FRENCH ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
Students sampling regional cuisine in Lyon
FALL 2026
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1
Program Update
2
Grad Lunch
4
Commencement
5
May in France, May 2026
6
TAPIF Updates
7
2026 Editor
Faculty Updates
8
Otto Selles
Study in France, Fall 2026
10
French Film Festival
12
UNE PAGE SE TOURNE:
Calvin’s French Major and Minor Cut On Thursday, November 14, 2025, we, Professor Otto Selles and Jolene Vos-Camy, met with our academic dean and the human resources director to learn that the French major and minor, along with our jobs, would be cut, effective July 1, 2026. As announced in last year’s alumni newsletter, we had hoped to save the program through a restructuring of our curriculum and roles. Unfortunately, a drop in overall university enrollment over the summer along with a belttightening mindset pushed Calvin’s administration to “rip off the bandage,” that is, to show no more fiscal leniency for smaller programs like French.
optional FREN 201, leading to a considerable drop in FREN 202 enrollments. As a result, fewer students continued into FREN 301 and the French major and minor. The change in core, combined with the end of the January Interim, also led to the cancellation of the FREN 151-152 accelerated core sequence and the FREN 111-112-113 multi-sensory core sequence. Another factor was the university-wide change to a new 4-hour credit hour system, making it harder for students to add a French major or minor.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer students enrolling at Calvin have had a level of French high enough to take advanced courses as freshmen, From the “data-driven” perspective no doubt the result of smaller or cut du jour, the French program was high school French programs. The low-hanging fruit. While our 101-102 pandemic, followed by stricter US visa and 201 core classes were strong, our requirements, also reduced the numupper-level courses remained small and ber of international students at Calvin. were judged “inefficient” when calculated While the number of international against the relatively higher pay of students in French courses bounced professors with 29 years of experience. back the past two years, it was not The number of graduating French enough to save the program. majors and minors had also dropped since 2021, a metric that made the Unfortunately, this program cut reflects program vulnerable in a cost-cutting national trends, as many other univerenvironment. sities have been cutting Humanities programs these past years. What is Several internal and external factors happening at Calvin is, sadly, happening contributed to the shrinking of the across the US. French program over the past few years. The main culprit was the In the future, like every other language 2021 university-wide core revision, other than Spanish, French will only be which reduced the foreign language requirement to FREN 102, with an 101-102 and 201 levels at Calvin.
2
And so, we, the full-time French professors, move on, finishing our careers at Calvin with a final Fall semester that we were able to negotiate (see the faculty updates for details). We are very grateful for the incredible opportunities we enjoyed over the past twenty-nine years. It has been a privilege to teach a range of language, literature, and culture courses to incredible students. We are especially thankful for the chance to lead off-campus programs in France, Haiti, and Quebec and elsewhere and to see students improve their French and grow through the challenge of living abroad. We are also thankful to the professors who started the program and to our former colleagues: Professors Arthur Otten, Claude-Marie Baldwin Vos, Ellen Monsma, Jim Wilkins, Glenn Fetzer, Irene Konyndyk, Leslie Mathews, Ali Haveman, and Vicki De Vries. Un grand merci à tous et à toutes, Otto Selles and Jolene Vos-Camy, soon-to-be emeriti professors of French
“Party Like It’s 1997” To celebrate the French and German programs and our careers, a party was held at Professor Vos-Camy’s home on May 2, 2026.
Current and former faculty/staff pictured, L-R: Otto Selles (French), Corey Roberts (German), Herm De Vries (German & Dutch), Barbara Carvill (German), Jolene Vos-Camy (French), David Smith (German), Renee De Vries (French, Germanic, and Asian Languages Admin.), Irene Konyndyk (French), and Vicki De Vries (French).
