[Original article by Tess Wells, The Lantern]

Ohio State’s Department of French and Italian has been named a Center of Excellence by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, joining a network of just 22 acclaimed universities.

According to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the Centers of Excellence network is meant to foster Franco-American relations and bolster student interest in France, the French language and francophone literature. Not only does being a Center of Excellence provide a university program with additional prestige, but it automatically provides said program with $3,500 annually and up to an additional $20,000 annually when schools apply with a specific project.

Dana Renga, professor and chair of the Department of French and Italian and co-director of the Film Studies Program, said that once a university program is named a Center of Excellence by the Embassy, it’s a permanent title.

Renga said FRIT was likely recognized as a Center of Excellence because of its foreign exchange programs, degree programs and excellent faculty — one of whom in particular, she said, navigated the bureaucratic application process and “led the charge to bring this to fruition.”

“It’s something that the department, in particular professor Hoffmann, has been working on for a few years actually, reaching out to other colleagues and getting a lot of support, and also establishing networks with places in Columbus where hopefully the writers that he is going to invite will be able to stay and network with students and with faculty,” Renga said.

Benjamin Hoffmann, associate professor in the Department of French and Italian and director of Ohio State’s Center of Excellence, is already a well-regarded novelist in France, Renga said.

In establishing FRIT as a Center of Excellence, Hoffmann said the funding and reputation that comes with it will help to strengthen the center’s chosen focus on contemporary French and francophone literature.

“I would say that the symbolic element is certainly important,” Hoffmann said. “I hope it would be a way for us to make our graduate program even more competitive because we’ll be able to say to our prospective students, ‘Look, we have this financial institutional backing to bring scholars and intellectuals to OSU on a regular basis.’”

Renga said undergraduate students in FRIT will also reap the benefits of being a part of the network, using Hoffmann’s “super popular” creative writing course as an example of how the general value of an undergraduate FRIT education may be even further bolstered.

“[Hoffman’s] plan is to introduce these really famous writers in the course, and so that’ll connect students to possibly future internship opportunities if they want to study abroad or work abroad in a French-speaking country,” Renga said.

Bringing in established creative writers is an initiative Hoffmann said he hopes to carry out not just through the FRIT program in general, but also in the form of a residency program.

Residents — who could hail from outside of France — would work on their own creative writing projects throughout the duration of their stay in Columbus, while also giving several lectures to students.

Hoffmann said the creative writing residency program has yet to be formally proposed to the FRIT department and then to the Embassy for project-related funding, but Renga said she anticipates him having the department’s full support.

“The goal is currently to bring a French or francophone writer on campus for a period of five weeks to two months,” Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann said he would want to strike a balance between expectations and liberty when it comes to what a resident would do while in Columbus.

“We’d like this person to be able to give two lectures: one at the beginning of his or her stay and another one at the end — for us to reflect a little bit on his or her experience — and to contribute to at least one to two classes taught by our colleagues,” Hoffmann said.

“But really the idea that was at the core of the proposal was always just a recognition of the fact that it’s hard for writers to have enough time to work on projects.”

People accepted into the residency program would be encouraged to pursue a project related to the United States, mirroring the mission of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy — but other projects aren’t a deal breaker, Hoffmann said.

“We would like this person to pursue a project related to the United States because it would be one of very few writing residencies for French people in the United States,” Hoffmann said.

“But at the same time, should we receive a particularly appealing project from an established writer that is not necessarily something to do with the United States, that would not be a problem.”