, “Cooperative Taste in Comté’s Jury Terroir” and a short film by Lövgren capturing their fieldwork. Their multimodal approach mirrors the cooperative spirit they studied, proving that academic collaboration can itself become a form of resonant utopianism
“What excites me,” Shields reflects, “is how paying close attention to cheese, or another culture, can open our imaginations in productive ways.”
Read article “Cooperative Taste in Comté’s Jury
Terroir” in Politika
Students, faculty and staff have been traveling to Auroville, India, for nearly two decades as part of the Sustainable Development Practicum.
Sustainable Development and Experiential Learning
Tanya Elder, Professor of Communications, in collaboration with students of the M.A. in Global Communications
“Students often enter the program with a simplified understanding of sustainability but leave with a much more integrated and complex perspective.”
For Tanya Elder, experiential learning means learning about learning. As Professor of Communications in AUP’s Master’s in Global Communications, Elder has been pioneering experiential learning in sustainable development, anthropology and communications for nearly two decades. Through the Sustainable Development Practicum, which takes students to Auroville or Pondicherry, India, to work with local NGOs, she has crafted an academic experience that immerses students in real-world sustainability projects beyond the classroom.
As leader of the Practicum, Elder has always insisted on the need for self-reflection by taking students away from conventional academic tasks, by requiring them to keep field journals, write blog posts (follow the QR code) and conduct on-site interviews.
“The underlying idea behind the Practicum has always been that students learn best when they’re
experiencing what they’re learning; the ability to use all their senses, to connect both emotionally and intellectually, is essential,” she says.
This year, thanks to the John H. Lewis Grant, Elder has taken self-reflection to a new level by turning the focus of her research, with a group of students, to the study of how experiential learning and immersive experiences shape students’ perceptions of sustainability and change and can deepen their understanding of complex global challenges.
The team relies on the blogs, journal entries and final essays that AUP students have written (from 2011 onwards), as well as recently implemented pre- and post-program surveys, which they are coding and analyzing using the qualitative analysis software Quirkos. The goal is to identify key themes such as empowerment, shifting perceptions of sustainability and the emotions experienced during fieldwork.
Thanks to the grant, Elder recently took the team on a working retreat to Nantes, an opportunity to advance the research as well as to build team cohesion and develop the student-professor relationship, which she sees as essential to the success of the research.
Learn more about the practicum
Learn more about the UNESCO Chair at AUP
Using Ethical AI to Reimagine Children’s Literacy
Claudia Roda, Professor of Data Science, in Collaboration with student Eli Hinson ’25 and Professor Susan Perry
Claudia Roda, who leads the MSc in Human Rights and Data Science, has long spearheaded her discipline, tackling the pressing societal issues posed by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various ways.
With support from the John H. Lewis Grant, Roda is currently leading a research project that combines technology, ethics and education. With student Eli Hinson, who will earn a BSc in Computer Science this year, the two are building a platform that enables children to create personalized books using AI as a way to address the question of representation in the books that students read at school.
The project began during a workshop organized by the UNESCO Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, which Roda and her colleague Susan Perry have held since 2024 and which is led by Kyle Zimmer, the CEO of First Book—a US nonprofit organization that reaches 6.5 million children each year in low-income communities across North America by providing books and resources through a network of more than 600,000 educators. During the workshop, students considered the lessons learned from the results of a First Book survey, which found
that many young readers in disadvantaged communities still lacked access to books in which they saw themselves reflected and that this had a negative impact on their reading results.
“We immediately thought: what if kids could make their own books with AI?” says Roda.
The platform, designed for classroom use, features tools that enable students to create their own characters and collaborate in comprehensive storytelling with teachers. It relies on voice or text input to generate stories with illustrations and professional-looking layouts. Children can then download the final product as a PDF or print a real copy.
The team is currently working on the most challenging aspect of the project: data.
“We really need to prioritize privacy when working with children,” says Roda. “We’re building an ethical pipeline where schools and teachers have control of the data to make sure the privacy of those using the platform is protected,” she adds.
AUP student Eli Hinson, who has been leading development on the project, has recently accepted a software internship in the UK, where he will continue crafting a path for himself in his chosen field.
The platform is expected to launch in classrooms soon, with plans for broader access in the future.
