Our main message to you in this situation is the following: While our department and programs are undergoing changes, they are here to stay and everyone at FRIT is fully committed to this goal. Our BA and PhD degree programs have all been recommended for suspension in view of consolidation, as majors within larger “umbrella” degrees. However, our intention is to preserve these academic offerings by incorporating them as specialized majors within broader interdisciplinary degree programs.

Importantly, these modifications do not require us to change or merge departments. Furthermore, the changes will not take effect until academic year 2026-27 and there will be no impact on current undergraduate students or incoming fall of 2025 students. Our fall courses are well enrolled, and we look very much forward to welcoming new and returning students to the department.

While these changes represent a shift, we are confident that they will provide an environment where, with the sustained effort from all of us, our programs will continue to thrive. Our proud history and our ongoing accomplishments and successes will continue to be the beacons that guide us. As we move forward, this Newsletter is an occasion to look back at some highlights from our recent past.

The most thorough account of where the department stands today can be gleaned from an external review of the department this spring. Organized by the College of Arts and Sciences for University accreditation purposes every seventh year, the 2025 FRIT external review took place in early March, when an external committee composed of distinguished scholars from US peer institutions and an IU colleague submitted the department to close scrutiny during a two-day visit, based on a thorough 45-page “Self Study” we had prepared detailing every aspect of our activities. The external review report submitted later in the spring was uniformly celebratory, with constructive recommendations for how we can sustain and enhance the excellence of FRIT in the years ahead. Particular emphasis was put on our tradition of national leadership, the excellence of our three graduate programs and the innovative edge of our undergraduate programs, as they have adjusted to changing student expectations and a different institutional landscape. Many aspects of the scholarly and pedagogical excellence celebrated by the external review are on display throughout this newsletter.

As I invite you to make your way through the wonderfully rich sections of the newsletter with updates about faculty, staff, graduate students and alumni, I would like to bring attention to a few notable recent achievements from the faculty. First of all, the past year saw the publication of no less than three new academic monographs and two edited volumes, from Marco Arnaudo, Oana Panaïté and Nicolas Valazza. Vincent Bouchard and Elizabeth Hebbard both received major awards. Continuing the tradition of our outstanding national and international research profile, many colleagues gave invited lectures and keynotes.

Undergraduate highlights are available in the entries from our two Directors of Undergraduate Studies, Karolina Serafin and Barbara Vance. Highlights of the numerous accomplishments of our graduate students ranging from conference presentations, article publications through grants and fellowships to dissertation defenses and professional placements are proudly featured here. Exciting updates about the activities of the Early African Cinemas Lab and the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy can be found in this issue, as well, courtesy of their directors, Vincent Bouchard and Oana Panaïté. I also guide your attention to the inspiring interview with our new permanent lecturer in Italian, Natalia Pineda.

Faithful readers of the annual FRIT Newsletter will notice that the format this year has changed compared to earlier years. A novelty in this issue is the central place given to a “story of impact.” What better topic for such an inaugural story than a portrait of our two recently retired colleagues Margaret Gray, the recipient of a 2025 “Indiana Teacher of the Year,” and Eileen Julien, co-founding member and past president of the African Literature Association which has recently celebrated its 50^th anniversary, on the occasion of the recently introduced departmental Gray-Julien graduate student award? I encourage you to read the lovely conversation about “Discovery, Dialogue, and Legacy,” where these two pillars of our FRIT community reflect on decades of transformative impact in the classroom and as scholars. If you are among the hundreds, if not thousands of FRIT alumni to have studied with Professors Gray and Julien, I am hopeful that you will recognize in the article the wit and wisdom of these two much-missed retired colleagues.

In closing, thanks are due to our tireless FRIT Newsletter editor Karolina Serafin; to Raymond Fleischmann from the College Advancement Office who, this year, not only helped us out with the web publication of the newsletter, but also wrote the portrait of Professors Gray and Julien; to our staff—Jana McGee, Maria Sanchez Steenberger and Katelin Hope Vesely—for their attentive assistance; as well as to faculty, graduate students and alumni for their contributions. I would also like to take a moment to express heartfelt departmental gratitude and well-wishes to our departing colleague Colleen Ryan and to Miki Weisstein who retired from the position as Graduate Student Services Coordinator this spring.

Finally, I have one request to YOU, readers of the newsletter, friends and alumni of FRIT: Please stay in touch and remain engaged! Your support—whether by staying in touch, sharing your experiences, or, if you are able, making a financial contribution—is more important now than ever. In fact, this would be a perfect time for you to reach out to us. We always want to hear from you, and, in particular, we are always looking for participants for our online or in-person alumni panels, who can help show our current students the many exciting and surprising directions a degree from FRIT can take them.

I wish each and every reader a good year and invite you to follow our updates on the FRIT website, including more information about the changes to our degree programs throughout the year to come.

Hall Bjørnstad
Chair and Professor
Department of French and Italian
hallbjor@iu.edu