26 avril 1925
5 août 2003
Née le 26 avril 1925 à Saint-Jean-le-Centenier (Ardèche), fille de Daniel Saunier et de Marie-Louise Lascombe, Alice Saunier-Séïté est d’abord pensionnaire à l’école primaire supérieure de Privas. Elle passe ensuite le concours d’accès à l’école normale des institutrices et fait son entrée, en 1941, au lycée de Tournon.
Elle s’inscrit en 1945 à la Sorbonne, où elle obtient une licence de géographie, puis à l’École nationale des langues orientales vivantes, d'où elle sort diplômée. En 1952, elle est nommée dans un collège technique de la région parisienne ; elle y enseigne le français, l’histoire et la géographie.
D’abord attachée puis chargée de recherche au Centre national de la recherche scientifique (1958-1963), elle consacre sa thèse au massif de l’Oetzal et sa thèse supplémentaire au Suedfoehn qui souffle sur Innsbruck (1963).
En octobre 1963, Alice Saunier-Séïté est nommée maître de conférences de géographie à la des lettres de Rennes (antenne de Brest). Elle devient professeur en 1965, puis dirige le collège littéraire universitaire de Brest à partir de 1966 et, deux ans plus tard, doyen de la faculté des lettres et des sciences sociales de Brest. Elle est la première femme, en France, à atteindre un tel niveau de responsabilité dans le monde universitaire. Elle fait édifier 8 000 m² de bâtiments pour la nouvelle faculté, et crée en son sein, à Brest, un centre de recherches bretonnes et celtiques. Elle est directeur de l’unité d’enseignement et de recherche (UER) de lettres et sciences sociales d’octobre 1968 à octobre 1969.
Elle poursuit sa carrière universitaire à l’université de Paris-XI, où elle est chargée de créer et de diriger l’Institut universitaire de technologie de Sceaux, ouvert en 1970. Elle est également vice-présidente de l’université de Paris-XI de 1970 à 1971.
En juillet 1973, Alice Saunier-Séïté est nommée recteur de l’Académie de Reims ; là encore, elle est la première femme à assumer ces fonctions.
Le 12 janvier 1976, Jacques Chirac lui confie le secrétariat d’État aux Universités, poste qui est occupé jusque-là par Jean-Pierre Soisson et qu’elle occupe jusqu’au 10 janvier 1978, date à laquelle elle devient ministre des Universités. Dès son entrée en fonctions, elle doit faire face, jusqu’en avril 1976, à l’agitation provoquée par l’arrêté du 16 janvier 1976 sur la réforme des seconds cycles universitaires. Ses priorités sont : l’ouverture des facultés au monde extérieur, notamment au milieu professionnel, la promotion de la recherche fondamentale, la restauration de l’image de l’Université dans la nation. Elle réforme ainsi les IUT et les écoles d’ingénieurs, ainsi que le CNRS qu’elle dote d’une nouvelle organisation. En 1978, elle fait face à une grève des assistants, mécontents d’un décret dont certaines dispositions touchent à l’organisation de leur recrutement et de leur travail. Elle surmonte, entre 1978 et 1980, les difficultés liées au transfert de l’université de Vincennes à Saint-Denis, et d’une partie des enseignants de droit de Nanterre à Malakoff.
Le 4 mars 1981, elle devient également ministre déléguée de la Famille et de la Condition féminine, jusqu’à la défaite de la majorité aux élections présidentielles (22 mai 1981).
À partir de mai 1981, Alice Saunier-Séïté reprend des fonctions professorales et ses activités de recherche. Elle devient la première femme nommée au Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM). Elle y est, jusqu’en 1994, professeur titulaire de la chaire d’organisation géographique de l’espace et, de 1986 à 1990, préside le département des sciences de l’aménagement et de la mise en valeur. Elle préside également le club des explorateurs, est administrateur-trésorier puis président de l’Institut océanographique de Monaco (1996-1998), et est associée à l’Institut d’Égypte et à l’Académie des sciences d’Islande. Elle administre également le Centre d’études et de recherches sur Paris et l’Île-de-France et la Commission du Vieux Paris, de la Société de géographie et de la Société d’histoire à Paris.
Parallèlement, elle exerce des charges d’élue locale et des responsabilités au Parti républicain, dont elle est le secrétaire général adjoint entre 1978 et 1982. Conseiller municipal puis adjoint au maire de Manso (1971-1983), village natal de son second époux, elle se présente, sans succès, aux élections législatives de mars 1978, en Moselle. Elle est élue conseiller de Paris en1983, et réélue en 1989 et 1995. De 1990 à 1998, elle préside le mouvement national des élus locaux (MNEL), après en avoir été la vice-présidente depuis 1983. Elle fonde la Mutuelle des élus locaux, puis crée la Caisse des retraite des élus locaux.
Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur, grand officier de l’ordre national du Mérite, commandeur des Palmes académiques et des Arts et Lettres, médaillée d’or de la Jeunesse et des Sports, médaillée du CNRS et de la Société de géographie, elle est élue le 28 novembre 1995 à l’Académie des sciences morales et politiques, dans la section générale, au fauteuil laissé vacant par le décès de Bernard Chenot.
Alice Saunier-Seïté épouse en premières noces, en 1947, Élie-Jacques Picard (1920-2007), professeur de physique et héros de la Résistance, dont elle a deux fils, Philippe et Jacques, nés en 1953 et 1956. En 1968, elle épouse en secondes noces l’un des rédacteurs de la loi Faure, Jérôme Seïté, inspecteur général de l’enseignement supérieur, dont elle est veuve à partir du 18 septembre 1972.
Elle décède le 5 août 2003 à son domicile parisien, rue Visconti, à l’âge de 78 ans.
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