Breaking Down Walls for Education and Creativity
Hannah Taieb, Senior Lecturer of History and Politics
For Hannah Taieb, the John H. Lewis Grant helped enrich an opportunity to move from research to outreach, to bring different kinds of people together in new ways, and to foreground voices that are often silenced. Her ongoing Prison Education Workshop and the recent symposia on the topics of “Teaching and Learning in Prison” (June 2024) and “Creating in and from Incarceration” (June 2025) have served to build connections between students, educators and people who have experienced incarceration.
The Prison Education Workshop is an innovative class that brings AUP students into a shared educational and creative space with people detained at La Santé prison in Paris. After one introductory class at AUP and a prison-organized training session, eight AUP students spend the semester sharing readings, discussions and creative activities with an equal number of detainees. Readings are selected based on the themes emerging from the interactions between the particular participants in the class. In the past, authors studied have included Malcolm X, Bachir Kerroumi, Rigoberta Menchu, Azouz Begag, Jimmy Santiago Baca, W.S. Merwin, Alison Bechdel, Paulo Freire, and Franz Kafka.
In each class session, students and detainees read together as a group, then in small mixed groups, developing creative ways to exchange ideas and reactions. Circle pedagogy, deep listening, and other egalitarian approaches are employed to create a mutually engaging learning experience. In previous workshops, students and detainees collaborated on final projects that were presented at a celebratory event attended by guests from AUP and the prison.
Taieb launched the project with former colleagues Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu and has continued to run it in collaboration with Assistant Professor of Law, Roman Zinigrad, and Raphael Bloch-Laine, Chair of the Department of French Studies and Modern Languages.
“The focus is on experiential learning and the importance of people putting their learning to work through contact with the community,” explains Taieb, who insists, generally speaking, on the “experience” aspect of learning. “When you have experiences, I believe it’s very profound and not always clear what you’ve learned, but your body has learned something by going through space into new contexts with other kinds of challenges,” she says.
This year’s symposium, funded by the grant and organized by the non-profit organization Taieb helped found, Dialogue & Transformation, featured group discussions and presentations by sociologist Oscar
Vasquéz, an exhibition by artist Kayrumi including her story of developing her artistic practice inside, a writing workshop by poet Khaled Miloudi, who began writing during his incarceration and continues to lead workshops in prison, and a book presentation by anthropologist Laurent Bazin, who co-authored Moha, le retour du refoulé. Récits du racism d’État with Mohamed Bridji. The group organizing the symposium was led by Friederike Windel of the Department of Psychology, Health and Gender at AUP; Sharie Neira, a sociology PhD student at Paris Cité who has worked extensively in prisons in Peru; and Lauren Vandzandt-Escobar, long-time prison educator and scholar who has taught at Riker’s Island and completed a Master’s thesis on prison education in France and the U.S. This international team opened the door for a truly global vision of prison education and creation. Experiential, hands-on workshops in art and writing, led by creators who developed their practices within, brought people together in a new way.
Taieb and her colleagues plan to continue developing these experiences, which, as she puts it, “help break down some of the barriers between inside and outside.”
Prof. Taieb (2nd R) and students during the Summer Prison Education Workshop
Bridging Language Learning and the World in Malta
Rebekah Rast, Professor of English & Linguistics, in collaboration with AUP Professor Ziad Majed and students Tash Karasick ’26, Sofie Mihaylova ’26, Lucie Reed ’27 and Annika Decken ’28
For over 30 years, Rebekah Rast has been a cornerstone of AUP’s Comparative Literature department, where she teaches linguistics and English and helped launch AUP’s linguistics minor over a decade ago.
With a strong interest in language acquisition and multilingualism, Rast has long emphasized the value of hands-on experience in real-world contexts. In recent years, her work has taken students beyond AUP to schools in SeineSaint-Denis and most recently to Malta, where she co-directs a faculty-student research initiative, supported by the John H. Lewis Grant, with Professor Ziad Majed.
The project builds on a course called Migration: Local and Global, which combines sociolinguistic theory and experiential learning. Originally launched in collaboration with Paris 8 University and French school administrators, Rast began taking AUP students to middle schools in immigrant-rich neighborhoods such as Le Pré-Saint-Gervais where they observed classrooms and helped teach English while reflecting on their own experiences.
Rast then expanded the model to Malta, a key entry point into Europe for many migrants. With support from the grant and the funding from AUP’s Student Government Association, she led a small group of students to multilingual classrooms, including the Migrant Learners Unit, Naxxar Induction Hub, where newly arrived children, often on their way to other destinations, begin to learn English and Maltese.
