International Center for French Language and Culture

Olivier BERTRAND is a university professor. He holds a Doctorate (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and an Habilitation to supervise research (HDR), he has been teaching at the École polytechnique since 2003 and was vice-president from 2006 to 2009, then president of the Department of Languages ​​and Cultures from 2011 to 2017. Specialist in medieval French, philology and history of the French language, he is a member of the Research Laboratory "Lexiques, Textes, Discourses, Dictionaries" and professor of historical linguistics and medieval lexicography at CY Cergy Paris University since 2012, where he was successively Director of the French Center (2013-2014), Director of the Department of Modern Letters (2014-2015), Research Project Manager (2015-2016) then Vice-President Research of the University from 2016 to 2018. Olivier BERTRAND is an ERC laureate for European Research (2009-2013), CNRS bronze medalist (2011) and Knight of the Academic Palms (2017). Lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, at the Ecole des Mines and at ENSTA Paris, he is a member of the jury of the external Capes of Modern Letters, of the internal Agrégation of Modern Letters, and vice-president of the jury of the external Agrégation of Modern Letters (2014-2017). He is also a member of the jury for the entrance examination to École polytechnique and ENS ULM (series B/L).

Isabelle SCHAFFNER has been a professor of French language and literature at the École polytechnique since 2004. She holds a PhD in French and comparative literature (The University of California) and a doctorate in American literature (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III). Isabelle SCHAFFNER is a member of the Research Laboratory LinX (Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Human Sciences, École Polytechnique) & an associate member of the Research Laboratory ITEM-CNRS (Institute of Modern Texts and Manuscripts, ENS). She specializes in French and comparative literature, and conducts research on French and American Naturalism. Isabelle SCHAFFNER began her academic career teaching in the United States, at the University of California and then at Georgetown University (Washington DC). From 2001 to 2010, she taught French language and literature for American university programs/institutions in France (NYU, Columbia University, Middlebury College, The University of Southern California, The American University of Paris) as well as at ENSTA, Sciences Po and the ENS. She was responsible for the French Section at the École Polytechnique from 2007 to 2018. She is a member of the jury for the entrance examination to the École Polytechnique and Member of the expert jury for the Eiffel scholarships, French History, Languages ​​and Literature category.