This past October was busy with two Ph.D. dissertation defenses directed by Professor Emeritus, Jean-Philippe Mathy. Elham Karimi Balan, now at Colby College, Maine, defended her dissertation, titled "Writing the Self in the Language of the Other: Trauma and the Body in Autobiographical Novels by Female Iranian Exiles in France" on Wednesday, October 11 in person. Two weeks later, we had the privilege to hear Nicolas Portugal (University of Chicago) defend his work "Entre discours et fictions : Penser et écrire l’événement du «11 septembre 2001» en France" in hybrid mode. Both events were chaired by Professor Mathy who was the Director of Research of these two dissertation even after his well-deserved retirement from the University three years ago.

In recognition of his lasting efforts at helping his students start their academic careers, his grateful colleagues and students came to the defense to thank him in person or virtually. In this picture, Professor Mathy is shown with flowers, next to the Zoom invitees and Professor Brett Kaplan (CompLit), a member of the Dr. Portugal's dissertation defense committee.

Merci, Professeur Mathy!