“Malta is a place where migration is highly visible,” says Rast. “Students get to see firsthand the challenges and possibilities of language learning in this context.”
The program is now in its third cycle. Some students have chosen to focus their studies on this experience. One student, pursuing a self-designed major in linguistics, is basing her capstone project on her experiences in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais and in Malta and plans to return this fall. Another, Sofie Mihaylova, created a podcast on migration and language for her final assignment.
Listen to the podcast
Prof. Rast champions student research through immersive travel across diverse contexts and countries.
Re-Thinking Fashion as a Tool for Social Change
Renate Stauss, Associate Professor of Fashion Studies, in collaboration with students Elsa Darlington G ’24, Fiona Schlumberger G ’24 and Kathryn Galloway G ’24 and alumnae Maddie Czarnik ’21, Michelle Doyle G ’23 and Sara Wynn G ’22
Renate Stauss, Associate Professor of Fashion Studies, is a leading voice in the growing field of critical fashion studies. With a background in the sociology of fashion, her work explores fashion as a social phenomenon deeply connected to politics, ethics and the environment.
With the support of the John H. Lewis Grant, Stauss mentored three master’s students—Elsa Darlington, Fiona Schlumberger and Kathryn Galloway—as they organized AUP’s first student-led symposium on Fashion Communication for Socio-Ecological Change. The event was also supported by three alumnae—Maddie Czarnik, Michelle Doyle and Sara Wynn—and featured speakers including sustainability activist Aditi Mayer and influencer Amélie Deloche.
“There is no such thing as sustainable fashion,” says Stauss. “We work on fashion communications for socio-ecological change. It’s about creating meaning with fashion and thinking about how we can use it to effect change.”
Symposium Co-Organizer Fiona Schlumberger, AUP Professor Renate Stauss, Workshop Facilitator Theodor Adriaans, and Student Showcase Presenter Cloud Dare enjoy a break in the program (left to right).
The symposium brought together over 220 participants from eight countries made up of scholars, designers, activists and other professionals. “Creating a space where these communities could collaborate, not just talk, was a real achievement,” says Stauss, who emphasizes that this space allowed students to make direct connections to the field and explains that half of the students she has taught now have careers in the industry.
Strauss’s concept builds on a project co-founded with Franziska Schreiber, fashion designer and professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education is their initiative and acts as a global forum and outcome-oriented space for fashion educators and students and was launched in response to recent political and environmental crises.
Founded in 2019, The Multilogue aims to “explore and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the field and the practices of fashion education and to foster a greater understanding of its pasts, presents and futures.”
In addition to this project, Stauss’s research focuses on the role of dress in political protest and fashion in refugee contexts, as demonstrated by her current collaboration with historian and AUP professor Sophie Kurdjian, with whom she teaches the seminar Cultures and Histories of Fashion at AUP.
Explore the 2025 Multilogue
If you have a question about the Class Notes section, or if you would like to be put in touch with any of the alumni mentioned here, don’t hesitate to contact us at alumni@aup.edu.
CLASS NOTES
DIANNE CHESELDINE ’66
I was in the third graduation class of what was then the American College in Paris. At AUP’s 60th anniversary reunion, I met another alumna who had graduated long after I had — five decades to be exact! As Professor Emerita of French and Spanish and founder of Dianne Cheseldine Distinguish Speaker Series at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, I invited Ruby to be a guest speaker at my college. She graciously accepted and gave a wonderful presentation in April 2023 to an enthusiastic audience eager to learn more about sustainable fashion and women’s empowerment. Ruby and I have remained friends since that serendipitous meeting along the Seine.
This past summer, two years later, I met a young university student in Reno, Camille Griffin, who wanted to continue studying French. When we met for our first lesson at a local coffee shop, I was totally surprised when she told me she was an AUP student, home for the summer with her family in Reno. In two years, she will graduate with her BA. The amazement continued when I learned that her major was fashion design, to which I responded, “You’re kidding!” I shared with her the story of meeting Ruby in Paris and her subsequent presentation in Reno on sustainable fashion three years ago. Thrilled to hear about the extension of our shared connection, Camille responded, “C’est remarquable !” Little had I imagined that my network would continue to grow! Reno is currently deserving of its reputation as “The Biggest Little City in the World!”
