Frédérique Arroyas

As an associate professor of French in the School of Languages and Literatures for the past 15 years, I feel privileged to work in such a multicultural environment where students, staff and faculty communicate on a daily basis in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

My family moved to London Ontario in 1968 from France where we lived for 6 years, having left Algeria when it gained its independence. I did my undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Western Ontario interspersed with extended stays in France and Germany. I started my PhD six months before my daughter was born, then a year later, came my son. Raising kids and doing graduate work was pretty much my focus for the next 8 years!

Guelph adopted us in 1998. Having just started at the university, I was looking for an opportunity to get involved with local organization as well. I started volunteering with the Jazz Festival and took on the position of media coordinator for a number of years. My Leave for Change mandate in Burkina Faso is to work as a special events communications specialist. I’ll be helping to promote the Journées agro-alimentaires, a yearly event that showcases Burkina Faso’s agricultural accomplishments. I’m hoping that my experience in media relations is somehow transferable to this new context. Stay tuned to find out more ...