Category Archives: General
Telling Mesopotamian History: Bringing to Life the Stories of Cuneiform Writing
NYU’s Center for Ancient Studies is organizing the Ranieri Colloquium on Ancient Studiesfor Thursday and Friday, October 22-23, 2015. The conference is entitled, “Telling Mesopotamian History: Bringing to Life the Stories of Cuneiform Writing,” in Honor of Jack M. Sasson. The conference is presented by the NYU Center for Ancient Studies, in conjunction with the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, the Dean of the College of Arts and Science, and Vanderbilt University and The Vanderbilt Divinity School. It is free and open to the public. Additional information is available here.
The full program may be viewed here:
http://ancientstudies.fas.nyu.
In Memoriam: Barbara F. McManus (1942-2015)
With great sadness and heavy hearts, we report that Barbara F. McManus passed away in the early morning of June 19, 2015, from complications related to cancer. Her death is a particularly painful loss to CAAS. She served our organization in many capacities, with a rare combination of dedication and vision: as President in 2005 and Webmaster from 2005-2010; and as a member of its Awards and Program Committees. CAAS was proud to honor her with an ovatio in 2001, and by establishing the Barbara F. McManus Leadership Award in 2011.
After graduating from the College of New Rochelle summa cum laude in 1964, Barbara joined its faculty in 1967, while still a graduate student in Comparative Literature at Harvard, which awarded her a PhD in 1975. Before retiring from CNR as a full professor in 2000, she made a distinctive mark on its academic landscape by teaching innovative courses in classics, comparative literature and women’s studies; directing the writing program in its School of Arts and Sciences; and leading efforts to integrate technology into classroom teaching.
Barbara’s impressive roster of vanguard scholarly publications includes books on women in early modern England, feminist theory and classics, and the pioneering American classicist Grace Harriet Macurdy, as well as articles in several learned journals. In 2012, the Women’s Classical Caucus, for which she labored impressively as its co-chair and secretary-treasurer, recognized her outstanding achievements in research by launching the annual Barbara McManus Award for the best published article in gender studies each year. She won major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities: her NEH-funded Teaching with Technology initiative led to the creation of the VRoma Project, a virtual city and community for classics students worldwide, on which she collaborated closely with her longtime CNR classics colleague Ann Raia.
In 1994 she received the CNR Alumnae Association’s Ursula Laurus award; in 2014 its Woman of Achievement award, as a shining example of “Wisdom for Life”. In 2012, the Classics Department at the University of Maryland, College Park, hosted an international interdisciplinary conference in her name to recognize her scholarship and teaching, with the support of grants from the National Science Foundation and CAAS itself.
On the morning of her death, Adam Blistein, Executive Director of the Society of Classical Studies (formerly the American Philological Association), paid warm and moving tribute to Barbara’s valuable contributions [http://apaclassics.org/apa-
Barbara’s devoted work for CAAS on many fronts, and in particular her caring support of CAAS colleagues, ranks high among her stellar accomplishments. According to an ancient Greek maxim, the measure of one’s life is not its length but its goodness. Barbara F. McManus—exemplary daughter, sister, wife, mother, colleague, scholar and beloved friend—illustrates those words, in all that she has done and been. Her invincible spirit abides, and we strive to fulfill the ideals that she so memorably embodied.
Written by:
Mary Brown, Judith P. Hallett, Maria S. Marsilio, Ann R. Raia
Latin Teacher Position
Watchung Hills Regional High School is currently seeking a part-time (with benefits) teacher of Latin. Interested applicants should contact Beth Scheiderman, Director of Human Resources & Professional Development, bscheiderman@whrhs.org
CAAS Leaders Granted Awards
Maria Marsilio, 2nd vice president of CAAS, and Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Honors Program Director at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, has been awarded the Christian and Mary Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Follow this link for more information on the award and the Lindback Foundation: www.lindbackfoundation.org
Judith P. Hallett, Program Coordinator of CAAS and Professor of Classics and distinguished scholar-teacher at the University of Maryland ,College Park, has been awarded the 2015 Lambda Classical Caucus Activism Award in recognition of her work promoting the rights and well-being of sexual minorities. Follow this link for more information about the award and the Lambda Classical Caucus: http://lambdacc.org/awards/
NY State Teacher of the Year 2015
New York State Teacher of the Year 2015, Charles Giglio, teaches Latin in Gloversville, NY. Follow the link for details: http://www.nysut.org/…/teacher-of-the-year-lets-in-the-ligh…
Summer Course in Latin at Hunter College
Are you an upper-level classics undergraduate or a graduate student / Latin teacher looking for a Latin summer class?