ERIC FENN ELBOT ’66
Growing up in Munich in an intelligence family with a Parisian artist mother, it felt self-evident to attend the recently opened ACP. On a work-scholarship driving and doing office cleaning for our boldly self-confident founder, Dr. Lloyd Delamater, I found myself in a longlasting, powerfully on-again, off-again relationship that uniquely prepared me for much that followed in my adventurous life.
Recently, I came to my final minor Harvard Board of Directors meeting having reached the six year term limit, only to be surprised by a unanimous vote to extend me, because having often been Harvard’s “hotpotato-man,” that quality was now needed in Harvard’s current existential struggle.
I love both Dr. D’s and now Harvard’s courage to stand strong for essential essences. It was sometimes painful, but thank you, Lloyd, for profoundly training me!
I wish those character qualities to AUP’s graduates in these times of geo-political transition…which they inherently inherit.
BILL PEARL ’68
Bill Pearl has completed the third draft of his third novel, A September Tale, for publication in the fall. Pearl describes the premise like so: “Imagine if 9/11 had nuclear weapons, and if one man could get out of his own way and fix his family, he could save the world.” Watch for the special AUP alumni discount!
LIAM O. C ’70
In my first ACP literature course in fall ’68, Professor Alexander Allen asked the class why Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Squire’s Tale” mentions the new medieval technology of glass making. It was one of those questions that stayed with me for the rest of my education, and my
Years 1966 - 1970
half-century-long career as a professor of English language and literature with a specialization in medieval British literature and drama.
Whenever the opportunity presented itself for me to teach Chaucer’s works that question would resurface in memory until one day I decided to figure out what the answer to it was. After refocusing my attention to that matter, which included remembering the emphasis Professor Allen had always placed upon translation as most practical means of gaining fully from our experience of being immersed in French culture and tradition while living and studying in Paris, I realized the answer had always been directly in front of me, hidden in plain sight, and so went to work completing what should have been undertaken almost a lifetime before, a long essay thoroughly treating what is latent and sophisticated in the youngest of the Canterbury pilgrims’ contributions to the tale-telling contest on the way to Canterbury Cathedral, “The hooly blisful martir for to seke.” That essay examining the tale’s unique medieval avant-gardism, “Translation and the Squire’s Fabulous ‘Traveling Icon’ Narrative Venture,” The Chaucer Review, 60.3 (2025): 322-51, has now, I’m happy to say, finally been published. Mieux vaut tard que jamais!
CLASS NOTES
LYNNE COUTURE ’78
After a successful career as an Executive Director of a non-profit and then President of an Executive Coaching and Leadership Development company, I decided to retire. I am now volunteering at the Delray Beach Historical Society, playing golf in the winter in Florida and enjoying summertime in Rhode Island. I am also traveling within and outside the USA.
N. HOLMES CLARE ’81
After decades on Wall Street, I decamped from my hometown to Charleston, SC, where most of my family has moved. Years later, my friend Suzanne Halasz called me; she was also in Charleston. We later married and are doing well.
I moved to historic Charleston, South Carolina in 2013 after NYC became too costly. At an AUP event in Paris I ran into Graeme Wright. He said fellow ACPer Holmes Clare was also in Charleston and gave me his coordinates. A few months later Holmes and I were dating, and married in 2021. Both retired now, we enjoy classical concerts, travel, and volunteer work at a local hospital. Holmes loves to cook but often takes me to one of Charleston’s fabulous restaurants.
SUZANNE HALASZ ’85
MARGOT BORDEN, PHD ’86
After finishing my BA in International Business at AUP in 1986, I went on to do my MA in Humanistic Counselling at Durham University in the UK. I still had a thirst for structured learning. I completed my PhD in Wisdom Studies at Ubiquity University last October. It was a wonderful five-year journey focused on women’s spirituality. Can’t wait to see what I dream up next!
SANDRA VERONICA BRAMWELL ’87
I had to move to New York for two years for continued dialysis in the hopes of securing a kidney transplant. I was successful on January 26, 2025. I am faring well. In the interim, I continued my work with clients who were seeking a global education.
As for my company Versan2 LLC, it has continued its work amongst our clients.
