Study Away: Trinity-in-Paris!

The Trinity-in-Paris Global Learning Site offers students the opportunity to spend a semester or full year of study in the beautiful city of Paris. Paris is a dynamic world city that is the paragon of urban living. It provides students with an excellent vantage point from which to study the history, politics, art, culture, and economy of Europe, as well as the European Union. Students who are proficient in French can take all of their courses in the language. Beginning and intermediate French language students can make real progress in the language by living it on a daily basis. Students on the program use the city as their classroom, going on regular academic excursions to museums, historical sites, and cultural attractions. They learn through their experience of the city, as well as through academic examination of its institutions and the past, present, and future embodied in its art, architecture, culture, and literature.

Trinity-in-Paris is offered both in the fall and spring semesters or full the full year. The Trinity-in-Paris Global Learning site began in Spring 2006.

The City

Paris is both the capital of France and the country’s largest city. It has over 2 million residents, with a metropolitan area of about 12 million. An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris today is one of the world's leading business and cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts contribute to its status as one of the world's major cities. One of the most captivating and beautiful cities in Europe, every street holds some portion of the city’s history. The Eiffel Tower, symbol of the city, dominates the skyline. On the north of the Seine, the Right Bank is home to monumental buildings, grand boulevards, and major museums, including the world-famous Louvre and the Centre de Georges Pompidou. The Left Bank invokes a Bohemian and intellectual atmosphere with its university communities, cafés, restaurants, jazz clubs, and chic boutiques. It is here that the Trinity in Paris site has its home.

Students have the opportunity to explore all the artistic treasures and cultural landmarks the city has to offer in the city’s 20 districts (called arrondissements), including Sacré-Coeur at Montmartre; Notre-Dame Cathedral on the Ile de La Cité; the Jardin des Tuileries; and the famous Parisian avenue, the Champs-Elysées. Home to legendary artists, poets, intellectuals, politicians and scientists, Paris also features one of Europe’s biggest economies and hosts many international organizations, such as UNESCO and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with over 30 million foreign visitors per year.

The Program

 All students take a short, intensive French language class upon arrival in Paris to prepare them for their semester program. Upon completion of the class, they students enroll in the appropriate level of French language study for a required semester language class. In addition, all students all take the program’s core class on French Culture and Society in either French or English (students who have completed the equivalent of French 202 enroll in the French section).

For their remaining courses, students can select from a variety of subjects in English and French. Beginner and Intermediate French students can choose from Trinity program courses in Art History, History, Political Science, American Studies, Sociology, or Music (a course in Economics is also in development). These classes are taught in English at the site by Trinity-appointed faculty. Students with two and a half years of college level French or above can also select 1 or 2 regular classes from Trinity’s partner institution, the Institut Catholique (ICP), choosing from courses in the humanities, social sciences, and education. Advanced French language students can also do an independent study in French literature that is taught in French.

Students may apply certain courses taken on the Trinity-in-Paris program toward requirements for the Trinity French major, minor and French Studies minor. The program currently offers courses which count toward the Art History, History, Political Science, Sociology, American Studies, and Music majors at Trinity. In addition, students in the past have had courses approved to count for Educational Studies, Religion, and other majors.

The Trinity-in-Paris program courses are approved as a regular part of the Trinity undergraduate curriculum. For these courses, students receive Trinity in-residence credits. Students who take 1 or more classes at the ICP must complete an Application for Transfer Credit for these courses. Grades earned by Trinity students for all courses will be calculated into their GPA.  Non-Trinity students should check with their home schools for policies regarding transfer credit, GPA calculation, and course approvals. Note that all students must be enrolled in a minimum of 4.0-5.75 credits per semester.

Centre d'Echanges Internationaux / Club des 4 Vents (CEI)

The Trinity-in-Paris program is based at CEI, which is a non-profit educational organization that organizes quality international educational exchanges and programming. Its excellent language school, Paris Langues, provides quality French language instruction to Trinity students on the program. In addition, CEI staff help organize excursions and cultural activities and generously provide Trinity with the use of their facilities. They oversee the programming with the help of Trinity’s on-site staff in Paris, working with students prior to their arrival until their departure at the end of each semester.

