Your program has specific advisers and contacts both at Illinois and abroad. Feel free to reach out to the people below with any questions or concerns you have before departure or while abroad!
Kyle Schmude
LAS International Programs2002 Lincoln Hall Office Hours: M-F 1-5pmAdvises students on LAS programs in Europe.
Daniel Maroun
Director of Undergraduate StudiesDepartment of French + Italian2004 FLBAcademic Advisor for all students going to Paris.
M. Bondurand Mouawad
Ph.D. Illinois Program in Paris Directeur
93, bd St Michel, 75005 Paris FRANCE
Tel + Fax: (+ 33) 01 46 33 44 91
Laetitia Boisdron
Assistant Director Illinois Program in Paris
93, bd St Michel, 75005 Paris FRANCE
Tel + Fax: (+ 33) 01 46 33 44 91
Mounir Bondurand Mouawad was born in Beirut, Lebanon. His family moved to France when he was ten years old and settled in Marseilles, on the Mediterranean coast. He completed the French equivalent of a B.A. in Islamic Studies and Political Sciences from the prestigious INALCO in Paris. While he was studying towards his M.A. in Islamic Studies, he was granted a scholarship to write his thesis in Damascus, Syria. There he started to teach French and Arabic for the first time. Thrilled by this experience, Mounir taught French & Arabic languages and cultures in Spain, Syria, Lebanon, the UK and the US several years in a row.
A desperate movie buff, and deeply convinced by the cultural importance of visual representations, he joined the MA program in Film Studies at UC Berkeley and completed his PhD a few years later at the university Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle.
In 2010, Mounir entered the Illinois Program in Paris as faculty. A few years later, he became the adjunct director of the program and has been serving as Resident Director since 2016. He is also a lecturer at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and an affiliate researcher at the IRCAV (Institut de Recherches sur l’Audiovisuel – EA 185). His current research and latest articles are dedicated to the visual representations of nature and non-humans.
Laetitia Boisdron was born in Holland, spent her childhood in Brazil and completed high school in the United States (Princeton and Washington DC). She arrived in France when she was 17 years old and after majoring in French literature during her first years of university, she graduated from the Sorbonne with a D.E.A. in the didactics of langage and culture. For more than twenty years, she has been teaching French, literature, and methodology for foreign students at Sciences-po, ESCP, ESCE and American University programs in Paris (CUPA, NorthWestern U, St Johns U, Delaware U). For three years, she was the coordinator for cultural activities for the NUSP program (NorthWestern University and Sciences-po). She is also instructor for French teachers for short summer sessions, in France, Finland and Azerbaidjan. She is currently the adjunct director for Illinois Program in Paris, specifically in charge of student life and the supervision of independent studies and the course Engagement in Paris.
Gary Lavenia
Assistant and Student Life Coordinator
93 bd Saint Michel, 75005 Paris FRANCE
Tel + Fax: (+ 33) 01 46 33 44 91
gary.lavenia@asso-upf.fr
Gary Lavenia is originally from New Jersey, but has been living in Paris since 2018. His Bachelor's degree is from East Carolina University in French Education, with a minor in Linguistics and a concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) - May 2018. While at ECU he also studied abroad through this program in 2017. He has just recently completed his Masters at the Sorbonne Université in Linguistics and Translation - May 2023, and is looking to start a PhD program soon continuing research in the field of Musical Translation. He has years of experience teaching in daycares, middle schools, high schools, and with university students, both in the US and France. He is very passionate about the field of education, especially foreign language education, and loves his current role within the program. He knows how life-changing studying abroad can be, and he loves being able to instruct, help, and guide the new students each semester as they get to experience it for themselves.
Isobel Bondurand Mouawad, aka Zozo - Mascot and emotional support animal
Emergency Contact Number (217-333-1216) is a 24/7 response line for student, faculty, and staff members abroad. The number first directs callers to the University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD), who then forwards the call to the Office of International Safety and Security.
In Europe the emergency number (911 equivalent) is 112