Dear Friends,

Greetings from Kansas, where a chilly

January has followed on the heels of an intemperately

warm December. As we have rounded the corner into 2018, the theme of the year seems to be “climate change” and accordingly, “adaptation.”

The biggest changes we face are those in student needs. Our students are burdened increasingly with the need to work a job - or two - to pay for school. Their time is both limited and less flexible. We have worked hard to adjust our curriculum to accommodate their need for flexibility while maintaining the integrity and rigor of our courses. Here are five examples from our undergraduate curriculum:

• First-year Greek language: Pam Gordon developed a hybrid intro Greek sequence, in which students come to class three days a week and work online two days a week. Each semester, the online work improves as Pam tinkers with it to respond so students’ needs and feedback. This hybrid course has enabled a steady stream of students to take Greek – and stick with it – who might not otherwise have been able to take it.

• First-year Latin language: We experimented with a different form of hybrid language learning for intro Latin – a “flipped” model in which students are introduced to the material through online resources, and then come to class to practice and apply it. Latin classes function more like workshops in this flipped model. We’ve

studied the results of this structure and compared it with various other options, and have found that our students respond best to a more interactive approach to language learning. We will work on the Latin sequence in the next few years (see below); stay tuned to this space to see how it turns out.

• Ethics in Greek Tragedy (CLSX 384): This new course meets the KU Core’s requirement for ethical thinking and thus attracts students from a variety of majors. Who knew that Greek tragedy was full of ethical content, introducing and exploring ideas of motive vs. effect, individual vs. group responsibility, autonomy and moral luck? We knew (particularly Michael Shaw and Craig Jendza), and now the rest of KU does as well.

• Medical Terminology: Greek and Latin Roots (CLSX 332): Formerly known as “Scientific Word Power,” this course blends a rigorous march through (and through and through, for mastery) Greek and Latin morphemes and the rules for combining them with opportunities to delve into questions of culture and science such as, what are the benefits and costs of having a universal language for scientific research, and does it matter what that language is? What cultural biases affected health care in ancient Greece and Rome, and what biases affect healthcare now? And, what incentives promote public health measures? This course is entirely online and has attracted KU students near and far.

• Ancient Epic Tales (CLSX 168): This popular course takes students from Gilgamesh through Homer, Vergil, and Ovid all the way to the Mayan Popol Vu.It’s a great introduction to Classical literature, and an enlightening look at how Classics fits into the grand and worldwide

epic tradition. Meanwhile, another major change in

our Classics climate is the departure of Prof. Tony Corbeill for the noble halls of the University of Virginia to become the Gildersleeve Chair of Latin. Tony leaves a great legacy to our department in the form of its excellent, respected, and thriving MA program, which he built and sustained for more than 20 years as graduate director. The MA program is now in the care of DGS Prof. Emma Scioli, who brings her own considerable talents to the role. We’re searching for a new Latinist faculty colleague to start in the fall.

This year, we are lucky to have Anne Rabe back in our halls. Anne, who graduated as Anne Stephens with a BA in Classics and Anthropology in 2002 and the MA in Classics in 2007, went on to earn a PhD in Classics at Brown University. Her research focus is on metaphors of violence in political rhetoric. At KU this year, she has taken the helm of the Intro Latin course and is teaching two graduate language seminars this year: one in Plautus’ comedies, the other a survey of Greek literature. The students admire and respect her as we knew they would, even though her courses are rigorous.

Finally, we have adapted to the age of social media. We have revived and reinvigorated our Facebook page. If you haven’t already liked or followed it, please do so – you’ll find photos, news, events, and articles.

Amid all this change, what remains constant is our commitment to sharing our passion for ancient Greece and Rome with students, and our gratitude for the opportunity to do so.

 We wish you the very best in 2018.

Tara Welch, ChairFacebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps

Join us on Facebook: University of Kansas Department of Classics Alumni Page

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CLASSICS DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS www.classics.ku.edu • Issue 11 • Winter 2018

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Department News

Wilcox Classical Museum UpdatesThe Future of the Wilcox MuseumBy Phil Stinson, Curator

At thirty years old, the Wilcox Museum is in many ways at a crossroads. There is rich potential in imagining future directions for the Museum and its wonderful collection. To begin, we must resume regular teaching in the gallery spaces. Towards this end, we plan on soon offering an undergraduate seminar, to be cross-listed with Museum Studies, which would introduce collecting practices of American universities during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and provide hands-on experience with ancient Greek and Roman artifacts in the collection.A long-term goal aims to fully renovate the Museum and its mission, using the “reading museum” model, which has been so successful at sites such as the Wellcome Museum in London, and the “BioLounge” at the University of Colorado. A transformed Wilcox Museum might serve as much as a “commons” (continued on page 4)

Wellcome Museum, London (photo by Peter Welsh).

