Sharing some recent Philadelphia-area Classics news!

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Former CAAS Executive Director Mary Brown recently wrote two articles about successful Philadelphia-area Classics programs. Both articles may be of interest to CAAS members throughout the Mid-Atlantic region:

CUNY Graduate Student Conference in Classics: Thalassocracy and the Power of the Sea | April 24, 2026

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The Classics Department at the CUNY Graduate Center invites you to the 18th Annual Graduate Student Conference in Classics, Thalassocracy and the Power of the Sea, on Friday, April 24th, 2026. The event is free and open to the public.

The conference will take place in the Skylight Conference Room at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Ave, right across the street from the Empire State Building), from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM, and will feature a keynote address by Columbia University’s Elizabeth Irwin, as well as three panels of graduate student speakers on nautical matters ranging from the Assyrian Empire through the Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean.

Registration for the event can be found on our website, https://thalassocracy.commons.gc.cuny.edu/. While registration will remain open up to and including the day of the event, we encourage those interested in joining us for lunch to register by April 10th so that we can order a sufficient amount of food. 

For questions, please email cunyclassicsconference@gmail.com.

Call for Proposals: 2026 CAAS Annual Meeting – EXTENDED to April 19, 2026

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Deadline for all proposals: EXTENDED to Sunday, April 19, 2026 (11:59 p.m.)

Meeting dates: October 8-10, 2026

Meeting location: The Hotel Du Pont, Wilmington, DE

Submit here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=caas2026

We invite proposals for individual papers, panels, and workshops/roundtables on all aspects of the ancient world and its afterlife. Especially welcome are submissions that propose innovative approaches to established scholarly debates on classical antiquity; that integrate the interests of K-12 and college faculty; that explore new strategies and resources for improved and inclusive teaching; that share fresh ideas about communicating the importance of ancient Greece and Rome beyond our discipline and profession; that explore connections between the Greco-Roman world and other civilizations, both ancient and modern; and that reflect on the past, present, and future of Classical Studies in the CAAS region and beyond. All submissions should aim for maximum audience engagement. We will strongly encourage panels and presenters to develop their presentations into full-length manuscripts for submission to Classical World, the official publication of CAAS.

SUBMISSION DETAILS 

Eligibility to submit a proposal: All submitters must be members of CAAS when they submit their proposal. The CAAS membership year is January 1-December 31. Organizers of panels and workshops must verify participants’ membership status before submitting the proposal. Undergraduate students making an individual submission must ensure their mentors have paid the CAAS membership fee for 2026 before making a submission. Membership status can be checked by contacting the Program Coordinator (pc@caas-cw.org).

Single appearance policy: Each submitter may not submit more than one abstract (whether single- or co-authored). Authors of individual paper proposals also may not simultaneously submit a proposal as part of a panel or workshop proposal. Panel and workshop organizers should ensure that participants in their proposed sessions do not intend to appear anywhere else on the program as speakers.    

Individual Paper Proposals should be drafted for a presentation of 15 minutes in length. When the Program is finalized, additional time may be granted depending on the number of papers included in each session. Proposals of no more than 300 words should be submitted. Only Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files are acceptable. Proposals should do the following: 

  1. Begin with a clear statement of a thesis and indicate the paper’s original contribution(s) by situating it in a larger scholarly context. The Program Committee expects to see these at the outset of the proposal.  
  2. Include a bibliography of five items, typically major and/or recent publications. These items are not included in the word count. The Program Committee expects these references to appear both in parentheses at appropriate points in the proposal to support the argument and at the end as works cited. Submitters of pedagogical abstracts may refer to innovative teaching approaches in progress.
  3. Be anonymous. The author’s name should not appear anywhere in the submission. Make references to the author’s own publications or pedagogical techniques in the third person. Proposals that include the names of authors, their institutional affiliations, or any other identifying information cannot be accepted.    

If you are an undergraduate student, please first select “Individual” under Type of Submission and then “Undergraduate Paper.”   

