Eileen Walvoord, La Médaille d’Or de La Renaissance Française

Eileen Walvoord has been a strong advocate for the teaching and study of French throughout her teaching career and beyond, presenting frequently at state, regional, and national conferences on the promotion of French in our schools and universities, and on addressing the teacher shortage.

Her studies included a year in Fribourg, Switzerland, a B.A. in French and Secondary Education from the Saint Elizabeth University (NJ), and an M.A. in French literature from Montclair State University (NJ).

Over a 30-year span, Eileen taught middle, high school, and community college students as well as adult learners and young French campers. Returning to teaching in 1996 after an absence from the classroom, she deeply appreciated the professional support that the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) provided and quickly became involved, holding positions at the local, regional, and national level, currently serving as national president.

A 20-year commitment to supporting the teaching of French has included contributions to the AATF French Advocacy Resource Bank and the publication “Strategic Advocacy for the French Language in the U.S.” As chair of the AATF Commission on the Recruiting and Retention of French Teachers, Eileen coordinated the AATF State-by-State Directory of French Majors and Education Programs. She is currently leading an effort to create an AATF support network for the French government’s Multi-State Pathways to Teaching French program to recruit native French speakers to teach in American K-12 schools.

Eileen served as Alliance Française du North Shore president from 2017-2022. Her association with the AF du North Shore also led to advocacy presentations and webinars, which focused on collaboration at AATF and Federation of Alliances Françaises USA conferences.

She received the 2011 AATF Chicago/Northern Illinois Chapter’s Prix d’Excellence and the 2020 Award for Distinguished Service to Foreign Language Learning from the Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. In January 2023, Eileen was promoted to Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Fabrice Jaumont, La Médaille d’Or de Solidarité et Valeur

Fabrice Jaumont is a scholar-practitioner, award-winning author, non-profit leader, and education advisor based in New York. He currently serves as Education Attaché for the Embassy of France to the United States, a Research Fellow at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris, and an adjunct professor both at New York University and Baruch College. He is President of the Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities, a nonprofit publishing organization based in New York and Paris.

He has published nine books on education, language, and development including The Révolution Bilingue. Which helped initiate dual language programs in the N.Y. public schools and elsewhere.

He is the host of Révolution Bilingue, a podcast produced by French Morning. He served on the editorial board of NORRAG, the Network for International policies and cooperation in education and training; and contributes to several advisory committees, including the Advisory Council of Department of French & Italian at Princeton University; the Advisory Board of the Online French American Lycée; the Advisory Committee of Universités de Francophonia in Nice, France; and the Advisory Committee of the French Heritage Language Program.

Jaumont holds a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education from New York University. Fabrice Jaumont has devoted his career to developing bilingual education in New York public schools, dual language program across the U.S. , and now around the world.

Claudia Hommel, La Médaille d’Or des Valeurs Francophone

Claudia Hommel s a Chicago-based cabaret singer, educator, and producer. Born in Paris, France, raised in Detroit, Michigan, and a graduate of Antioch College and Wayne State University, she founded the archives of the Detroit Institute of Arts before moving to New York City to pursue a career on stage. Since moving to Chicago to “do the work,” she tours, records, creates music-historical projects, and organizes cabaret festivals, master classes, outreach to schools, and tours to Paris. She specializes in cabaret shows and recitals of French chansons, art songs, and American Songbook standards.

For 25 years, she has been a crucial connector for a growing network of cabaret performers from the U.S. to France and beyond.  Her five recording albums and an art film celebrate Paris and French song, from the jazz age in Paris to postwar Americans in Paris, to jazz updating of mélodies by the classical composer Gabriel Fauré. The Illinois Arts Council has selected her as an ArtsTour rostered artist since 1998 and as Arts-in-Education artist since 1999.

Hommel is a co-founder and executive director of Working In Concert (WIC), a performing arts alliance of classical and cabaret artists supported in part by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She produces WIC initiatives including an annual citywide festival for Chicago Cabaret Week, an annual international exchange of Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion, and women-focused works of Bellissima Opera & Song.

She joined the faculty at DePaul University Community Music School in 2003 offering the weekly song interpretation workshop SongShop. Hommel is a member of actors’ unions Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, and is a founding member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals. She enjoys a long working relationship with the American Association of Teachers of French, the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA, and the Paris Committee of Chicago Sister Cities International.