Celebrating the Career of Anthony Corbeill

May 2017 brought both joy and sadness to the KU Classics Department. As we celebrated the achievements of our graduating seniors, we also

bid farewell to our dear colleague and friend, Tony Corbeill. After 26 years in Lawrence, Tony retired from KU to become the Gildersleeve Chair of Latin at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. During 2017-18, he bridges the gap between the two institutions in England, where he holds several research fellowships. Among Tony’s legacies at KU stand the three books he published during his time here, the most recent of which, Sexing the World: Grammatical Gender and Biological Sex in Ancient Rome (2015), was awarded the Charles Goodwin Award of Merit from the Society for Classical Studies in 2016. Several KU students, faculty, local teachers, and friends of Latin over the years spent their Friday afternoons reading Latin in the convivial environment of Tony’s living room, and remember those sessions with great fondness. Tony did great work during his 20 years at the helm of our thriving Master’s program, and its enduring success as well as the program’s record of placement in PhD programs and teaching positions is a testament not only to the excellent students that have attended the program, but also to Tony’s stewardship and advocacy for the program.

Many of you have cherished memories of your experiences with Tony as professor, advisor, mentor, and friend. It was fitting that our guest speaker at the May honors ceremony was Konstantinos Nikoloutsos, associate professor of Classics at St. Joseph’s University, who worked closely with Tony when he was an exchange graduate student at KU from 2000-02. One of the high points of the celebration was hearing the many tributes written by Tony’s former students read aloud as a surprise during the toast to Tony. Excerpts from some of these testimonials convey the high regard in which Tony’s students held him. Read on!

Tony Corbeill is toasted by friends and colleagues at the department’s end-of-year celebration, as Emma Scioli reads aloud a testimonial from one of Tony’s former students.

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Jim Gioia, (BA 2003) wrote, “I think of Professor Corbeill much more often when I consider who I want to BE as a teacher. While Professor Corbeill’s talent and depth of knowledge always amazed me, his humility and sincere enthusiasm still inspire me today. Both in and out of class he frequently offered brilliant insights as if it were just part of a conversation among equals. He delighted in a student discovering something that he and others might not have seen.”

Mariah Smith, (MA 2009), reflected as follows, “One of my most treasured grad school experiences is the summer study abroad trip to Italy, where I had the massive good fortune to be the graduate assistant. The location itself, of course, has manifest charms - but I also appreciated Tony’s approach to the trip. He allowed me to be both teacher and student; tourist and assistant. He was excellent at making all the students feel included, making sure to rotate dinner with everyone. Amongst all the great moments, there was a funny one. We stopped at a museum but were not allowed in, although there was staff present. Tony asked, pleaded, and complained to the staff to let us in. They wouldn’t budge. As a somewhat bizarre consolation, they offered him Jordan Almonds (the candy!), or maybe it was just to get him to go away - in any case, Tony obstinately insisted that they give him one for each of the students!”

Wes Hanson, (MA 2015), shared this anecdote: “One of my favorite memories of Tony during my time at KU came when different PhD programs had requested Skype interviews with me. To help me prep, Tony offered to conduct a mock interview over Skype. We set up a time, and I called him, ready to answer mock questions. After we both turned on our webcams, Tony explained that there were five of him there, and that I shouldn’t be alarmed that each one of them looked and dressed the exact same. He then proceeded to introduce himself first as Theodore Mommsen then as Ulrich von Wilamowitz and so on until, finally, he reached Anthony Corbeill, complete with the required accents. Again, I imagine none of this is surprising to anybody who has had the good fortune of crossing paths with Tony at KU: he is generous with his time and always makes whatever he is working on fun and interesting. I remember working very hard on my MA thesis, not only because Tony held me to high standards, but because he created an atmosphere in which I wanted to work hard. I have no doubt in my mind that any degree of success I achieved with my MA thesis is because of Tony. And, to this day, I’m grateful that my teaching career started at KU because I watched Tony teach Latin twice a week and met with him every Monday morning to prepare for the coming week’s classes. I still try to emulate that year of intro Latin when I teach now because it remains the gold standard of how to teach an intro Latin course.”

