Professor of French   225-D Old Main  Modern Languages Department SUNY Cortland Cortland, New York  13045  phone:(607) 753-2027  Full curriculum vitae

Current and Past Projects:

• FLTEACH: Communication Technologies for Professional Development and Foreign Language Instruction.  Project includes the development of the worldwide LISTSERV discussion list "Foreign Language Teaching Forum". Twice funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Project directors and FLTEACH co-moderators Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio.
• Integrating Technology in the Second Language Classroom: Course materials for online modules for learning how to create materials.
• FLTEACH - FL Instructional Materials Database Online (Robert Ponterio & Jean LeLoup). A collection of lessons for the FL classroom following specific pedagogical models.
• Language Across the Curriculum Multimedia Development project to develop WWW modules for delivering authentic materials and training teachers to use electronic tools.  Funded by the SUNY Office of Advanced Learning and Information Services (ALIS - formerly Office of Educational Technology).  Project director for Cortland Robert Ponterio.  Individual projects: French civilization - Marie Ponterio; Communications technology for FL Methods - Jean W. LeLoup.
• LxC Select project to develop Languages Across the Curriculum. Online materials: Statistics in Spanish (F. Valdes & R. Ponterio)   Funded by FIPSE. Project director Stephen Straight, Binghamton. Team leader for Cortland Robert Ponterio.
• Various writing projects, a sample of articles may be viewed online.

• Teaching French Civilization - Graduate course exploring French civilization and methods of teaching about it.
• Teaching French Literature - Graduate course exploring French literature and methods of teaching about it.
• Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom - Communicating in a global online environment using all the technical and language tools at our disposal.  Addresses electronic projects for the foreign language classroom.
• Elementary French - French 101.
• La Révolution - An examination of the French Revolution through the study of literature and authentic materials from the periods before during and after the events.
• Pratique de l'écriture - A French writing course open to post intermediate level HS and college students.
• La Littérature du 18^e Siècle - Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Beaumarchais, Prévost, Montesquieu, Laclos, Sade.
• Le Couple dans la littéraure - An examination of relationships found throughout French literature.
• French cinema - From its origins with the Frères Lumière to the present day.
• Le Réalisme - An exploration of the representation of reality, not only in 19th century texts but though the literature leading up to the period of "realism".
• The French Short Story - Aspects of short fiction through the ages.
• Romantisme et Réalisme - Esthetics of 19th century France. Connections & disconnections between Romanticism & Realism. This year teaching Les Misérables.
• Survey of French Literature: Middle Ages to 17th century.
• Survey of French Literature: 18th century to the present.

Travel is great.  We love to get away and do all the things we normally don't have time to do back at school, like trying out new instruments and vacationing on the islands off the coast of France.  We have traveled extensively in most regions of France where we have many friends and relatives.

Many of our friends work near the sea, sailing, fishing, building boats, raising oysters, or just spend lots of time by the shore.  Hunting for shellfish in the oyster beds is a prelude to a fine dinner. Getting a seagull tangled in your line isn't.

My wife, Marie, is French and my children, Tom, and Emilie are both bilingual.  Our usual residence in France is La Rochelle, on the west coast.  We both taught at the university there in 2005. In the US we have lived in New York, Illinois, and Vermont. Our son David died suddenly in 1999. Our daughter, Emilie, is from Vietnam, where we went to get her in 2001.

We were married at the mairie de La Rochelle and in a little village where my wife's grandparents lived.

But we have also resided in Metz (where I taught English at the university) and in Aix-en-Provence (where I was a student).

I've worked in a number of different jobs in France and in the US, teaching math, physics and chemistry in French, teaching English in universities, selling trinkets to tourists, and even flipping crêpes in a crêperie where we made 180 different kinds.

Though we spend a great deal of time in France, we also love to visit Quebec.  Fresh maple candy poured out over the snow in a cabane à sucre is a personal favorite.

Ph.D. 1987.  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  French Literature.  Dissertation: "Verbal Irony in the Short Fiction of Charles Nodier:  A Computer Assisted Study."

M.A. 1979.  State University of New York at Binghamton.  French Literature.

B.A. 1977.  State University of New York at Binghamton.  Double major: French and Comparative Literature.  Study Abroad: SUNY at Binghamton Mediterranean Studies Program in Aix-en-Provence, Spring 1975.

1989-: Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, French, SUNY Cortland.
2005 (spring): Visiting Professor of English, Département de Techniques de Commercialisation, IUT (University Institute of Technology), Université de La Rochelle, France. Taught business English.
1987-89: Visiting Assistant Professor, French, Middlebury College.
1984-87: Visiting Instructor, French, St. Lawrence Univ.
1980-81: Lecteur d'anglais, English, Université de Metz, France.

Various technical translations and interpretation.
English as a foreign language adult education in France.
Math, physics, and chemistry classes for French lycéens in the US.

1995: NYSAFLT President's Award for outstanding contribution to the profession for creating and moderating the FLTEACH academic discussion forum; with Jean LeLoup.

1997: NYSAFLT Anthony Papalia Award for Outstanding Article on Foreign Language Education for "Internet Resources for a French Civilization Course at SUNY Cortland: A Pilot Project," NYSAFLT Annual Meeting Series, No. 13.

2000: Dorothy S. Ludwig Award for Service to the FL Profession from NYSAFLT; with Jean W. LeLoup.

2001: NYSAFLT Anthony Papalia Award for Outstanding Article on Foreign Language Education for “Creating standards-based activities integrating authentic materials from the WWW,” NYSAFLT Annual Meeting Series, 17 (2000), 13-20; with Jean LeLoup.

2003: Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award, SUNY Cortland.

2006: NYSAFLT Anthony Papalia Award for Outstanding Article on Foreign Language Education for “Technology and world language instruction: Where we have been, where we are now, where we are headed,” in A. L. Heining-Boynton, Ed., 2005-2015: Realizing Our Vision of Languages For All, 153-174; Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall College, with Jean LeLoup.

2011: NYSAFLT Anthony Papalia Award for Outstanding Article on Foreign Language Education for “Cultural Perspective in the Language Classroom: Providing a Meaningful Context for Communication.” NYSAFLT Language Association Journal. Vol. 61, No. 3 (Winter 2010). 11-36; with LeLoup, J. W. & Heller, W.

2011: Dorothy S. Ludwig Award for Service to the FL Profession from NYSAFLT.

Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) LxC Select SUNY Cortland Team Leader.  Project Director Stephen Straight (1995-99)

SUNY Office of Educational Technology grant for "Languages Across the Curriculum Multimedia Development Project."  Co-director with Virginia Fichera, SUNY Oswego. $121,706, 1996-98.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  Teaching with Technology: Educational Development and Demonstration:  Diffusion and Dissemination grant titled "FLTEACH: Communication Technologies for Professional Development and Foreign Language Instruction." Co-director with Jean LeLoup. $50,000 outright/$10,000 matching, 1997-2001.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  Exemplary Education Project: Dissemination Project grant titled "FLTEACH: A Model for Professional Development and Foreign Language Instruction." Co-director with Jean LeLoup. $167,198; 2002-2005.

Complete CV