Professor Andrew Knapp receives the Palmes Academiques

Thursday, 03 March 2011

Professor Andrew Knapp

The Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms) is an Order of Chivalry of France and a decoration for services to French education and culture.

Professor Knapp has been promoted from Chevalier (awarded in 2003) to Officier, by a (French) Prime Ministerial decree for his "eminent academic career devoted to French contemporary politics and history, and for his tireless contribution to the diffusion of France's language and culture in the United Kingdom thanks to his numerous works on France".

Professor Knapp has taught in Isfahan, Iran, at the Le Havre Business School, and at two different universities in Paris. He joined the Department of French Studies (now part of the Department of Modern Languages and European Studies) at the University in 1990. He is currently Director of European Studies. He became a member of the Franco-British Council in 2006.

University of Reading holders of the Palmes have included Professor Wolfgang van Emden and Trevor Bottomley, (ex-registrar) and Emeritus Professor Jim Knowlson.