LSC-CyFair French professor knighted in France

Patrice Vanoni from the French Consulate, left, knights Georges Detiveaux, LSC-CyFair French Professor and Teaching & Learning Center Labs Manager, as a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Acadmiques. Photo by David Lewis.

The French government recently honored LSC-CyFair professor with knighthood for his significant contributions to academics and expansion of French culture.

From Georges Detiveaux's life as a child in Louisiana to his career as a language technologist and French professor at Lone Star College-CyFair, French culture has always been a significant part of his life. Recently, he was knighted as a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques.

Napoleon created the academic honor, which the French government awards to those who make significant contributions to academics and the expansion of French culture throughout the world. The honor is one of the world's oldest orders of knighthood still in existence and consists of three grades: Chevalier (knight), Officier (officer) and Commandeur (commander).

At a recent Houston ceremony held at the home of Sid Moorhead, a longtime friend and fellow Francophile, Patrice Vanoni, Cultural Attach for the Consulate of France in Houston, awarded Detiveaux the Chevalier honor, which included a certificate and a silver medal with a purple ribbon, known as the ruban violet.

Detiveaux said in a press release that this honor came as a tremendous surprise. "Knowing that I played a part, however small, in making something better has always been good enough for me. I just see doing all that I do as who I am and why I'm here," said Detiveaux, who created LSC-CyFair's French program and has the distinction of having taught the first French class at LSC-CyFair in the fall of 2003. "That I have been recognized by France for my contributions to promoting French language and culture is the icing on the cake."

He also recently established the Xi Gamma Chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma, the National Foreign Language Honor Society, at the Barker Cypress campus.

Detiveaux was a past national representative to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for the International Association for Language Learning Technologies (IALLT). He is the immediate past president of the Houston Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), which has about 150 members. He is also incoming president of the South Central Association for Language Learning Technology (SOCALLT), a six-state professional association for language technologists, lab directors and language teachers interested in technology.

"I suppose that one of the reasons I chose to teach French is that some of my fondest memories of my mother are of her teaching me French with the Sears catalog as a learning tool," Detiveaux recalled. "I don't have children, so I think of my students as my children and pass on my knowledge to them."

For information on LSC-CyFair's French courses, e-mail Georges.J.Detiveaux@LoneStar.edu or call 281-290-5975.

Lone Star College-CyFair is the fifth comprehensive college in the Lone Star College System. LSC-CyFair is a comprehensive campus located at 9191 Barker Cypress Road. For more information about the college and its programs, call 281-290-3200 or visit the website.