Dr. Maryse Mijalski, a Senior Lecturer and French Language Program Director at the University of California, Irvine, has been awarded the Knight of the Order of Academic Palms. This prestigious title is one of France's oldest civilian honors, originally established in 1808 by Emperor Napoleon.
The award recognizes Dr. Mijalski's distinguished career and her longstanding, exceptional contributions to education, particularly her commitment to promoting the French language, culture, and academic excellence. The Consul General of France formally presented the medal to Dr. Mijalski on October 9, 2026, during a ceremony at the Residence of France in Beverly Hills.
Dr. Mijalski has maintained a long affiliation with the French Program at UCI. She began teaching as a graduate student Teaching Assistant in the Department of French & Italian in the fall of 1994, just months after earning her B.A. magna cum laude from the same program. Throughout her career, Dr. Mijalski has demonstrated what colleagues and students describe as an immense gift for teaching. She notes, “I felt right away an easy connection with the students,” and states that her love for human interaction makes the classroom her ideal workspace. For over thirty years, students have consistently responded positively to her natural teaching style, genuine care, and command of her subject.
To further enhance her pedagogical approaches, Dr. Mijalski pursued a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Southern California, completing her degree in 2014. She subsequently applied these new tools at UCI, developing innovative curricula for all levels of instruction in her role as French Language Program Director within the Department of European Languages & Studies.
As a first-generation college student who grew up in Ouistreham, an industrial port in Normandy, Dr. Mijalski is particularly sensitive to class, ethnic, and religious differences. This sensitivity has guided her work, leading her to spearhead initiatives such as the successful "French for Spanish Speakers" series. She also fostered a strong community for French students by organizing extracurricular activities, including Francophone Day, a French Job Fair, and, in collaboration with Dr. Laura Klein, a French & Francophone Film Festival. Her efforts have consistently encouraged UCI students to study in France and have ensured integration across various levels of the French curriculum, providing effective models for colleagues on incorporating literary and cultural texts into the classroom.
Dr. Mijalski recalls a particularly meaningful teaching moment when a student in her French for Spanish Speakers class brought sweet tamales to an end-of-quarter potluck after she had mentioned her fondness for tamales. This gesture led to students sharing their family tamale recipes and traditions, which Dr. Mijalski reciprocated by sharing her crêpes recipe. She described this as a “very touching moment of connection through food and culture,” highlighting her appreciation for learning about students' diverse backgrounds and teaching them to appreciate varied perspectives.
Her dedication has been recognized previously by UCI, which awarded her the Campus-Wide Lecturer of the Year Award from the Office of the Vice Provost for the Division of Teaching & Learning in 2017. Her accomplishments were then acknowledged nationally in 2023 when she received the Distinguished French Educator Award from the American Association of Teachers of French. The recent award from the French government underscores her role as an Ambassador of French Culture, further strengthening UCI's French Program at a time when similar programs elsewhere in the United States have seen declines in student enrollment or closures. Her colleagues in the Department of European Languages & Studies have expressed their congratulations for this recognition of her work.
