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Emma Harlet has been selected as one of the five finalists for the Fall 2021 Alumni Association Outstanding Master’s Graduate Award. She was nominated for the award by the Department of Modern Languages in the College of Liberal Arts.

Harlet will be recognized during the Graduate School Commencement ceremony on Friday, where she will receive a master of arts degree in French.

Before arriving at UL Lafayette, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Catholic ŷ������Ƭ of Lille in France and participated in an exchange program at Centenary College of Louisiana.

Dr. Nathan Rabalais, Joseph P. Montiel Endowed Assistant Professor of Francophone Studies, commends Harlet’s scholarly success and dedication to her field. 

“Her work on female Creole writers of the nineteenth century is truly groundbreaking in that it explores the work and lives of relatively obscure figures such as Louisa Lamotte, which will represent a significant contribution to the field,” Rabalais says.

“In fact, I have such confidence in her research and writing skills that I also invited her to co-write with me the introduction to a new edition of the 1881 novel L’Habitation Saint-Ybars by Alfred Mercier. This is arguably the most well-known novel among Creole literature of 19th-century New Orleans.”

Harlet has given presentations on her work at several academic conferences. She recently submitted her article, “Behind the Mask of Cajun Mardi Gras,” to the bilingual peer-reviewed ŷ������Ƭ journal Culture Com’.

In 2021, Harlet became a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society. She has received several scholarships, including the Lafayette Jaycees Endowed Francophone Studies Scholarship, the Joan Cain Endowed Scholarship, and the Dewey Balfa Endowed Scholarship.

She recently was named as the recipient of the Fall 2021 Richard G. Neiheisel-Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Endowed Master's Graduate Award in Liberal Arts, Arts, and Sciences.

Harlet is receiving her master’s-along-the-way while pursuing her Ph.D. in Francophone Studies under the direction of Dr. Rabalais. She is currently exploring the option of having her dissertation co-directed by Dr. Stephanie Durrans at the Université de Bordeaux-Montaigne.

“Thanks to this collaboration, I would be able to work on Louisiana’s literature from two different research centers,” Harlet says.

“I would like to develop relationships between American and French universities in order to create more programs and exchanges for modern languages students. Ultimately, I want to pursue a career in academia in France to continue my research on Louisiana’s culture and literature, as well as fulfilling my passion for teaching.”