3
GRAD LUNCH
FALL 2019
For the traditional pre-commencement lunch, the French program invited all grads, as well as all current French majors and minors. Taking over most of the tables at Chez Olga in Eastown, students enjoyed Creole dishes with French professors and Emily VanderWeide, the World Languages program coordinator. At the end of lunch, graduating students received a small gift. Professors Selles and Vos-Camy also announced that Rebecca-Helen Prince received the outstanding French major award for her contributions, as a student and small group leader, to the program. Later in the day, after the honors convocation, Rebeccas-Helen received a gift from the professors. The lunch and gifts were paid for through the French alumni gift account, to which alums Daren and Renee D’Ippolito provided a significant donation. Any remaining funds in the account will be spent this fall to mark the end of the program on campus and in Grenoble. Graduating French Majors and Minors
Tommy Postal, Dept. coordinator Emily VanderWeide, and Prof. Alison Bristol, on the right 4
Rebecca-Helen Prince, outstanding senior
COMMENCEMENT
Hannah Vardeman, Garret Mowry, Rebecca-Helen Price
Professor Vos-Camy with Professor Sabrina Lee, Calvin French Alumna and current Calvin English Professor
Professor Selles, Hannah Vardeman, Garret Mowry, Rebecca-Helen Price, and Professor Vos-Camy
5
MAY IN FRANCE 2026 Power, Politics, and Castles Directed by Professor Jolene Vos-Camy I directed the last Calvin May term in France with co-instructor Nick Boersma (Chemistry Dept, and faithful auditor of French classes). We first spent 5 days in Paris (Versailles, Louvre, Fontainebleau), then a week in the Loire valley (Tours, Chenonceau, Blois, Chambord, Amboise, Chinon), a weekend in Nantes (Puy du fou), and came back through Bourges, before finishing in Paris (Vincennes, Tour Eiffel). Students gave presentations on the history and politics of each castle and drew details and overviews of each one. Students noted parallels between present-day politics and medieval and Renaissance history where those in power constructed grandiose edifices. Somehow, François I (1494-1547) became a favorite focal point and hero.
Sarah Sparling, Ellerie Poel, Abigail Girard, and Claire Call at the Château de Vincennes in Paris
I’m grateful to Nick and the students for sharing this last May term in France directed by a full-time French professor at Calvin University. The Château de Chenonceau
Jolene Vos-Camy and Nick Boersma with students 6
Sarah Sparling at the Château de Chinon
FALL 2019
Teaching Assistant Program (TAPIF) Updates Karine Rose (2026) Assistante TAPIF 2025-2026 Bonjour à tous et à toutes ! Je suis assistante de langue anglaise en France avec TAPIF ! Je suis arrivée en France à la fin du mois de septembre 2025 à L’Isled’Abeau, un petit village entre Lyon et Grenoble ! J’ai commencé à travailler à l’école le 1er octobre avec des élèves de maternelle et de primaire. Chaque cours commençait par de petites chansons et quelques exercices physiques pour montrer les parties du corps ou des mouvements simples en anglais. Quand j’étais étudiante à Calvin, la professeure Vos Camy faisait toujours des chansons et des danses avec notre classe française. Alors, elle m’a donné l’idée de faire des activités semblables similaires avec mes élèves français.
Jolene Vos-Camy with Karine Rose in France
J’ai travaillé 12 heures par semaine à l’école. J’étais libre chaque vendredi alors j’ai fait plein de petits voyages les week-ends ! En automne, j’ai visité Paris et d’autres villes françaises. En hiver, j’ai fait du ski et j’ai visité des marchés de Noël. Au printemps, j’ai fait de l’escalade dans le parc national des Calanques, près de Marseille. J’aime Marseille beaucoup, alors je vais retourner en France mais cette année scolaire, je travaillerai à Marseille ! J’ai hâte de retourner en France et j’espère que d’autres étudiants de Calvin me rejoindront aussi ! Bisous ! Karine Karine Rose climbing in the Parc National des Calanques 7
FACULTY AND STAFF
Professor Selles with French alumnae Christina Romano and Hanvit Park after meeting for coffee
Otto Selles During the fall 2025 semester, I taught FREN 201 and served as chair of both World Languages and Art and Design. I had a great group in FREN 201 and got to know the Art and Design faculty and students better. However, my administrative work in World Languages was disheartening as nothing could be said, argued or proposed to save the French program and our jobs. My sabbatical, in Spring 2026, came at a perfect time to rest and refocus. I put together a book project gathering twelve articles I wrote from 1996 to 2024. Honoré Champion (Paris) will publish the volume next year under the title Entre foi et raison : un regard sur le protestantisme français au XVIIIe siècle. In April I took a break from the book project to return to the Samuel L. Clements Library at the U. of Michigan for a week to complete a paper on 8
Beaumarchais’ correspondence held there. This paper will come out next year as part of an online publication, Beaumarchais et les Amériques: nouvelles recherches, nouvelles perspectives. From a creative perspective, the year was full. In October 2026, my second poetry collection, Matins, was published, and I gave readings at Calvin and at Redeemer University. My landscape photography was featured at different venues, such as “Solo Seven,” a juried exhibition at Lowell Arts, and at Monroe Community Church (MCC) for ArtPrize 2025. For ArtPrize 2026, I prepared a large photo collage of Grand Rapids’ bridges, shown at MCC. For Fall 2026, I am teaching a final semester at Calvin, with no administrative duties. Thanks to a grant from the French government’s cultural service, the French film festival ran one last time, in combination with an honors course and a special topics French film course. (See p. 12 for more information.)