Panel Proposals must be drafted for a session of either 2 hours in length (3 speakers) or 2 ½ hours (4 speakers). A respondent may be included in the latter category as a fifth speaker. Especially welcome are proposals that showcase the research of (under)graduate students of a department and include at least one paper to be read by a faculty member who serves as advisor. Proposals of no more than 1000 words should be submitted by the organizer(s) as a single Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file and include the following:   

  1. The title of the panel.
  2. The titles of each individual presentation. 
  3. An introductory paragraph that establishes the coherence of the panel as a whole and indicates its original contribution, situating the panel in a larger scholarly context. 
  4. Abstracts of the individual presentations. 
  5. Include a bibliography of five items, typically major and/or recent publications. These items are not included in the word count. The Program Committee expects these references to appear both in parentheses at appropriate points in the proposal to support of the argument and at the end as works cited. Submitters of pedagogical panels may refer to innovative teaching approaches in progress.
  6. Be anonymous. The author’s name should not appear anywhere in the submission. Make references to the author’s own publications or pedagogical techniques in the third person. Proposals that include the names of authors, their institutional affiliations, or any other identifying information cannot be accepted.    

Workshops/roundtables are typically allocated 2 hours and expected to be devoted, for their most part, to a discussion between the organizer(s)/presenter(s) and the audience. Presentations, if any, must, therefore, be shorter than those included in organized panels. All the above guidelines for panels apply to workshop/roundtable proposals except that the limit for the proposal as a whole is 700 words, excluding bibliographical references. Authors will be notified about the status of their submission by mid-May. If their submissions are accepted for presentation, all speakers and organizers must register online through Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Submission of an abstract is a commitment to present the paper in person. If a paper must be read in absentia due to extenuating circumstances, the author must inform both the presiders of the panel and the Program Coordinator as soon as they can. They must also arrange for a reader to read the paper on their behalf. Both the author and the reader must register for the Annual Meeting in the respective category (faculty or student). Mentors of undergraduate students are expected to attend in person. If this is not possible due to extenuating circumstances, they still must register in order for their name to feature in the Program.  

All submitters are advised to read the CAAS Anti-Racism Committee statement on condemning the use of the texts, ideals, and images of the Greek and Roman world to promote hateful ideology, as follows: 

“The Classical Association of the Atlantic States is committed to fighting against all forms of racism and bigotry, including anti-Blackness, anti-Semitism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, ableism, and all other kinds of bias, in order to make our discipline fairer and more inclusive for all, as we strengthen the position of Classics through the development of better methods of teaching and the fostering of public support of the Classics. In addition, CAAS expects that all Annual Meeting participants treat each other with respect and afford everyone the dignity of being included in presentations and public discussions and not target, disrespect, or exclude anyone. The Program Committee therefore asks authors to be mindful of the language used in preparing abstracts and papers and to edit for biased phrasing and diction that are discriminatory or harmful to historically marginalized groups — be they racial, class, ethnic, financial, gendered, religious, or social. We call to the attention of all authors CAAS’s statement on anti-racism; the Society for Classical Studies’ statement on systemic racism, which CAAS also endorses; and the Principles of Antiracist Teaching and Reflection curated by the Multiculturalism, Race and Ethnicity in Classics Consortium (MRECC), which offers pathways for educators to advance learning and scholarship while building equity and inclusivity for historically marginalized groups in furtherance of the mission of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States. Abstracts and proposals that run counter to these values will not be accepted. Authors seeking additional information about language of equity in their submissions are invited to contact the Program Coordinator.”

Submit here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=caas2026

For questions, please contact CAAS Interim Program Coordinator Lawrence Kowerski (pc@caas-cw.org). Please contact the CAAS Webmaster (webmaster@caas-cw.org) with technical questions regarding submission through EasyChair.  

CAAS Conference Travel Subsidies: CAAS offers need-based travel subsidies (up to $600) to speakers and members planning to attend the Annual Meeting. The call for applications will be announced by the Chair of the Program Committee Travel Subsidies Subcommittee in late Spring 2026, after the circulation of the first draft of the Program by the Program Coordinator.   

