Jean Gounard, director of International Student Affairs for Buffalo State College, has been named by French Republic President Jacques Chirac to receive recognition for distinguished merit as a chevalier (knight) in the National Order of Merit, one of two French national orders.

The honor was made in recognition of Gounard's career-long effort to promote positive relations between the United States and France, his country of origin, through education, exchange of scholars and heightened awareness of the Francophone world.

The Order of Merit was created by General Charles De Gaulle 40 years ago and is France's second order of chivalry; the other French national order is the Order of the Legion of Honor, created by Napoleon in 1802.

Gounard is also an officer in the Order of the University Palms, founded by Napoleon in 1808 to reward eminent services in connection with teaching or brilliant academic work. It consists of three classes: commander, officer and knight. Gounard was inducted into the order as a knight in 1994.

A former president of the Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association and founding president of the Buffalo-Lille Association, Gounard has been a faculty member and administrator at Buffalo State College for 26 years. He holds a doctorate in American Studies and a master's in English from the University of Bordeaux.

He is a member of the board of directors of the International Institute of Buffalo, a member of the Research Panel on Overseas Study of SUNY's New York African-American Institute and a member of the Buffalo Council on World Affairs.

He is also a member of the College Student Personnel Association of New York State, Inc.; NAFSA: Association of International Educators; the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research; the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators; the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States; the Canadian Association for American Studies; the Association Fran