The American University of Paris - Miscellaneous

Sophie Bernheisel

Lisa Palazzolo — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 14:35:29 +0000

Greenbelt, MD

Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and French, St. Mary's College of Maryland,

Masters of Arts in Global Affairs and Human Security, University of Baltimore

Study abroad: Sciences Po University in Menton, France

In my junior year, I boarded a plane to Southern France to study abroad in a program where no other students from my school attended. I arrived in France knowing absolutely no one and I departed with a close group of friends from all over the world. We traveled all through Europe together and everyone shared their culture through language, music, and always food! While I certainly studied, I considered the most critical part of my education to be the cultural.

Embrace normality! Since you'll have ability to study abroad for years (not just one semester), you can really take your time. You will have the chance to live in one of the most vibrant cities in the world and experience a ton of excitement. But you will also get to experience la vie quotidienne, or everyday life. So seize all the big moments, but don't forget to let yourself breathe and enjoy the quiet moments as well.

Assistant Director of US Admissions

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Miscellaneous

Sophie Bernheiseladmissions@aup.edu

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Georgia

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For lovers of art and nature alike, a visit to Giverny is a must. See for yourself the garden's that inspire some of Monet's most beautiful works and perhaps they will inspire your own creativity!

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yes

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yes

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yes

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yes

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/admissions/request-information

Faythe Schulte

Lisa Palazzolo — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 14:32:49 +0000

Warwick, Rhode Island

Bachelor of Arts in French and Environmental Science & Sustainability from Allegheny College

Boston University's Paris Internship Program (Spring 2022 Study Abroad)

Master of Education in Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship with a concentration in High Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

My first “Global Explorer” moment came when I had the unique opportunity to participate in a two-week study abroad program in China alongside eight of my classmates. During the trip, I visited Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi’an, and Shanghai, immersing myself in a culture and context I had never experienced before. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone, and in the process, I learned so much about the people, places, and traditions around me — and I found myself eager to learn even more. Today, I’m still a “Global Explorer,” driven by a passion to explore new peoples and cultures through travel, both across the United States and around the world.

Assistant Director of US Admissions

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Miscellaneous

FaytheSchulteadmissions@aup.edu

State list:

Georgia

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If you're a fan of quintessential French villages, blooming gardens, and Impressionist art, a day trip to Giverny (in the Spring or Summer) is an absolute must. Once home to Claude Monet, this charming village offers the unique opportunity to step inside the very place that inspired his iconic Nymphéas (Water Lilies) series. From the flower gardens and tranquil lily pond to standing just inches away from Monet’s masterpieces, it’s an experience you won’t want to miss.

This may seem quite obvious, but everyone should know bonjour. A simple bonjour can and will go a very long way, especially in Paris because it is signals politeness, respect, and acknowledgment of the other person’s presence. Failing to say bonjour can impact the entire interaction. Additionally, you should know bonjour’s counterpart bonsoir to be used in the evening.

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

Part-time:

Summer:

/admissions/request-information

Araseli Valverde

Lisa Palazzolo — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:33:53 +0000

Pinnacle, North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with a double major in Romance Languages and a minor in Public Policy

Study abroad, completed a university-funded global gap year between my sophomore and junior years, volunteering in Sicily, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey on community development and cultural exchange projects.

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in 2021 in Sardinia, Italy.

Floating in the Dead Sea in Jordan — in that moment, I felt how vast the world really is and realized just how capable I am of navigating it.

You’ll never regret taking a chance on yourself and exploring the world. It truly is a life-changing experience that will challenge you, shape you, and open your eyes in ways you can’t imagine.

Assistant Director of US Admissions

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Miscellaneous

AraseliValverdeadmissions@aup.edu

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The deep value it places on cultural interconnection. Every class, conversation, and experience is enriched by diverse perspectives from around the globe.

State list:

State list:

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

United States ?:

yes

Part-time:

Summer:

/admissions/request-information

Eric Hoffpauir

Lisa Palazzolo — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:26:35 +0000

Lake Charles, LA

Bachelor’s in German from the University of Oklahoma

Studied Abroad, Karl- Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria

Bar du Central – The brasserie is beautiful, the waitstaff is courteous and efficient, and the food is simply perfect. (I recommend the confit de canard!) You also get some great people-watching from the foot traffic along the Rue Saint-Dominique, if you sit outside or along the broad front windows.

You really can’t go wrong wandering in any part of Paris, but I’m partial to the Marais in the 4th Arr. It has lots of narrow streets with colorful restaurants and storefronts, and like much of Paris, you will constantly find delights if you allow your eyes to wander along buildings just above the street level, or in the cobblestones of the sidewalk. It can be crowded in the Marais, but that’s both a testament to its vibrance and something else to behold in the neighborhood.