JANE HAMILTON ’87
I’m doing the best I can with what I have...Let me just say, I’m 61 years old, and I have seen some amazing and wonderful things around the world over the years. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have my small action space and to
not be driving a car in Nokomis-Venice Florida. I wish my son was with me. I do have a good quality of life. And, I love my volunteer jobs.
ELIZABETH TOBIAS ’89
Since presenting her TEDx Talk, now nearing a quarter million views, at The American University last year, Elizabeth Tobias has shared her powerful story of resilience through expressive arts with a global audience. Inspired by the momentum of her talk, she envisioned a bold and scalable way to support youth mental health through the arts. That vision is now being realized. The Visual and Performing Arts Foundation (VAPA), in collaboration with the San Diego Unified School District, was awarded a $1 million Sparx grant from the Prebys
CLASS NOTES
Foundation to address the region’s youth mental health crisis. As the lead community partner on the project, Elizabeth is developing and facilitating a trauma-informed, arts-based training program for arts educators throughout the district. Through this groundbreaking initiative, Elizabeth is equipping educators with the tools to foster creativity, resilience, and emotional well-being in the classroom, where it is needed most.
Explore the Perbs Sparx Challenge
CHARLES DUQUE ’93
After ten rewarding years at CNIEL, the French Dairy Board, I am honored to now serve as the Director of Communications for the International Dairy Federation (IDF). IDF is the global voice of the dairy sector and represents the interests of dairy stakeholders worldwide. We work to ensure that dairy remains a vital part of a safe, sustainable, and nutritious food system by promoting science-based standards, innovation, and responsible practices. The work we do at IDF is essential in shaping global food policy and supporting the future of dairy in a changing world.
Visit the website
ANJALI NIHALCHAND ’99
Aside from my Counselling and Digital businesses that I run, I also work with two NGOs. One is based in Hong Kong, empowering marginalized ethnic minorities through work opportunities, scholarships, mental health support and more. More recently I have started project work with Thrive Refugees Enterprise here in Australia where I now live. This is an inspiring organization that gives business loans to refugees wanting to start or grow their own business. This helps to give them independence, both financial and personal, as well as the purpose and pride that may have been lost on their journey that brought them here. What inspires me is that 98% of the loans lent have been paid back, showing accountability as well as grace, resilience and determination among our clients.
Explore the project
GEIR STIAN ULSTEIN G’04
Some years ago, I took on a rather unusual challenge: following the route from Paris to Moscow taken by Norwegian ultrarunner Mensen Ernst. Along with a fellow runner—a cancer survivor—we didn’t run the entire way, but we did complete seven marathons in thirteen days, staged along key stretches of Ernst’s original path through Europe.
Mensen Ernst was a 19th century endurance runner who, in 1832, set off—on foot—from Paris to deliver a diplomatic message to the Russian Tsar. He covered the distance in just 14 days, becoming one of the earliest long-distance athletes to gain international fame.
The journey blended endurance, history, and storytelling, and eventually became the basis for my book Løperkongens skygge (In the Shadow of the Running King), where I explore both our modern experience, Ernst’s near-mythical feat and all the forgotten history that emerges when you slow down and follow the road on foot.
It was an unforgettable adventure—full of aching legs, border crossings and the kind of joy that only comes from chasing a story across a continent. And with the situation in the world today, it’s also a journey that can no longer be easily repeated.
Looking back, it’s the kind of project I might never have dared to pursue without the curiosity and international perspective that AUP instilled in me.
MASHA EDWARDS ’08
I didn’t expect that I would take up sketching AFTER I left Paris, but it definitely influenced me, as not taking art classes while at AUP was a regret I had. But I learned that regret is only another word for inspiration! So now I’m inspired to do what I wish I had done and go forward! Who knows what will be next!?
CLASS NOTES
KRISTINA KEENAN ’08
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) announced the selection of Kristina Keenan as its first woman veteran as director of the VFW’s National Legislative Service (NLS).
Kristina Keenan is a familiar and wellrespected face on Capitol Hill. As a member of the NLS team since 2018, her tenacity and dedication have been proven time and again. Most notably, her advocacy efforts contributed greatly to the passing of the PACT Act — the largest expansion of veterans benefits since the Vietnam War. Her legislative victories also include the passage of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Location Act and the Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks (VIP) Act, among others.
Keenan has been recognized as one of the country’s top lobbyists by the National Institute of Lobbying and Ethics (NILE) and the Washington, D.C., publication, The Hill.
