Barbara Klaw's President report May 2007 -2008 Election address May 12, 2008

A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the person who finds the right things to do. (Anthony T. Dadovano)

This quote reminds me of the wonderful three days I spent last week at the Romance languages conference at UC.  It was magical—scholars and students from a variety of states and nations all coming together to speak in French and English about French and Francophone literature and culture. It was heaven.  In each session there were three or four speakers.  We were all good leaders, good role models for each other—we all listened attentively to each presentation--we never interrupted a presentation, and we held our questions until all had presented their ideas just as the chair of each session had requested.  What’s more, the questions and comments were offered with a rare spirit of generosity and genuine interest in the other that made us all feel cherished and special.  This ambiance made us want to stay together, attend as many sessions as possible, and continue our discussion and discovery during the breaks and even by e-mail at night.  It was exhausting, but overall invigorating.  It renewed our faith in French and Francophone culture and literature, in the choice of our profession, in our lifelong passion to promote the French language, literature and culture.

I have had a vision since I came to the Alliance française four years ago—a vision of the Alliance Française of Cincinnati that would function with the same reciprocal generosity of spirit and sharing and servitude among its members and its members and officers of the Board.  I dream of an Alliance française that listens intently to its membership and the surrounding community and devotes its energy to serving all of them in its mission of promoting the French and Francophone languages and cultures and friendships between native speakers of French and all others in our region.  I offer you all this vision and challenge you in the years ahead to help us create such an atmosphere of welcome exchange, cordiality and overall fun—an atmosphere that would draw people in with its promise of the joy and sharing to come.

During the past year, our AF Board members and officers have worked together to offer you numerous activities for all budgets and ages.  For the first time in years, we have offered a variety of free activities thanks to our co-sponsorship of activities with the French Conversation Meetup Group, Joseph Beth Booksellers, Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, and Newport on the Levee and thanks to the generosity of those who freely offer their time and expertise to run conversation groups, present scholarship and creative activities, or share their native French-speaking countries with us. Thanks to support from the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Alliance Française Federation, the European-American Chamber of Commerce, the Fountain Square Management Group, the city of Montgomery, and Party Source, we have also offered many more reasonably priced activities than ever before in the past. 

We are grateful to Alix Pitra, the Institute Director who has increased enrollment and been instrumental in creating new courses.  Thanks to Alix, there is now an online placement test on our website for all incoming students.  To her credit, she has formed an advisory educational board from the French community and worked closely with the Institute teachers Samia Toufik Farhat, Laure-Lyne Mills,  Samantha Pittenger, and Sarah Tardivon to ensure the quality of course offerings. Together they have created an exciting summer camp to immerse children in French in a variety of settings.

There have been many AF members and people in the community who have helped us to develop wonderful activities, improve our website, update our Guide d’installation à Cincinnati, and  to make decisions. I would like to recognize them officially here.  I thank Etienne Achille, Annie Cardin Bierbaum, Christen Browne, Alexandra Macpherson, Claire Hounchell, Tamara O’Callaghan, Ahmed Diallo, Thé le Quyen Bui, Kyllikki Brock, Katherine Kurk, Rebecca Hopper, Brenna Sheldon, and Jamie Shoemaker. We are also grateful to Brent Shields, Sylvie Chamba, Moussa Hamedi, Anne-Marie Mazzega-Bachelet, Benedict Leca, Alix Pitra, Jérome Strauss, Anne Cappel, Kathryn Lorenz, Lore Metzger, David Jones, Steve Bjornson, Hermeline Sangouard, Fred Lucas, Gaelle Le Court, Sandrine Clément, and Richard Sterling, Raymonde Lamy, and Germaine Santos.
To all of these people and all those on the AF Board whose names I have not mentioned, we cannot thank you enough for your continued efforts to keep the French and Francophone languages, literatures and cultures alive in the Cincinnati region.
Please join me in a round of applause for all who have energized the AF of Cincinnati during the past year.

Before I give the floor to others, I would like to leave you with a final quote that epitomizes my vision of the leadership that could make the Alliance Française of Cincinnati even greater. 

. Barbara Klaw