You can’t put a price on the life skills and confidence earned from studying with a group of people from diverse backgrounds who are also navigating life in a different country. Each day can be an exercise in problem-solving, communication skills, cultural awareness, and networking, often all at the same time. You’ll also gain a deeper sense and appreciation of self, examining and re-examining your own habits and family traditions, which can take on a new importance when separated from your home culture. Imagine experiencing this growth in Paris, the most beautiful city in the world!

Slate Administrator for Enrollment

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EricHoffpauiradmissions@aup.edu

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/admissions/request-information

Food and Wine Studies

Sara Wynn — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 12:21:01 +0000

Career Development Program

Sara Wynn — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:58:27 +0000

The ACE Career Development Program helps students develop career readiness to facilitate success in their professional lives and to foster lifelong career management.

Through the Global Professional Skills (GPS) Certificate and additional career workshops which are presented by the ACE Center and open to all undergraduate students, the program provides a framework for students to explore opportunities, build confidence in their competencies and advance their career and professional development.

Each activity is aligned with the Career Readiness Competencies from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) which are used by many top universities to guide students in career development.

Perseverance and the Power of Untold Stories

Sara Wynn — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:55:02 +0000

When Robin moved to Paris in 2016 to pursue a master’s degree at The American University of Paris, she didn’t do so for love or an Instagrammable version of expat life.

She came with a clear goal: to create a life outside of the “American way.” What she found in Paris would be exactly that, but even more transformative than she could have imagined. After being diagnosed with breast cancer twice in three years, on September 16, 2025 she shares her story with us in a powerful new memoir about resilience and identity.

Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, Robin attended Howard University on a full scholarship. Self-described as a “doer,” Robin describes her time at Howard as eye opening —confessing that she lost her scholarship during her freshman year due to over-socializing, or in other words, partying too much.

“My high school graduating class was about 10 people, and I’m an extrovert.” She offers with a shrug. The lesson learned was that she needed to manage her time better, and she’s glad to have learned this lesson early, while she was still able to move home, regroup, and continue forward.

By the time she started looking into life in Paris in 2015, Robin was already well established in her career as a journalist and had even won an Emmy for her work on a special about the “Miracle on the Hudson” with Dateline NBC. Even with an Emmy, starting a life in Paris wasn’t easy. The search for a job that would sponsor her visa turned up nothing.

“I’d been working in my field for ten years and couldn’t find a job abroad that would sponsor me,” she explained. “So I looked up other ways people made the move and found a blog by (fellow alumna) Anne Ditmeyer G’11 that mentioned ��.” This led her to looking at the University’s website for an alumni profile of another woman who had come to Paris in her 30s, and she came across Ruby Veridiano G’15. “I reached out to her, and she encouraged me to apply. I thought maybe I could leverage a master’s degree into a permanent life abroad.”

She thought right.

Her first two years in Paris were busy with coursework and full of “rich conversations in class that challenged my assumptions and gave me cultural context I hadn’t considered before.”

Outside the classroom, Robin juggled babysitting, tutoring, and freelance gigs to make ends meet. “Grad school in your 30s is different,” she laughed. “At Howard, I was idealistic and focused on building my career. At ��, I was focused on survival. It’s humbling but it also makes you very resourceful.”

After graduating from ��’s MA in Global Communications (MAGC) program, Robin obtained a job offer and felt herself thriving in her adopted city. “Everything was going great. I’d just started a new job, I went to Dîner en Blanc, I saw Serena Williams play at Roland Garros. It was, truly, the best weekend of my life.”

In a film-like turn of events, the following Monday her doctor found a lump that turned out to be breast cancer. The diagnosis would change her life.

Her forthcoming memoir, Surviving Paris: A Memoir of Healing in the City of Light, begins with this mind-bending contrast; the height of joy undercut by an unexpected health crisis. But her story is not only about illness. It’s about facing vulnerability without being fluent in the native language and discovering community in unlikely places.

Though Robin had completed her studies, she credits �� for playing a crucial role in supporting her through that time. “Thankfully, I still had the private insurance �� required us to get, and the University’s health services really helped me navigate what came next,” she shared. “I wasn’t a student anymore, but the �� network still held me up.”

Always a writer, Robin described a childhood of writing short stories and poems with aspirations of one day writing a book. The one thing she never counted on was the topic. Despite the subject material, Robin believes her book is accessible and a good story for many people, not only cancer survivors.

Her story disrupts the dominant narrative found in many books about life in Paris. “So many books about moving to Paris are about falling in love, having French children, and dealing with funny bureaucratic mishaps,” she said with a smile. “But I couldn’t find any stories about people like me; Black women, in their 30s, building new lives and facing major health issues abroad.”

