| Shanny Peer - Biography |
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Shanny Peer received her Ph.D. from New York University’s interdisciplinary Institute of French Studies in 1992. She taught French Studies for ten years, first at the University of Vermont and then at NYU, where she received a Golden Dozen Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching. In 2000, she joined the French-American Foundation as Director of Policy Programs. Her comparative interest in work-family policies led her to work briefly at Families and Work Institute before joining Columbia University as the Director of the Maison Française in September 2009. Shanny Peer has written a number of scholarly articles and a book, France on Display: Peasants, Provincials, and Folklore in the 1937 Paris World’s Fair, which argued that France’s “traditional” heritage was refashioned in new ways in and around the 1937 World'sFair to allow France to modernize while still retaining its distinct identity in the key decade before World War II. France on Display was awarded the Laurence Wylie Prize for Best Book in French Cultural Studies in 1999. Shanny Peer is also the author of several reports comparing French and American public policies, including Equal from the Start: Promoting Educational Opportunity for All Preschool Children: Learning from the French Experience and Equality of Opportunity in Education and Employment: French and American Perspectives. While at the French-American Foundation, she created and directed comparative policy programs on French and U.S. approaches to early childhood education, anti-discrimination/affirmative action policies, health care and work-family policy. She has testified before the U.S. Senate, organized conferences on a variety of topics, and conducted study tours to France for high-level delegations that included U.S. governors, senators, state legislators, and foundation presidents. In addition to planning and organizing all programming and events for the Maison Française and working with the Advisory Board to strengthen its position and develop its funding base, she is currently uncovering the rich history of the Maison Française and planning an exhibit on the Maison Francaise, undertaking a major renovation, and preparing for its 100-year anniversary in 2013. Shanny Peer lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Cliff Landesman, and their two children. |