Gena Goodman, (MA 2016), expressed her thoughts in a poem, reproduced below.

The department has established the Anthony P. Corbeill Award to be given annually to a graduate student who has demonstrated excellence in coursework, teaching, and research during their time in the MA program at KU. Please consider a donation to this fund. We will name the first Corbeill Award recipient in 2018.

In March, the unofficial Kansas campus tour took us to the campanile,where you mythologized for usthe danger of crossing thresholds early.

You watched a bit aghast, a bit bemused, while we all tentatively skirted the perimeter, you perhaps wondering how superstitious this new crop waved.

Very. We self-assigned seats in the conference room where you explained tricola, the periodic sentence, and the prose rhythms that leave crowds shouting, gasping, wild.

At three a.m., a ritual pacing in Wescoe basement, while I and the night stafftry not to scare each other rounding corners,both of us cleaning: they, the building; I, the thesis,

Since in your office that August, interruptingyour thoughts and the jazz soloistsyncopating from your computer, we mappeda pilgrimage, Tacitus to Judaea.

Your table gathered ideas and the students ideas carried. A Lawrence sanctuary:your home, populated with a dozen Latintranslations of yes, we can.

A KU Classics Essential Geography - for Tony Corbeill

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Department News

for the university as a museum for classical art, and be inviting to a broad cross-section of KU’s public sphere. Regarding what such a renovation might look like, a high priority would be to partially expose the gallery’s windows (using of course UV blocking film on the glass), for the purpose of bringing in some ambient natural light. This innovation would make the space feel larger and more inviting. Ideally, we would also redesign new, modern displays for the artifacts, inscriptions, and coins, and, for a special feature, make polychromy and ancient sculpture the central theme of the main gallery space. The Museum’s aging HVAC and security systems must be entirely replaced.

A number of new initiatives are already underway, which will pave the way for a successful renovation. With the assistance from students, Chad Uhl and Joy Mosier-Dubinsky, we have begun for the very first time to systematically document all of the Museum’s 800+ ancient coins. Each and every coin is being weighed, measured, and photographed, a project likely to take a few years to complete. We are also experimenting with 3D digital documentation of a few artifacts. Visitors to the website may now view high-resolution 3D models of one of our Attic black figure lekythoi, the terracotta child’s drinking cup in the shape of a duck, and the little marble sculpted marble head of a Dacian chieftain, dubbed “the Barbarian”; http://wilcox.ku.edu/3d-imaging.

Wilcox Museum continued...

Ptolemaic bronze coin, Zeus head / standing eagle, 2nd c. BCE (WC3082, Toomey collection).

The theme for the Twelfth Annual Paul Rehak Symposium on Ancient Art, held on March 28 at the Hall Center for the Humanities, was “The Intersections of Ancient Greek Religion, Ritual, and the Visual Arts.” The speakers were: Thomas Carpenter

(Charles J. Ping Professor of Humanities and Distinguished Professor of Classics, Ohio University), “Whose Dionysos? Pursuit of the God in 4th Century BC Apulia”; Rachel Kousser (Professor and Executive Officer, Ph.D. Program in Art History, The Graduate Center, City

The 2017 Rehak Symposium on Ancient Art

The 5th Annual Oliver Phillips Colloquium

took place on a sunny September Saturday at a new location – the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. The theme for this year’s meeting was “Online Pedagogy in the Latin Classroom,” and our invited guest speaker was Mark Damen, Professor of Classics and History at Utah State University. Several of us knew Mark from his online, “flipped” Latin course, which has served as the model for the nascent KU hybrid Latin course. It was a pleasure to hear Mark speak about the evolution of his course and his experience in making the transition from traditional to online pedagogy. Mark was generous with his time in Kansas, as he visited several sections of the course and met with current professors and GTAs to share his wisdom. Participants were also treated to a presentation on online resources for Latin teachers, from blogs to Facebook groups to Latin quiz programs, by Lee Dixon, Latin teacher at Shawnee Mission South High School. Jeff Rydberg-Cox, Curators Distinguished Professor in the Department of English and Director of the Classical and Ancient Studies Program at UMKC, shared with us his work on several online projects, including the Perseus Project at Tufts University and his own very successful online course in ancient Greek.