The process wasn’t easy. Starting the book during the first remission, she stopped the project believing that no one would be interested in her cancer story. It wasn’t until her second diagnosis when she decided this was a story that must be told.

But completing it meant diving back into the emotional weight of illness. For Robin, the emotional labor of writing went beyond simply recounting medical details. As a Black woman telling a deeply personal story, she was doing something rarely seen in mainstream publishing. “There’s a particular kind of vulnerability involved in putting this out there, especially when so few stories like mine have been told.”

In writing her story, Robin was not only documenting a life-altering experience, but she also claimed space in a literary landscape that too often leaves out Black women. Writing a memoir that admits vulnerability when the status quo is to pretend like everything is fine is an act of resistance. It is insisting that stories of Black womanhood abroad not only exist but deserve to be told in full.

“I kept journals throughout, but actually writing the book required me to revisit the hardest moments of my life,” she said. “My editor and beta readers kept encouraging me to go deeper, to let go of the journalist’s instinct to hold emotion at arm’s length.”

Her �� education played a meaningful role in this shift from journalism to personal narrative. Though she had been working in media long before attending the MAGC program, Robin says the coursework and the international context helped her expand her perspective. “The development communications class with Professor Tanya Elder really stuck with me. Concepts like top-down versus bottom-up communication stayed with me long after.”

Robin’s story is a reminder that life in Paris is not always romantic. But it can be transformative.

“There’s a saying, ‘Paris is always a good idea.’ I agree, but I also think people need to come with their eyes open. Things will be harder than you expect. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.”

In 2023, Robin became a French citizen, hitting a milestone that cemented her sense of home in the city that once felt so uncertain.

Now that Surviving Paris is on the verge of release (coming in early September), Robin is already looking to the future. She’s working on a children’s book and a horror novel set in Normandy. She mentioned exploring ideas for screenplays. “This book unlocked something in me,” she said of her upcoming projects.

Asked what she’d tell prospective �� students considering a move to Paris, she didn't hesitate. “Do it. Learn as much French as you can, brace yourself for challenges, and know that what you’re building here might just change your life.”

After surviving breast cancer twice, Robin Allison Davis G'17 is releasing her debut memoir about her experience.

Alumna

Miscellaneous

Robin Allison Davis G’17 on her book "Surviving Paris: A Memoir of Healing in the City of Light"

Taxe d’Apprentissage

Sara Wynn — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 09:50:32 +0000

Invest in the future with the American University of Paris

Since 1962, �� has provided a global liberal arts education in the heart of Paris to more than 23,000 students from around the world. Through the Taxe d’Apprentissage program, �� will receive additional funds to support classroom equipment and materials, curriculum development, and essential career preparation and job placement support for current students.

Thanks to your taxe d’apprentissage contribution:

You contribute to educational innovation: teaching materials, digital tools, and specialized resources contribute to the excellence of the curriculum and prepare students for life beyond the classroom.
You help in developing skills in line with business expectations
You support the transformation of the University campus

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Taxe d'Apprentissage?

The taxe d’apprentissage is a mandatory contribution that French companies must pay to support vocational and professional education. Amounting to 0.68% of a company’s gross payroll (0.44% in Alsace-Moselle), it is split into two parts: 87% is automatically allocated to apprenticeship training centers via France Compétences, while the remaining 13%—known as the solde—can be directed by the company to eligible higher education institutions that offer professional training. Since 2023, companies must allocate this portion through the government platform SOLTéA. The tax helps strengthen ties between education and the labor market by funding programs that enhance students’ employability.

Is there a deadline to donate?

What is SOLTéA?

From the micro to the macro

Sara Wynn — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 08:20:07 +0000

Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao is the kind of teacher that exemplifies the outward looking, culturally conscious spirit of The American University of Paris. Since his arrival in 2021, he has taught courses on social psychology, personality psychology, political psychology, race and immigration, and more recently, qualitative methods.

Gao received his MA and PhD degrees in Toronto, at York University, an experience he credits as pivotal in his evolution to focus on intercultural issues. Trained first and foremost in theoretical psychology, a field he describes as “the interface between philosophy and psychology,” he later branched out into sociology, anthropology and history. This overlap has allowed him to specialize in the psychological implications of immigration, communism, national and other forms of identity, and geo-politics in the age of globalization.

This year, building on his reputation as a specialist in the history of psychology, Gao is co-organizing the Three Societies Meeting with �� Associate Professor Sharman Levinson. This global conference, hosted by �� in July 2025, brings together ESHHS—European Society for the History of the Human Sciences; CHEIRON—International Society for the History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences; and SHP—Society for the History of Psychology (Division 26 of the American Psychological Association).

