About the Alliance Francaise Reno, NV

City of Reno, Nevada

Arc de Triomphe Paris

Brasserie Parisienne, France

City of Reno, Nevada

Who we are

Welcome to Alliance Française Reno, the official hub for French language and culture in the Greater Reno-Tahoe Metropolitan area. Our non-profit organization is dedicated to igniting the French language and francophone cultures through dynamic educational, entertaining, and artistic programs for children and adults.

We are the most recent and first Alliance Française of the 21st century founded in the United States under the Federation of Alliances Française USA, founded in 1902.

Join us in celebrating the richness and diversity of French culture!

140-years of History & Role

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Founded in Paris on 21 July 1883, this was a remarkable initiative that brought together some of the greatest minds of the time, including Louis Pasteur, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Jules Verne, Ernest Renan, and Armand Colin.

With a mission to spread civilization and promote French in the 19th century, the Alliance aimed to propagate the French language and culture internationally.

A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT!
140 years later! the Alliance Française is an international network of more than 800 chapters in 137 countries. The U.S. network counts over 100 Alliances and more than 24,000 students

We are proud to be part of this historic endeavor.
As the most recent and first Alliance Française of the 21st century founded in the United States, we remain commited to the values of its founders and have forged strong bonds with our local cultural, educational and business communities in the Reno-Tahoe area.

Our Mission

Alliance Française Reno is a non-profit organization and the official center of French Language and Culture in the Greater Reno Metropolitan area. Our mission is to promote the knowledge and appreciation the French language and francophone cultures through programs in education and the arts.

Our Vision

We are the premier institution for all things related to the French language and francophone cultures in Northern Nevada. Our affordable classes, activities, and programs cater to all age groups, while maintaining a high standard of teaching by utilizing current technologies and multimedia tools.

We collaborate with educational and cultural institutions in our community and strive to create a healthy working environment to attract top-tier management, teachers, and staff who share our passion for the French language and culture.

Join us for French classes and entertaining events that are sure to delight all ages as we learn, educate, and enjoy each other's company!

Board of Directors
You can also download a PDF here.

M. Josette Marsh

Josette Marsh joined the board of directors of the Alliance Française of Hawaii since 2003 and continues to serve as ts president. She was elected to the board of directors of the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA in 2010, and has served two terms as its president. Because she wanted to improve her overall command of the French language and learn more about French history and literature, Josette

enrolled in the University of Hawaii, Manoa to pursue her Masters in French which she earned in 2011. In 2020, she was elected to the board of directors of the Fondation des Alliances Françaises based in Paris.

President

Misha Pascal

After being away from the Reno/ Tahoe region for so long as a child and ultimately growing up in the Bay Area, Misha Pascal returned to attend the University of Nevada, Reno. And never left.

28 years later, he continues to raise his two young boys with his lovely wife. After receiving two degrees: one in economics and another in mechanical engineering, Misha works as a pricing specialist for NV Energy.

His love for France comes from his family where his father and mother, both native speakers, raised him surrounded by the culture and the language. Being part of the Alliance allows him to continue his journey of being part of France, with the ability to share that experience with his children.

Treasurer

Mavis Lepage Leathley - Secretary AFR Reno Board of Directors.jpg

Mavis Helaine LePage Leathley, PhD

My interest in France began years ago when I started to trace my family tree. Even when studying Norwegian in Norway, I explored the geography, culture, and history of France as well as traveling there often and with my husband after we were married.

I was happy when I joined the French Club in Reno as I was able to meet wonderful people who gave me opportunities to practice my French. I know being on the Board of Northern Nevada Alliance Française, I will have many interesting experiences that I cannot wait to share with the members.

Secretary

Director

Carina A Black, PhD

A native of Argentina and a citizen of Switzerland and the US, Carina Black has lived in the United States since 1988. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1997 in Comparative Politics. She is the first Executive Director of the Northern Nevada International Center, an organization that manages public diplomacy programs with funding from the US Department of State and USAID. In 2016, Black initiated a new project to resettle refugees in Northern

Nevada. Black has also been actively involved in various nonprofit local and national non- profit organizations that champion diversity, social justice and citizen diplomacy. She is fluent in four languages. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, everything related to the outdoors, reading, gardening and cooking.

Director

Erin Edgington, PhD

Erin E. Edgington is assistant professor of French at the University of Nevada, Reno where she also serves as associate dean of the Honors College. Edgington earned her Ph.D. in French Literature from Indiana University - Bloomington in 2013. She is a specialist of 19th-century French literature and art and the author of Fashioned Texts and Painted Books: Nineteenth-Century French Fan Poetry (North Carolina, 2017).

Her current book project reconsiders the tumultuous career of 19th-century French- Canadian poet William Chapman against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century (literary) politics and the rise of industrial capitalism and cultural patronage. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, she is passionate about making the richness and diversity of the Francophone world accessible to residents of Northern Nevada.

Walter-Frankmolle-Alliance-francaise-ren

Director

Walter Frankmoelle, PhD

Walter is a retired scientist. He has over 20 years of R&D experience in the field of biotechnology and worked for drug discovery, engineering, and medical device companies. As a young adult, Walter spent most of his summer vacations in the south of France. He passionately followed all TV episodes of Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s ‘Underwater Odyssey’ and dreamed of becoming a marine scientist. Lo and behold: Years later, as a research scientist, he worked at the University of Hawaii and Scripps Oceanography, where scuba diving became an integral part of his professional life. Today, scuba diving remains one of his favorite hobbies and his love for winter sports brought him to Reno. He is passionate about languages and would like to help convert local Francophiles into Francophones.