Hunter College in New York City (easy to reach by public transportation) is offering a class. This schedule is tentative and subject to change. For the most current information, visit Hunter’s Searchable Schedule of Classes available here http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/
Hunter College Summer Session 2 (Six Weeks): July 13-August 13
Advanced Readings in Latin Literature/Topics in Latin Literature: Roman Slavery (combined MA / Undergraduate course)
A study of the topic of slavery through various texts to be read in Latin.
M, T, W, TH 6:00-7:53pm Timothy Hanford, PhD
LAT 316 (undergraduate use this course number)
LAT 710 (grad student use this course number)
Slate of Candidates for CAAS Elective Offices and Regional Directorships
The following slate of candidates for elective offices and regional directorships was approved by the Board at its April meeting and will be presented for election in the Business Session on Saturday, October 10, 2015:
President 2015-2016 – Thomas McCreight
First Vice President 2015-2016 – Thomas Falkner
Second Vice President 2015-2016 – Victoria Pedrick
Officer-at-Large 2015-2016 – Ronnie Ancona
Second two-year terms 2015-2017
Regional Director (DC) – Norman Sandridge
Regional Director (MD) – Deborah Carter
Regional Director (NY-E) – Denise Flood-Doyle
First two-year term 2015-2017
Regional Director (NY-C&W) – James Capreedy
An additional candidate or candidates may be nominated through a petition signed by at least fifteen CAAS members who are eligible to vote (i.e., who reside and/or work in the CAAS region). The procedure for nomination-by-petition is described in the online Regulations, Section 2 B: Members may nominate an additional candidate or candidates through a petition signed by at least fifteen CAAS members eligible to vote. The petition must be received by the Executive Director no later than July 1, and nominees must be CAAS members who reside and/or work in the CAAS region. Nominees with a valid petition will be added to the slate of candidates mailed to members along with materials for the annual meeting and presented for election in the Business Session.
Janet M. Martin, Chair, Nominations Committee
Classicizing Philadelphia Mobile Tour Now Available
Classicizing Philadelphia announces the release of a mobile tour of classically themed sites in Philadelphia. The tour can be accessed on mobile devices (smartphones and iPads or similar tablet computers) by directing an Internet browser to
classicizingphiladelphia.org/
The mobile tour guides users around a group of important buildings within a few blocks of Independence Hall that reveal ways in which architects from the 1790s until the Civil War used elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture to house the institutions of a growing nation. Classicizing Philadelphia plans to develop a series of mobile tours and customizable tour stops documenting Philadelphia’s long engagement with Greece and Rome.
Classicizing Philadelphia is a digital humanities and public history project based at Bryn Mawr College and supported by the Classical Association of the Atlantic States. It seeks to document, study, and continue Philadelphia’s long conversation with ancient Greece and Rome. Technical development is provided by Interactive Mechanics. Content for the prototype mobile tour was created by Classicizing Philadelphia project director Lee Pearcy and Bryn Mawr graduate student Megan Dickman.
Further information: classicizingphiladelphia.org or e-mail lpearcy@brynmawr.edu
Society for Classical Studies Awards for Teaching and Outreach
The Society for Classical Studies (SCS) wants teachers of classics to be aware of the following awards that recognize outstanding teaching and scholarly outreach. Click on the relevant URL below to see a full description of each program and detailed instructions for submitting nominations. The teaching awards are supported by income from gifts from Daniel and Joanna Rose to the Society’s Gateway Endowment for Classics Research and Teaching.
SCS Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the College Level
http://apaclassics.org/awards-and-fellowships/awards-excellence-teaching-of-classics–
college-level
These awards give special and public expression to the commitment of the SCS to honor and foster excellence in the teaching of the Classics. Winners of these awards must be members of the SCS and have a minimum of three years of teaching experience prior to nomination. By action of the SCS Board of Directors, only individuals may be considered for these awards. Nomination materials must be received by Monday, June 1, 2015.
SCS Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the Precollegiate Level
http://apaclassics.org/awards-and-fellowships/awards-excellence-teaching-precollegiate-level
The Joint Committee (with ACL) on the Classics in American Education invites nominations for these awards. Teachers, full- or part-time, of grades K-12 in schools in the United States and Canada who at the time of the application teach at least one class of Latin, Greek, or classics at the K-12 level are eligible. Membership in the SCS is not required. September 9, 2015, is the deadline for the receipt of nominations.
The SCS Outreach Prize
http://apaclassics.org/awards-and-fellowships/scs-outreach-prize
This prize recognizes outstanding projects or events by an SCS member or members that make an aspect of classical antiquity available and attractive to an audience other than classics scholars or students in their courses. All nomination materials must be received by July 24, 2015, in the SCS Office.