CAAS Presentation Awards: CAAS recognizes the excellence of papers delivered in person at the annual meeting by means of monetary awards in four categories: Post-Ph.D.; Graduate Student; Undergraduate Student; and K-12 Educator. Presiders who will receive advance copies of papers to be read in their sessions are asked to nominate outstanding individual presentations after the annual meeting, submitting detailed commentary on the content, argument, and delivery of the paper. The Chair of the Program Committee Awards Subcommittee will announce recipients of awards before December 31. 

Seeking Applicants for CAAS Webmaster – Deadline: May 15, 2026

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The Classical Association of the Atlantic States is seeking applications for the position of Webmaster to commence immediately after the October 2026 CAAS annual meeting and to run through the end of the October 2029 annual meeting. The position may be renewed for more than one three-year term and carries an annual stipend. The applicant must live or work in the CAAS region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). CAAS membership is required for the position.

The Webmaster serves on the CAAS Board of Directors. The general responsibilities of the position include maintaining a standards-compliant website for CAAS, posting information on the website, providing timely updates to it, and managing all on-line functions associated with the website. Specific duties include managing interactions with CAAS’ website builders and providers, working with the Program Coordinator to facilitate the use of EasyChair to evaluate abstracts and proposals for the annual meeting, managing officer-specific email addresses and Google Drive, handling all web-related functions for the annual meeting, and preparing a contact list of presenters at the annual meeting for the Program Coordinator. The Webmaster assembles a list of audio-visual equipment requested for each presentation at the Annual Meeting for the Executive Director. 

The Webmaster is also responsible for correcting the Program of the annual meeting to reflect how it actually occurred (presenters who did not attend, papers read by another, etc.), posting this on the website, and forwarding a copy to the Archivist. A more detailed description of the Webmaster’s responsibilities can be found in the CAAS Regulations and Operating Procedures (https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Regulations-and-Operating-Procedures-Oct-2018.pdf).

Applicants should have a record of participation in CAAS programs and be familiar with HTML and web-content management, web-conferencing tools, web maintenance, and internet data security. Knowledge of EasyChair would be a plus. Applications should include a letter of interest, a current curriculum vita, and the names and contact information of three individuals who can serve as references. Please send applications to Karen Klaiber Hersch, Chair of the Nominations Committee (karen.klaiber@temple.edu), by May 15, 2026.

Seeking Applicants for CAAS Treasurer – Deadline: May 15, 2026

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The Classical Association of the Atlantic States is seeking applications for the position of Treasurer to commence immediately after the October 2026 CAAS annual meeting and to run through the end of the October 2029 annual meeting. The position may be renewed for more than one three-year term and carries an annual stipend. The applicant must live or work in the CAAS region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). CAAS membership is required for the position.

The Treasurer is a member of the CAAS Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the Finance Committee. The position’s general responsibilities include the conduct of all banking functions for the Association, maintaining the Association’s financial records, and producing financial reports for the Board of Directors at the Association’s April and October meetings. The Treasurer prepares and submits reports and forms as required by state and federal law. It is the duty of the Treasurer to maintain accurate records of all receipts and disbursements and to keep them in books belonging to the Association. The Treasurer is called upon to make available accounts and records to any of the Directors and to provide detailed accounts of financial matters upon their request. The Treasurer may also perform such other duties as the Board of Directors prescribes.

The Treasurer’s particular responsibilities include paying bills and depositing funds (registration fees, dues, donations, etc.) in the Association’s name and keeping full and accurate accounts of all restricted endowment funds or gifts as portions of CAAS’ endowment, as mandated by CAAS Investment Policy. The Treasurer produces written financial reports of CAAS’ general accounts and of each restricted individual fund for the spring and fall meetings of the Board of Directors and for the Board’s annual report to the members. Further duties include sending acknowledgement letters to donors as required by federal and state tax authorities and delivering to CAAS’ tax accountant each year’s deposit slips, canceled checks, investment reports, and bank statements in a timely fashion. The Treasurer supports the Investment Liaison in carrying out the Association’s investment policy and the management of its endowment. The Treasurer maintains the Association’s sales-tax exempt status, purchasing large items for CAAS in tax-free states, if the office is in a taxed locale, and maintaining the Treasurer’s and Executive Director’s credit cards. More information about the position can be found at (https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Regulations-and-Operating-Procedures-Oct-2018.pdf). 