In addition to FREN 201 and the film courses, I am teaching a combined FREN 202-301-302 course for students who couldn’t go to Grenoble for the semester. As of January 1, 2027, I will be retired. While it has been hard to accept the end of the French program and my career, I am looking forward to concentrating on creative writing and photography. Ski patrol and ski instruction will probably be a bigger part of my winters. Rita and I plan on spending more time with our grandson and traveling. At the top of our travel list: 1) visiting our son Luc and his wife Grace in Grenoble, where he is an English assistant and she studies at the CUEF, 2) hiking the “French Way” of the Camino de Santiago, and 3) biking in the Netherlands. Please note that I’d love to meet up with alum for coffee. Don’t hesitate to email me if you are in Grand Rapids (oselles@calvin.edu).
4
Jolene Vos-Camy This past year was bittersweet as my colleagues and I learned in November 2025 that the French major and minor programs were definitively slated for termination at Calvin in 2026-2027. I fully enjoyed teaching my last classes to motivated, enthusiastic, and talented students. In the fall, I taught French 301, Advanced Conversation one last time—a course I have taught nearly every single fall for the last 29 years. I also taught an upper-level culture/literature course I invented a few years ago: “French in the World and in Grand Rapids” in which we read books from France, Rwanda, Haiti, and Algeria and students interacted with French-speaking guest speakers from France and Grand Rapids. In the spring, I taught French 202, 302 (Advanced Grammar), and 352, a re-imagined survey of the French literature course. It was fun to read some of my old favorites, like Marie de France, Marguerite de Navarre, Molière, Voltaire, Hugo, and Ionesco, with the 19 students who took this class. In May I directed our last Calvin May term in France with Nick Boersma from the Chemistry Department. Nick has been auditing our French classes for a few years and was excited to co-direct the trip. The course was called “Power, Politics, and Castles” and students reflected on the castles and the people who built them and lived in them, from Paris, to the Loire valley and beyond (see the photo report in this newsletter). Last fall, I presented a paper, “La liberté de rire: subversion dans les romans de Mlle de La Force” as part of a panel organized by Dr. Glenn Fetzer, at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association in Spokane, Washington. As always, it was good to catch up with
Professor Vos-Camy in Aix-en-Provence in June 2026
my former professor and former colleague at Calvin who is chair of the Department of Languages and Linguistics at New Mexico State University. I have an article accepted for publication with Biblio in Germany, « La liberté dans la vie et dans Marguerite de Valois, Reine de Navarre de Charlotte Rose de Caumont La Force. » This fall I am directing the last semester-length Study in France program in Grenoble that so many of our students
benefited from over the last 25 years. I created this study-abroad program for Calvin in 2001, and it is an honor (and bittersweet) to direct the last iteration of the program this fall with 15 students. My employment with Calvin University ends on December 31, 2026, and at that point I will settle in France and look for work there. If you happen to be in Grenoble, please look me up! My Calvin email will still work (jolene.vos-camy@calvin.edu).
