Alumna Anna DiPalma Amelung, PhD, a facilitator at the Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) at Washington University in St. Louis, was inducted as a Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Knight in the Order of Academic Palms) for outstanding contributions to the development of French culture and language. Jean-Francois Rochard, the attache cultural adjoint consulate general of France in Chicago, presented Amelung with a medallion on behalf of the French government during a March 22 ceremony and reception at the West Campus Conference Center. Amelung, who has facilitated 16 courses at the Lifelong Learning Institute over the past three years, gave a lecture titled “In Praise of Franco-American Friendship: Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas” during the event. Amelung earned a PhD in French from WUSTL in 1980. The Ordre des Palmes Académiques is the oldest non-military decoration in France, founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808 to honor educators. LLI is a community outreach education program sponsored by University College in Arts & Sciences that offers a variety of non-credit academic courses for senior adults. A teacher of French and Latin for 45 years in Europe and the United States, Amelung refers to LLI students as “the most exciting and rewarding student body one can only dream of.”
(Credit: KeVin Lowder)
