Dean Gilles Bousquet, Co-director
Prof. Aliko Songolo, Co-director
The Center is a member of the European Studies Alliance (other members: Center for German and European Studies, European Union Center of Excellence, Center for European Studies), which, along with the Center for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, constitute the core European area programs of the International Institute. The Institute is a joint venture of the Division of International Studies and the College of Letters and Science. CIFS’s financial administration is through the Department of French and Italian.
The Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies advances the French studies across all domains. The Center's mission was defined to take advantage of existing synergies across the university, with industry, with the private sector, and with the general public in Wisconsin and beyond. Working primarily through partnerships, the Center continues to foster the long-standing ties between the Department of French and Italian and other campus departments and programs in the humanities, the social sciences, business, education, law, the arts and, increasingly, medicine and the life sciences, as well as outreach programs for teachers, business and government professionals.
The Center does not target particular research themes, preferring to support a broad range of French related activites. That said, we have been engaged long-term with our School of Medicine and Public Health in encouraging and supporting student and research exchanges and collaborations. These have included work on cystic fibrosis with UBO, a collaboration in surgery with UAG, and a developing collaboration with Aix-Marseille II
Other areas of interest include francophone arts and culture from Quebec and Africa and providing supports to the arts and humanities in partnership with the Department of French and Italian.
Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies
Division of International Studies
268 Bascom Hall
University of Wisconsin-Madison 500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1314