Read Kristina’s full story
NILOUFAR SASSANI ’08
In a time of global division, I’m proud to share Bote A Mano, a brand I launched to bridge East and West. We design jewelry, accessories, and footwear inspired by Eastern heritage and crafted by artisans in Italy. My aim is to highlight how uniting different worlds can spark something truly exceptional—a perspective shaped at AUP, where cross-cultural collaboration was central to our learning.
Browse the collections
CARLI SEAVER ’08
I got married in a town called Rustiques, near Carcassonne, on March 22.
ANDI DAVIDS G’09
I’m pleased to share that Bulletproof, the world’s largest independent brand agency with studios in London, New York, Singapore, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne and Dubai, has appointed me as its first Global Chief Growth Officer.
Having successfully led the evolution of Bulletproof’s service offering and brand platform the past three years, I’m excited to steer the business through its next ambitious phase of growth.
The brief is simple: Grow the business. Grow the Brand. Grow the work. And it’s particularly relevant now because Bulletproof is expanding in so many ways.
We’re taking on clients in new sectors, like sport with Liverpool FC, science
with Tate & Lyle and mobility with DiDi. We’re fielding new briefs ranging from employer branding for Booking.com, to OOH campaigns for Johnnie Walker, to brand collaborations for OREO.
We’re building a powerful suite of new capabilities, from Insight to Innovation, Voice to Motion, 3D to Digital Anthropology. And we’re moving into new regions, having recently opened our first studio in Dubai.
There is so much on the horizon for Bulletproof. I am thrilled to join the global senior leadership team alongside our founders and play a more active role in driving the business forward.
I would be happy if my professional journey can inspire others. Last year I managed to come back to AUP as a professor for the same class that I attended with Professor Gardner almost 20 years ago. Meanwhile, I shifted from working as a psychologist to the IT sector, passing through a 4-year experience in an international organization. AUP helped inspire my passion for child protection, which has become the fil rouge of my life ever since. Happy to connect and explore further!
VERA RADEVA HADJIEV ’09
CLASS NOTES
JIE HONG G’09
After 25 years in international highered and life across three continents, I’ve stepped into a new chapter as a Personal Transformation Coach. An eight year journey reshaped my life and taught me the power of living with alignment, confidence, purpose and equanimity. Now, I help others turn their fear into daring and unlock their true potential through transformational self-discovery. Grateful to support others on their path!
Connect with Jie on LinkedIn
After earning my PhD in Comparative Politics and International Relations from the University of Ottawa in May 2022— awarded with a first-tier distinction on the defense—I rejoined AUP as a visiting professor in the newly established Human Rights Institute. I developed and taught a graduate-level module titled The United Nations System and Humanitarian Aid for students of the joint AUP–Sorbonne Master’s program in International Law and Diplomacy. In 2023, I founded CONFIDE, a Dubai-based consulting firm, through which I provide strategic advice to governments on public policy reform, public administration modernization and public communications across a range of sectors.
Visit the website
FARIS AL-OBAID G’10
After graduating, I embarked on a path of public service in which I contributed to
REBAR JAFF ’09
the government of Kuwait. For a decade, I had the privilege of serving as an advisor, working directly on a portfolio exceeding $100 billion USD under HH the Emir’s “New Kuwait Vision 2035” initiative. This experience, while deeply rewarding, also exposed me to the intricate challenges and immense opportunities within rapidly evolving global economies. Furthermore, my entrepreneurial drive also led me to successfully lead a startup, Tamara, guiding it from its foundational stage to becoming a fully regulated entity across four countries in the GCC and ultimately achieving unicorn status.
Driven by a vision to identify and empower the next generation of disruptive companies, I co-founded Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP). Based in the dynamic Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and operating under the rigorous regulation of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), PVP represents a strategic hub for venture investment in a region brimming with potential. Our ethos at PVP is to identify and nurture “outliers” – those visionary founders and groundbreaking technologies poised to redefine industries.
Reflecting on my journey, it’s clear how profoundly my AUP experience prepared me for this challenging yet exhilarating path. The multicultural environment fostered an innate ability to navigate diverse business landscapes
and perspectives. The interdisciplinary curriculum encouraged me to connect seemingly disparate ideas, a skill invaluable in identifying the cross-sector innovations we now invest in. Most importantly, the spirit of independent inquiry and resilience ingrained in me at AUP continues to fuel my drive to build, connect, and contribute to the global economy.