9
STUDY IN FRANCE FALL 2026
Students at the Château de Versailles
Chloe Rommeck and Ava Vandlen experiencing virtual reality at Versailles
The last iteration of the Study in France semester program is off to an excellent start in Grenoble, France, 25 years after the very first Calvin Study in France semester program was created and directed by Professor Jolene Vos-Camy in 2001. Like in 2001, this year’s semester program began in Paris with students exploring the city and visiting muse ums like the musée de Montmartre, the musée d’Orsay, and Versailles. After a ride on the TVG to Grenoble, students moved in with their host families and 11 10 10
F
Calvin French Alumna Emily O’Brock with Ellerie Poel and Jolene Vos-Camy in Grenoble
Tiwaah Tenkorang, Foaba Amoah-Arthur, and Tye Ankamah in Lyon
started classes at the Centre universitaire d’études françaises (CUEF), now part of the Université de Grenoble Alpes. Different this year is that many students can take a sports class in the main university system in addition to their CUEF French language and culture classes. Calvin students are taking swimming, yoga, rugby, rowing, soccer, and tango classes. Besides the Paris excursion, students have already enjoyed a weekend trip to Lyon, and outings to the iconic Coupe
Icare, the Grande Chartreuse monastery and museum and next weekend will sample Chartreuse liquor at the Caves de la Chartreuse. Day trips to Annecy and Geneva are coming up, as well as an outing to the see the local professional hockey team, les Brûleurs de loups, play on their home rink in Grenoble. Professor Vos-Camy is grateful to finish her career at Calvin University on a high note with 15 wonderful students in France. Follow our adventures on Instagram at French_at_Calvin!
Divine-Paula Sambian and Beta Akari at the top of the Tour Perret in Grenoble
Taking the funicular train in Lyon
Taking the bulles up to Bastille in Grenoble
Peyton Luwig, Sarah Sparling, Emma Wallenburg, and Gema Jaco with Christophe the Croissant at the Roman theaters in Lyon 11 11
FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL In a season of “last times,” Professor Selles organized the French program’s 21st annual–and final–film festival from September 2 to October 7, 2026. Thanks to a grant from the Cinémathèque Albertine and with the support of the Alliance Française de Grand Rapids, six films were shown for free to the public. In junction with the festival, Professor Selles taught an Honors colloquium that gathered nineteen students to discuss the films each week.
In addition to Calvin students, faculty, staff, retirees, and alumni, viewers representing City High School, GRCC, Ferris State University, and the West Michigan community attended the screenings. According to the terms of the grant, the festival included one classic film along with five contemporary films, set in locations ranging from Paris to Morocco, Belgium, and Corsica. Viewers enjoyed the range of filmmaking styles, perspectives, and social issues that each film offered.
THE WORLD LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF CALVIN UNIVERSITY PRESENTS THE 21st ANNUAL
FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL: FALL 2026
Connexions ! Bytwerk Video Theater DeVos Communication Center Wednesdays at 7 pm September 2 to October 7, 2026 All films are subtitled in English
FREE ADMISSION
Wed., September 2, 2026 at 7:00pm A bout de souffle / Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard, 1960, lh30 Michel, a small-time crook idolizing Humphrey Bogart, steals a car, murders a cop during a chase, then pursues his American girlfriend Patricia in Paris for a romantic getaway to Italy, as the police closes in. Wed., September 9, 2026 at 7:00pm Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater, 2025, 1h46 Richard Linklaterls playful, poignant love letter to cinema reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Codard's revolutionary New Wave classic "Breathless." Wed., September 16, 2026 at 7:00pm Dossier 137 / Case 137 by Dominik Moll, 2025, 1h56 Internal Affairs officer Stéphanie investigates police violence during chaotic Paris demonstrations, uncovering institutional secrets. Her probe reveals potential cover-ups in a tense crime drama. [Substituted for En Fanfare / The Marching Band, which was not yet available for a free screening.] Wed., September 23, 2026 at 7:00pm Promis le ciel / Promised Sky by Erige Sehiri, 2025, 1h33 An Ivorian pastor and former journalist, Marie, opens her home in Tunisia to three generations of migrant women as they all grapple with poverty, conflict, and alienation. Wed., September 30, 2026 at 7:00pm Jeunes Mères / Young Mothers by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2025, 1h45 Five teenage mothers in a Belgian maternity shelter confront poverty, addiction, and neglect while striving for better futures for themselves and their children, aided by dedicated staff in this realist drama. Wed., October 7, 2026 at 7:00pm Le Mohican / The Mohican by Frédéric Farrucci 2024, 1h27 A Corsican shepherd refuses to sell his coastal land to criminals. After severely injuring a mobster's son who tried to threaten him, he becomes the target of a ruthless manhunt.
12