Isabelle Favre is a professor of French/Francophone studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. She authored three books and multiple articles based on contemporary literature and cinema. She comes from the Francophone Pre Alps of la Suisse romande, and practices all mountain sports, probably due to a sheer atavism.

Besides that, she remains in daily contact with French & Francophone cultural news and events in France and the Francophone world, to the point

of sometimes missing other news in the US!

Director

Isabelle Favre, PhD

Jean Pierre Pascal, commonly known as J.P, is a retired businessman and ski professional who landed as a young French ski instructor in Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe) in 1968.
His passion for sports and travel led him to run international businesses in skiing and bicycling, including as President of Greg LeMond Bicycling in Reno, before being recruited to run the second-largest bicycling manufacturing company in France, located in the Touraine, grossing some $50 million with over 200 employees.

After 25 years of commuting back and forth between continents, he and his wife, Helene, finally decided to return to the Reno/Tahoe region where they first met and worked for nearly 20 years, including at UNR.

J.P. is ready to commit himself by putting his international experience to good use for the Alliance.

Director

Jean-Pierre Pascal

Director

Tali Dayan

Tali Farahi Dayan est née à Reno, dans le Nevada. Elle est francophone et francophile confirmée! Son amour pour la culture et la langue françaises a pris racine lors d’un stage à Paris dans la plus ancienne maison de couture, Lanvin, puis dans l'une des plus grandes entreprises de communication du monde, Publicis. Elle a obtenu son MBA à la Columbia

Business School, et est mère de quatre enfants qui parlent couramment le français. Tali a l'intention de soutenir l'Alliance Française de Reno en

aidant à mettre en place un programme pour enfants comprenant des cours de langue et des activités culturelles.

Director

Catherine Farahi

Upon graduating from high school in Tehran, Iran in 1975, Catherine Farahi moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend the University of Pittsburgh where she lived with her sister's family. When the family relocated to Illinois, she was accepted to the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago. In 1978 she met and married John Farahi and joined him in Reno, Nevada where she completed her degrees in visual arts and music at the University of Nevada, Reno. For ten years she was a dedicated children's piano teacher in Reno, during which she also sang with the Nevada Opera and served on the board of the Cambridge Montessori School. She remains an artist at heart as a calligrapher, sculptor, and painter and has been on several philanthropic boards including the Nevada Museum of Art, the Reno Philharmonic, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the United Jewish Communities, Hadassah, and Temple Emanu-El of Reno. Her greatest achievement is her four children.

Director

Al Lavassani

Al Lavassani is a technology and sustainability consultant. His fondness for the French language and culture originated since his youth when he studied in a French catholic school. Al served as a board member in various organizations, including the Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the UC Davis Business School. Al loves nature and the outdoors, enjoys reading and learning, and looks for opportunities to help the community.

Director

Roswitha Kima Smale, Phd

Born and raised in Germany to Estonian parents, Roswitha is a multi-lingual world traveler and philanthropist who now lives in Nevada and spends part of the year in Southern France.

With a master’s degree in Anthropology and a PhD in Communication, Roswitha’s career included teaching at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver in both fields.

As a communication consultant she worked on many health-related projects, served on and chaired several major boards in the Healthcare field in Denver. She is currently on the boards of the Nevada Museum of Art, Desert X in Palm Springs and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

France has been a focal point for Roswitha and her husband especially after they purchased a house there 39 years ago. Now a widow, Roswitha continues to spend as much time as she can in her « magical » hilltop village in Southern France.

After moving to Reno, she was delighted to join a vibrant chapter of the Alliance Française. She loves the broad range of available programs as well as the congenial French speaking members.

Director

Christophe Soulet

Christophe is a businessman since the 90’s.
Born French, he spent his childhood in Morocco. Then he studied in France and got a Telecom engineer degree and an MBA. Christophe built his career in the telecom industry in Africa.
He met Allison, his American wife in Gabon (Central Africa). They lived as a bilingual family for 25 years overseas all over Africa, Europe and the Middle East in more than ten countries.

Christophe is glad to share his passion for the French culture in all its aspects with the Reno-Tahoe community through the Alliance Française, whether it’s the language, the music, the literature, the movies, the paintings, the gastronomy or the sports: France has it all!

Director

Helene Pascal

Born in Morocco to Ukrainian WWII refugees, Helene grew up multilingual, learning French and later English after immigrating to the Bay Area at 13. She studied English with a French minor at UC Berkeley, graduated from UNR with teaching credentials, and earned an MBA and a master’s in education.

Alongside her husband J.P., she founded several international ventures, opened travel agencies, created the first Marketing & Central Reservations Department in Squaw Valley, organized Olympic-level ski camps in Argentina and Chile, and collaborated with Tour de France winner Greg LeMond on cycling events in Japan.

Helene represented various international destinations in the U.S. and served as President and Treasurer of the North Tahoe Visitors & Convention Bureau, as well as on the Executive Board of the Reno-Tahoe Winter Olympics 1992 Organizing Committee.

After 25 years in France, she returned to Reno, where she married Jean-Pierre 55 years prior and raised three children in Tahoe. She is eager to work with the Alliance Française to promote the incredible French culture!

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