Sample Program Courses

PARIS 110: French Culture and Society (in English or French), 1.00 credits, Seminar

PARIS 101: Intensive Elementary French, 1.00 credits

PARIS 201: Intermediate French, 1.00 credits

PARIS 205:  Advanced Composition and Style, 1.00 credits

PARIS 301: French for Advanced Students, 1.00 credits

PARIS 302: Paris Theatre Literature & Performance, 1.00 credits

PARIS 303: Topics in French Literature, 1.00 credits

PARIS 221: Modern European History & Politics: The Origins of The European Union, 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 321: The European Union: Its History & Its Future, 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 251: Paris through its Art and Architecture. Renaissance to the Belle Époque, 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 278: Exotic Fare: Spice Routes, Garden History & The Development of Food Culture in France 1500-2000, 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 237: Understanding Contemporary Paris: Urban and Global Processes (Fall only), 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 281: European Music and Opera (Spring only), 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 381: European Music and Opera for Music Majors (Spring only), 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 328: Franklin, Jefferson and Adams- The Founding Fathers in Paris 1776-1789, 1.00 credits, Lecture

PARIS 352: Major Figures/Topics in French Art, 1.00 credits, Seminar

PARIS 355: Medieval Art and Architecture in France, 1.00 credits, Tutorial

PARIS 441: Independent Study in Art History, 1.0 credits

PARIS 399: Independent Study in English or French Literature. .50 to 1.00 credits

PARIS 299A: Homestay Practicum: Advanced French Conversation & Social Interaction,   .25 credits

PARIS 299B: Exotic Fare Cooking/Culture Practicum (open to students in PARIS 278 only), .25 credits

PARIS 299C: Musical Participation Practicum. (Spring only; open to students with choral background), .25 credits

Note: not all courses will be available each semester; courses with low enrollments may be offered as independent studies.

Direct Enrollment Option

Students with advanced levels of French may take 1-2 courses at the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), http://www.icp.fr/icp/index.php The Institut Catholique, or Catholic University of Paris, was founded in 1875. It has 6 faculties and 11 schools of higher education with an enrollment of over 7,000 students.  This highly regarded university is located in the very heart of Paris (in the Latin Quarter within walking distance of the Trinity space) with an intercultural community of professors, researchers and students. 

ICP Courses are available in the following areas:

• Economics
• Education
• History
• International Relations
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Sociology
• Humanities

Program prerequisites

The program is open to students with a strong grade-point average (usually 2.7 or higher). The program is appropriate for students from all majors who have an interest in Paris and the European Union and can accommodate students at all levels of French language study, from beginning to advanced.

Program dates

Fall Semester: late August to early-September – late-December

Spring Semester: early-to-mid January – early-to-mid-May

Who’s who on-site

Alden R. Gordon, Faculty Director

Alden R. Gordon, the Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Art History, is the faculty director for the Trinity-in-Paris Program. Professor Gordon has taught courses at trinity on the history of art and architecture of France in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Professor Gordon is a chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Guillaume Dufresne, President of Trinity College-CEI partnership

Guillaume Dufresne is the President of Trinity’s host organization, CEI. Mr. Dufresne took over the directorship of CEI in 1980, after having been the director of the Cultural Center of France in London and having worked at 3M in France. Under the direction of Mr. Dufresne , CEI has grown into an organization that has built and continues to build, strong ties between France and many other countries around the world. Among these were the creation of the Centre Francais in London (1981) and Berlin (1996); several short term program campuses internationally; the creation of Paris Langues in Paris in 1990, which is a language school, of which Guillaume Dufresne is the president. Guillaume Dufresne and CEI have been honored with several prestigious awards for the organization’s cross-cultural and international exchange achievements.

Francie Plough Seder

Francie Plough Seder is the On-Site Director and a Lecturer in Global Studies for the Trinity-in-Paris program. She shares the administration of program with Susan Taylor-Leduc and teaches the course on French Language and Culture. Francie Plough Seder is a Trinity College Alumna who holds a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College. She spent her junior year of college studying in Paris. Francie Plough Seder has been a Paris resident for over 15 years where she has instructed both individuals and groups in both English and French. Most recently, Plough Seder has taught at the ICART, L’Institut Superieur des Carrieres Artistiques, where courses focus on American and European art history, theater production, music, and English expressions. Plough Seder will advise students in the French concentration and coordinate the Trinity Partnering program with French Students.