Will Sharp, Latin teacher at Raintree Montessori School, offered this reflection on the day’s events: “I’m a newcomer to the Phillips Colloquium, but it has already become one of my favorite conferences of the year. I particularly enjoyed last September’s talk from Mark Damen. His informal yet engaging style was refreshing, and the subsequent discussion about incorporating technology into the Latin classroom has influenced my own day-to-day work.” 

In attendance were several area high school Latin teachers, KU faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, including Alexa Davis, the 2017-18 recipient of the Oliver Phillips Scholarship and the first joint BA/MA student in the Classics department. Alexa Davis hopes to begin a career as a Latin teacher upon graduation. Please consider a donation to the Oliver Phillips Scholarship fund, which supports a KU student interested in pursuing a career teaching Latin.

5th Annual Oliver Phillips Colloquium

Mark Damen speaks to the group about his flipped Latin course.

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John Younger worked in Crete again in the summer of 2017 at the East Cretan Study Center, studying the pottery and objects that he excavated from at Gournia. Readers

will remember that, in 2011-2015, he excavated a complete pottery workshop that was in operation for over 600 years. Prior to study the remaining material, he, Cody, and Kyla Strid, assistant director at the Lawrence Arts Center and pottery instructor extraordinaire, interned themselves at the traditional pottery village of Margarites, where they studied with Georgos and Mariniki Delamvelas how to quarry clay and clean it. When they were ready to go to Gournia, they stopped by the Herakleion airport and picked up newly arrived KU Classics major, Danielle Houltberg, and settled in at Pacheia Ammos the village east of Gournia. They then went to the vast clay quarry at Vasiliki, the quarry only 5 km to the south that very probably supplied the clay for the Gournia Pottery Workshop, and from this clay they made pots like those from the Gournia workshop, and fired them (see image). Danielle assisted in the inventorying, measuring, and photographing the Gournia study pieces. John has no plans to return to Gournia next summer; instead, he will be concentrating on preparing the final manuscript for publishing the Pottery Workshop.

Gournia 2017

New pots, old methods.

Eilish Gibson, Senior double major in Physics and Classical Antiquity, named Goldwater Scholar for 2017-2018

Eilish believes her deep knowledge of a field in the humanities and a physical science each help her understand the other more fully. Her classical literature training helps her write and communicate ideas in her science field, while her science training helps her logically think through arguments of

ancient philosophers.

Chad Uhl, Senior double major in Classics and Classical Antiquity

LLast spring, I had the distinct privilege of attending the University of Glasgow in Scotland to continue my study in Classics abroad. While Glasgow is not among the typical locations for Classics majors to study, the faculty there offered fascinating courses with titles including Roman Satire, Ancient

Technology, and Athenian Democracy: Model or Mob Rule, just to name a few. Their university museum was a highlight as well, displaying a magnificently curated collection of artifacts from the Antonine Wall which was built c. 142 BCE and ran through Glasgow.

Owen Toepfer, Junior majoring in English and Classics

I n Fall 2017, I spent a semester in Rome at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies.  The heart of the program is the “Ancient City” course, for which our lectures took place at ancient sites in Rome, Sicily, and Campania. The breadth of the “Ancient City” course provided me with frequent opportunity

to connect classical texts to the geography and topography mentioned in them: dry descriptions of places in footnotes are supplanted by lived sensory experiences. Of these, the most memorable was walking down the Cave of the Sibyl in Cumae—especially potent as I took Professor Valk’s Aeneid class just last spring.

Current Student Profiles

Chad Uhl in Glasgow.

University of New York), “Sculptures and Ritual in Ancient Greece”; and Bronwen Wickkiser (Theodore Bedrick Associate Professor of Classics, Wabash College), “The Music of Architecture and the Therapy of Sound in a Greek Healing Sanctuary: the Thymele at Epidauros.” The Symposium’s three exciting interdisciplinary talks lived up to the theme for the day and more, and were enjoyed by an audience of over sixty students, faculty, and guests.

Eilish Gibson.

Owen Toepfer in Sicily.

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BETTY BANKS: This year Lerna has been on the back-burner, as I await chronological data on the Middle Helladic settlement from Lindsay Spencer who has taken over Carol Zerner’s responsibility for that publication.  Since I do not expect Lindsay to finish for several years I have arranged to leave my work on the EH and MH objects to Daniel Pullen, once a KU undergraduate and now chair of Classics at Florida State.  Here I have moved to a new retirement community (1000 Wakarusa, Apt 119) where I have many new friends, a few KU and community but more from North Carolina to Honolulu,and  and a lot of time to read, currently the new biography of Leonardo daVinci.