Applicants should have a record of participation in CAAS programs, possess basic accounting knowledge in a non-profit environment, and be familiar with Excel Spreadsheet and/or a dedicated accounting software such as Intuit QuickBooks. Applications should include a letter of interest, the names and contact information of three references, and a current curriculum vitae. Please send applications to David Rosenbloom, Chair of the Hiring Committee (dsrose@umbc.edu), by May 15, 2026.

Seeking Applicants for CAAS Program Coordinator – Deadline: May 15, 2026

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The Classical Association of the Atlantic States is seeking applications for the position of Program Coordinator to commence immediately after the October 2026 CAAS annual meeting and to run through the end of the October 2029 annual meeting. The position may be renewed for more than one three-year term and carries an annual stipend. The applicant must live or work in the CAAS region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). CAAS membership is required for the position.

The Program Coordinator assembles and chairs a diversely constituted Program Committee of twenty-five CAAS members from all six civic jurisdictions in the CAAS region and organizes the program to be presented at the annual meeting based on the committee’s anonymous assessments of abstracts and proposals. Working closely with the Executive Committee, the Executive Director, and the Webmaster, the Program Coordinator plans, publicizes, and presides over CAAS annual meetings.

The Program Coordinator’s work begins in the November before the meeting with the constitution of the Program Committee and issues the call for proposals in early January. The work of vetting, accepting proposals, and contacting submitters continues through the spring, culminating in a first draft of the program in May. The Program Coordinator prepares an annual meeting evaluation survey for the Executive Director to include in registration packets. After the meeting, the Program Coordinator solicits feedback from presenters at the annual meeting and serves as an ex officio member of the Awards Subcommittee, which establishes winners of “best paper” awards at the annual meeting. These are announced in November.

The Program Coordinator serves on the CAAS Board of Directors, is a member of the CAAS Executive and Nominations Committees, and is an ex officio member of the Awards Committee and Clack Lecture Committees. In addition to chairing the Program Committee, the Program Coordinator oversees two subcommittees, one granting subsidies for travel to the annual meeting and another determining winners of “best paper” awards at the annual meeting. A more detailed description of the Program Coordinator’s responsibilities can be found in the CAAS Regulations and Operating Procedures (https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Regulations-and-Operating-Procedures-Oct-2018.pdf). 

Applicants should have a record of participation in CAAS programs and prior service on the CAAS Program Committee or on a comparable committee in a peer organization. Applications should include a letter of interest, a current curriculum vitae, and the names and contact information of three references. Please send applications to Karen Klaiber Hersch, Chair of the Nominations Committee (karen.klaiber@temple.edu), by May 15, 2026. 

Call for Nominations: 2026 CAAS Awards

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Dear CAAS colleagues,

We, the members of the CAAS Awards Committee, warmly invite you to nominate a colleague to be considered for an ovatio or gratulatio, or for the Barbara F. McManus Leadership Award for CAAS 2026. The CAAS Awards Committee accepts nominations drafted by members in good standing. Recipients of awards will be celebrated with a Latin award script composed by the Latin Citations Committee, which will be read by a treasured colleague at the 2026 annual fall meeting of CAAS at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware, October 8-10. 

The Awards Committee’s charge is to “select honorees from the CAAS membership who meet the following criteria: long and/or distinguished service to CAAS and/or to the classics community by those in the CAAS region.”

To nominate a colleague for an ovatio (an ovation and rejoicing of excellence in service to CAAS and to our discipline) or a gratulatio (congratulations and celebration of a colleague’s service to CAAS and to our profession), we request that you provide the name of the person nominated, accompanied by a brief (one paragraph) rationale for the nominee’s worthiness for an award. You may submit your nominations for ovationes and gratulationes using this Google Form.

