May 9, 2022
Insignia of Knight in the Order of Academic Palms
In conjunction with the Consulate General of France in Vancouver, UBC Faculty of Education, UBC Faculty of Arts and UBC Extended Learning hosted a ceremony on May 5, 2022 to honour three educators, founders of the Centre de la Francophonie de UBC, for their services to French language and culture.
Mr. Nicolas Baudouin, Consul General of France in Vancouver, bestowed the insignia of Knight in the Order of Academic Palms (des insignes de Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes académiques), one of the oldest civil honours bestowed by the French Republic, on:
- Dr. Monique Bournot-Trites
Associate Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC - Dr. André Lamontagne
Emeritus Professor in the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies, and first Director of the Centre de la francophonie de UBC - Dr. Judith Plessis
Executive Director Emerita, Extended Learning (formerly Continuing Studies), UBC
Knights
Dr. Monique Bournot-Trites teaches second language methodology in the Teacher Education program and courses in second language assessment, research methods and reading foundations at the graduate level. She developed a French Master of Education cohort program at UBC which continues to attract French as an additional language teachers. Most of her research interests are related French immersion, including second language acquisition, learning content in a second language, grammar teaching and learning, assessment and language assessment, literacy, intercultural competence, and learning disabilities. Most recently, she has been the project lead for writing the Theoretical Language Framework for the Canadian Language Benchmarks, a language evaluation tool for Canadian immigrants. She served on the Centre for the Canadian Language Benchmarks board from 2018 to 2021.
Dr. André Lamontagne joined UBC in 1989 after completing a doctoral thesis on the poetics of intertextuality in the works of Hubert Aquin and Jorge Luis Borges. He has published on Quebecois literature, postmodern fiction, and literary theory. As a creative writer, he is the author of a collection of short stories and of two novels. He is the cofounder of a francophone publishing house in British Columbia, les Éditions de l’Épaulard. He was Head of the Department of Francophone, Hispanic and Italian Studies and the first Director of the Centre de la francophonie de UBC. He was also involved in community outreach as vice-president of the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and a founding member of the Société historique francophone de la Colombie-Britannique.
Dr. Judith Plessis devoted her forty-year career to continuing education, including many years as Executive Director UBC Continuing Studies, one of the largest continuing education units in Canada. While teaching and coordinating conversational French courses at UBC’s Centre for Continuing Education during the 1980s, Judith developed distance education French courses for the BC Open Learning Agency. During the 1990s, Judith developed a dynamic, multicultural vision for adult language learners as Director of the UBC Languages, Cultures and Travels division. While working at Extended Learning (formerly Continuing Studies), she advocated for the important role of continuing education in fostering civil society.
Ceremony