Dr. Susan Taylor-Leduc

Susan Taylor-Leduc is an Assistant Professor for Global Studies for the Trinity-in-Paris program. She began her career as an art historian at Trinity College Hartford (1981), where she spent a semester abroad at the Trinity Rome Campus. Entering the University of Pennsylvania in January 1983, she wrote her master’s thesis on Hubert-Francois Gravelot’s illustrations of Racine’s plays, located in the drawing collections at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia. She also co-curated an exhibition of Hubert-Francois Gravelot’s and Jean-Honore Fragonard’s book illustrations at the Rosenbach Library. Receiving a series of pre-doctoral fellowships, her doctorate explored Hubert Robert as both a painter and a landscape architect at the Bains d’Apollon at Versailles in 18^th Century France. Susan Taylor-Leduc is now an independent scholar who has taught art history in Paris since 19992. She acted as research curator in Paris for the New Orleans Museum of Art for the exhibition, Jefferson’s America and Napoleon’s France that showed in New Orleans from April until August 2003. She served as the European Curator for the exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, which opened in Paris in 2007. 

Housing and meals

All students on the program live in central Paris. Housing is organized by Paris Academic Rentals. Students can choose to live in an apartment (usually doubles and triples) or with a homestay family. Note that French majors or minors are required to live with French familes. Students who live in apartments have kitchen facilities and prepare their own meals. Students who live with families take some meals with their families and prepare their other meals themselves or eat in local restaurants or cafes.

Excursions/Study Trips

Students participate in excursions to local points of interest as part of the Paris program. One longer excursion is planned each semester; previous groups have visited the Loire Valley and Normandy. Its location in northwestern France affords residents easy access to other major cities such as London and Brussels. Students have a 2 week break each semester; most use this time to travel throughout France and Europe.

Expenses/ Financial Aid

Students participating in the Paris Global Learning Site are billed for Trinity tuition, housing, and fees. Students who receive financial aid from Trinity College will have that aid transferred to the Global Learning Site semester. Application for the transfer of financial aid must be made early and in consultation with the Office of Financial Aid.

Application Information

All Trinity students who wish to study away are required to submit a Request for Approval to Study Away by the first week of December of the academic year prior to study. Upon approval, students must then submit a program application which is available from the Office of International Programs in 66 Vernon Street. Once accepted, all students will receive a program handbook that includes details on visas, finances, health issues, and other relevant information.

For general questions, contact:

Office of International Programs

Trinity College

66 Vernon Street

Hartford, CT 06106

Phone: 860-297-2005

Fax: 860-297-5218

oip@trincoll.edu

For academic questions, contact:

Alden Gordon, Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Art History

Alden.Gordon@trincoll.edu

Karen Humphreys,Principal Lecturer in Language and Culture Studies

Karen.Humphreys@trincoll.edu

Jean Marc Kehres, Assistant Professor of Language and Culture Studies

JeanMarc.Kehres@trincoll.edu

Sonia Lee, Professor of Language and Culture Studies

Sonia.lee@trincoll.edu

Trinity-in Paris Global Site Faculty Committee

William Butos, Professor of Economics

Jean Cadogan, Associate Professor of Fine Arts

Xiangming Chen, Dean and Director of the Center for Urban and Global Studies

Sean Cocco, Assistant Professor of History

Jonathan Elukin, Associate Professor of History Department

Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Fine Arts Department

Alden Gordon, Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Art History

Adam Grossberg, Professor of Economics

Karen Humphreys,Principal Lecturer in Language and Culture Studies

Jean Marc Kehres, Assistant Professor of Language and Culture Studies

Kathleen Kete, Associate Professor of History

Sonia Lee, Professor of Language and Culture Studies

Lou Masur, Professor of American Institutions and Values

John Rose, College Organist and Chapel Music Director

Todd Ryan, Associate Professor of Philosophy

Brigitte Schulz, Associate Professor of Political Science

Kristin Triff, Associate Professor Fine Arts

Gail Woldu, Associate Professor of Music

Program Highlights

• The program is open to students with all levels of French language

• Students live in apartments or homestays in Central Paris

• The program features an extended excursion each semester to the Loire Valley, Normandy, or other area of interest, as well as excursions in and around Paris.

• Students participate in walking tours, visits to museums, sports events, and other cultural activities – students are fully engaged in the city.

• Students have access to the program space with is computer facilities on Rue Gozlin in the heart of the Latin Quarter

• Students are matched with French students as part of the program’s “buddy system” for cultural exchange and conversation practice