To nominate a colleague for the Barbara F. McManus Leadership Award, please use the following link for the criteria and nomination form: The Barbara F. McManus Leadership Award | CAAS-CW.  Please submit all materials to the Chair of the Awards Committee, Maria S. Marsilio, for review by members of the committee: marsilio@sju.edu.

You may find a full listing of recent honorees and an archive of past honorees here: Archive of Honorees | CAAS-CW

The firm deadline for submission of all nominations is Friday, May 1, 2026. 

Please consider nominating your colleagues who have given valuable service to CAAS.

Thank you from the Awards Committee!

Maria Marsilio, Chair

Mary Brown

James Capreedy

Lawrence Kowerski (Program Coordinator, ex officio)

Announcing New CAAS Leadership Appointments

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The CAAS Executive Committee is delighted to announce the appointment of Denise Flood-Doyle as Executive Director from 2026–2028. Denise has held a wide range of leadership roles in CAAS since 2013. She was New York Eastern Regional Director from 2013–2019 before embarking on the cursus, serving as Second VP (2019), First VP (2020), President (2021), and Officer-at-Large (2022), a role she reprised in 2025 after the incumbent resigned. She was also the ACTFL Delegate from 2019–2022. Please join the Executive Committee in welcoming Denise in her new role as CAAS Executive Director. We would also like to thank the outgoing Executive Director, Mary Brown, for her years of tireless service and dedication to CAAS.

The CAAS Executive Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of Lawrence Kowerski—CAAS Archivist and Reviews Editor of Classical World—to the position of Interim Program Coordinator for 2026. We would also like to thank Konstantinos Nikoloutsos, the outgoing Program Coordinator, for his years of service to CAAS.

The Board will appoint a Program Coordinator to a three-year term this year. If you are interested in this position, please contact the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Karen Klaiber Hersch (karen.klaiber@temple.edu).

Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS): Call for Papers for 2026 Spring Conference Series

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Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) seeks proposals for a new monthly conference series, running on the last weekend of every month from February through April 2026: February 28-March 1, March 28-29, and April 25-26. The AIMS virtual conference series remains free and open to all, and welcomes proposals on any topic related to the reception of the ancient Mediterranean world in modern media.

For the AIMS 2026 monthly conference series, we invite various formats for the presentation of research, pedagogy, and creative responses to the reception of Mediterranean antiquity, including but not limited to: individual 20-minute papers, three-paper panels, roundtables, workshops, poster sessions, lightning sessions, play-throughs, live multiplayer games, technical demonstrations, creative showcases, creator interviews, and other activities that can fit within a 60-90-minute time slot and be delivered remotely at this online conference series. With conference events spread across three months, presenters will choose their preferred presentation day.  

The AIMS conference series is held online using a mixture of live and pre-recorded elements. Note: 20-minute paper presentations are pre-recorded and circulated prior to the live presentation day. This hybrid format accommodates as many participants as possible, regardless of geographic location/time zone, professional rank, access to travel funds, mobility impairment, and other factors implicated in the traditional conference format. We welcome proposals from all scholarly ranks, including early-career scholars, independent scholars, as well as working professional craftspeople/artists. We invite scholars from marginalized groups, along with people who traditionally have been able to participate in academic activities with relative ease. Our conference committee remains our Board of Directors and all members of the DEI committee. This group reviews proposals and assists with scheduling conference events.

There will be two deadlines for proposals: priority and regular. The priority deadline will be January 9, 2026; presenters can expect to be notified by January 23, 2026. For any remaining slots, the regular deadline will be January 30, 2026; presenters can expect to be notified by February 9, 2026. In keeping with AIMS’ ethos of promoting accessibility, it is our regular practice to allow the chance for presenters to revise and resubmit their conference proposal before a final decision is made.

For the full CfP, see the AIMS website: https://antiquityinmediastudies.wordpress.com/2024-conference-cfp/ 

Please upload your conference proposal at the following link: https://forms.gle/GXGVSuS9CnVL5bct7.

Questions about AIMS or the 2026 Conference Series? Please contacts the AIMS President at president-aims@proton.me.