Visit the website
SEENA HADDAD ’12
I will be a writer for the Season 2 Finale of the hit Hulu / Disney+ show “Paradise.”
CLASS NOTES
ANDREA OLSON ’13
Since my summer at AUP in 2013, I have created a career in the digital marketing/ SEO world from working for larger SaaS companies to now working as a contractor locally in Burlington, VT, for the University of Vermont Shared Health Network as their newest Digital Specialist. Living so close to Quebec, I am still able to use my French language skills and dream of a return to Paris!
KAREN SLOSBERG G’13
Karen Slosberg is thrilled to announce the launch of BABA PAPA, a brand dedicated to sustainable accessories that foster emotional connections. Featuring a curated collection that embodies timeless elegance, BABA PAPA blends nostalgia and masculine influence through a feminine lens. The company serves as a creative outlet while she continues to direct MGSCF and reside in Senegal.
Learn more about BABA PAPA
GERARD ANDREW HERNANDEZ G’18
My book, Problems with History and Current Events: Reflections on Historical Narratives from an American Who Lived in Paris, is now available on Amazon as well as on other sites. I was inspired to write the book due to what was going on with the US under the Trump administration primarily, and to a lesser extent, due to what was going on around the world.
JOAN STEIGER G’18
Joan Steiger recently got engaged to her boyfriend Badr Ben m’barek. Joan and Badr met in March 2018 in Paris while Joan was in the MAGC program. That spring, Joan took an internship at the same start-up where Badr was working. They began as friends, then started dating long-distance in October 2021. When Badr popped the question last April, the answer was “OUI”! Joan and Badr will celebrate their wedding in spring 2026 in Florida and later in the summer with a Moroccan wedding.
MICHELAH BROWN G’19
I have released my latest single, “James & Nikki!”
Listen to it on Spotify
GRACE CUNNINGHAM G’20
Six years after meeting during my master’s program, my French husband and I got married just outside of Paris!
K. ECE GÜRAY-SMITH ’21
In Fall 2023, I started my graduate education at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. In February 2025, the first exhibition I worked on as a curatorial intern for the Dutch National Ethnographic Museum, “Poetry of People: Voices from West Asia and North Africa”, opened at Amsterdam Wereldmuseum. It was a challenging project that combined contemporary art, museum objects, literature, audiovisual and archival materials, but we are so happy with how the exhibition turned out. I am graduating this fall and am very excited to see what other inspiring projects I will get to contribute to!
CLASS NOTES
MARY MCCOLLEY ’21
Mary McColley recently published a book of poetry, Atlantics, which bridges continents over her time spent working and wandering in Maine, France, Thailand and Palestine.
Browse Mary’s bibliography
SARA WYNN G’22
Since graduating, I have launched Atelier Red, a workshop and studio space that focuses on weaving, mending and embroidery. Through hands-on classes, I help people reconnect with clothing, materials and mindful-making. It’s been a joy to build community around slow craft and sustainable values!
Visit the Atelier Red
Got an update for your fellow alumni? You could be featured in the next issue of the AUP Magazine. Whether it’s a new job, a recent wedding or a relocation across the world, we want to hear what you’ve been up to over the last year. Visit aup.edu/life-updates to share your story. Years 2021 - 2022
ALUMNI BINGO
How many boxes can you check off? Whether you grabbed lunch at the AMEX, mentored a student or took a nostalgic stroll through campus, this is your chance to relive the AUP experience (and win big while you’re at it).
Mark the memories you’ve made, snap a photo of your completed bingo card and send it to alumni@aup.edu or tag us on social media. You’ll be entered into a drawing to win two free tickets to:
Alumni
Weekend 2026 | April 23–25, 2026
Attended an AUP Rentrée Soirée event in your city
Attended AUP Alumni Weekend
Made a group chat with other AUP alumni
Flipped through your class yearbook
Participated in World’s Fair as a student
Revisited Paris after graduating
Mentored an AUP student
Watched the 2024 Olympics and recognized your favorite spots in Paris
Supported scholarships, research, the campus or faculty grants
Read a book by an AUP alum
Came back to visit the AUP campus
Grabbed lunch in the AMEX Café
Stayed in touch with a professor
Used French after graduating
Donated on AUP Giving Day
Ran into another alum somewhere unexpected in the world