Three chapters in a life dedicated to research and teaching

Gao’s recent research is taking him back to his roots in theoretical psychology. “This is kind of a transitioning point for me,” he explains. “I have something of a unique trajectory in the sense that I moved from one area to another, but it could be broken down into three stages.”

During his training with York University, his landmark work as a doctoral researcher focused on the production of psychological knowledge in the context of China’s communist movement. This experience helped him frame psychology, and the humanities at large, as fundamentally intersectional, rooted in history and driven by geo-political change.

In the second chapter of his career, Gao turned to study issues of immigration and identity and their political implications. As a multicultural individual himself, these issues touch upon the personal as well as the professional. With over 100 nationalities represented on campus, Gao and his students always find common ground when discussing issues of multiculturalism. “I think a lot about how people identify with one or more countries, ethnicities, or cultures when they have been moving around. We have a lot of international students who are very curious, very well-travelled, some with multiple passports in their pocket, and as a result many feel strongly about this.”

Coming full circle, Gao's focus has now returned to theoretical psychology. He co-edited two special issues of the journals Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science and Theory & Psychology, both focused on the psychology of de-globalization, and also co-edited a volume with his department colleague Associate Professor Maria Medved dedicated to Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology (Global Perspectives on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology, Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2025). In line with his general trajectory that examines psychology from a macro perspective, this recent research explores how indigenous psychology challenges the perceived universality of Western psychology, investigating methods and practices that are specific to local communities. It is this light that Gao is working to deconstruct the theoretical foundations of psychological science by shedding light on the stark differences between contextualist and globalist approaches in the field.

Roundtable seminars to help students flourish intellectually at ��

Given the nature of his work, Gao could not have found a better place to teach. “My research is embedded in the international, multicultural context of ��. My teaching methods are very much aligned with the liberal arts model, and this is facilitated by our unique campus culture. Small classes that might have 15 to 18 students make for a very student-centric approach.”

��’s intimate, discussion-based classrooms are a perfect fit for Gao. Known on and off campus for his seminar-style roundtables, he understands the importance of nurturing a strong teacher-student connection and creating a safe space to help students express themselves. “I know every student by name, where they are from, what they said last semester. They want to learn and share useful perspectives, but not everyone feels ready to talk to the whole class right off the bat. You want to make sure each student feels supported rather than pressured into discussion.”

As one student put it: “Your class has really helped me be able to voice my opinions, especially with my peers. We would even sometimes have little hang outs after your class where we would talk about the topic and sometimes even get into heated arguments.”

At the heart of Zed Gao’s teaching method is a fundamental tenet of the liberal arts model. “Of course, we want our students to join the labor force with rewarding jobs, but that is only one of our educational goals. Another vital goal is to promote critical thinking and interdisciplinary training, to give our students the tools to participate in social, cultural, and political life.” This twin focus on both professional and personal growth is a cornerstone of ��’s mission to deliver a fully rounded educational experience. “This is how we help our students find a sense of direction and purpose in their own life.”

Publications

Zed Zhipeng Gao’s publications can be found in Review of General Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Social Anthropology, Narrative Inquiry, History of Psychology, History of Science.

When Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao sits down to a roundtable with his students, he engages every voice in a rich, multidisciplinary conversation.

Faculty

Miscellaneous

Prof. Zed Zhipeng Gao explores psychology in the age of globalization

Conference Program and Abstracts

Sara Wynn — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 11:47:44 +0000

The American University of Paris - Miscellaneous

Sophie Bernheisel

Faythe Schulte

Araseli Valverde

Eric Hoffpauir

Food and Wine Studies

Career Development Program

Perseverance and the Power of Untold Stories

Related Links

Taxe d’Apprentissage

Invest in the future with the American University of Paris

Frequently Asked Questions

From the micro to the macro

Related Links

Three chapters in a life dedicated to research and teaching

Roundtable seminars to help students flourish intellectually at ��

Publications

Conference Program and Abstracts

Related Links

Download the Program

Download Book of Abstracts

The American University of Paris - Miscellaneous

Sophie Bernheisel

Faythe Schulte

Araseli Valverde

Eric Hoffpauir

Food and Wine Studies

Career Development Program

Perseverance and the Power of Untold Stories

Related Links

Taxe d’Apprentissage

Invest in the future with the American University of Paris

Frequently Asked Questions

From the micro to the macro

Related Links

Three chapters in a life dedicated to research and teaching

Roundtable seminars to help students flourish intellectually at ����������

Publications

Conference Program and Abstracts

Related Links

Download the Program

Download Book of Abstracts

Roundtable seminars to help students flourish intellectually at ��