PAMELA GORDON: In April 2017 I gave a paper on Epicurean vocabulary in the correspondence between Cicero and Cassius (the future tyrannicide) at a colloquium held by the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin. It was great to see KU Classicists Lizzy Adams, Lauren (Callahan) Bock, and David Welch. Meanwhile, my article “Epicureanism Writ Large” (on my old friend Diogenes of Oenoanda) has finally appeared in the Oxford Handbook to the Second Sophistic (Oxford University Press, 2017). Currently, I am working on a paper that I will present this coming May in Rome at the annual conference of the FSA (Foro di Studi Avanzati, Gaetano Massa, Roma). As for family news: Li is a star on the debate team of Lawrence Free State High School, where she continues to study Latin with KU Classicist Zach Puckett; and Mei plays cello for the Lawrence Youth Symphony.

CRAIG JENDZA: My teaching time has been spent developing some new courses at KU: a graduate Greek seminar on Euripides’ Helen and Orestes, and two undergraduate courses “Ancient Epic Tales” and “Ethics in Greek Tragedy” that fulfill various KU Core requirements. I’m still working on my book project, Paracomedy: Appropriations of Comedy in Greek Tragedy, which explores the influence of Greek comedy on tragedy, and I’ll soon be presenting one section about generic

interactions in Euripides’ Alcestis (CAMWS 2018). I’m also excited about delving into a new research topic on Greek humor; I presented on “Aristophanic Incongruities” at King’s College, London this past July, analyzing Aristophanes through incongruity theory from philosophy of humor. This was a fun conference, and I’ve decided that, as a rule, Classics conferences should have more jokes.

STANLEY LOMBARDO: My long-awaited (by me anyway) translation of Dante’s Paradiso came out early this year. Belated thanks to Anne Shaw and Dee Johnson for reading the Italian with me (as they did for Purgatorio) and critiquing my efforts. I haven’t myself been exactly in Paradise most of this year, but all the support I’ve received from friends and doctors has been most welcome and I am doing quite well now. Finished a translation of Horace’s Odes with Tony Corbeill’s more than considerable help and that of the Friday afternoon Latin reading group. It will be out, with a very sleek and witty cover, in a few months. Still have to shepherd my Gilgamesh and Bhagavad Gita gigs through publication. Thankful for the work.

ANNE RABE: The past two years have brought a variety of new teaching experiences. After an action-packed ten months teaching as a rookie at Blue Valley High School last year – who know high schoolers could have so much energy? – it has been a great joy and privilege to return ‘home’, so to speak, to KU this year, though as faculty instead of a student. In the fall I taught my first graduate-level seminar, and really, what could be more fun than to read Plautus with a group of very talented and engaging grad students? We immersed ourselves in the world of Plautus – Plautine language and features; questions of dramatic presentation and stage action; Roman comedy’s trickiest slave and baddest pimp (Pseudolus); seemingly impossible yet ever recurrent instances of twinning and doubles (Menaechmi); and the conundrum of how to respond to such strokes of artistic genius as a highly noble, highly farcical, and highly pregnant Alcmena paraded on stage

(Amphitruo). In addition, I am supervising the Intro Latin sequence, as well as teaching the honors sections. This year marks the second for KU in experimenting with a hybrid format for introductory Latin – and a first for me personally – and I must say that the experience has been illuminating, forcing me to reassess any past notions on teaching practices and to embrace the benefits of a flipped classroom. Next spring will bring Greek back onto the horizon, as I’ll again have the chance to work with our illustrious graduate students in teaching the Greek Readings seminar. Such a plethora of new and challenging teaching opportunities have kept me fully occupied these past two years, but I plan to turn my attentions in the future to a growing interest in Latin historiographical narratives as well as to a growing family at home.

EMMA SCIOLI: I began 2017 on sabbatical. I didn’t travel much beyond my carrel in Watson Library, but the time spent at my desk and among the stacks was productive and peaceful. Coming on the heels of a seminar on Flavian Rome in Fall 2016, I immersed myself in Statius, rereading the Thebaid and trying to catch up on the voluminous recent scholarship on post-Vergilian epic poetry. I did a lot of writing that will form chapters of my planned book on Statius’ “poetics of sleep” in the Thebaid. I presented a paper on the intertextual relationship between Statius’ and Ovid’s descriptions of the house of Somnus at a conference on “Domitian’s Rome and the Augustan Legacy” at Mizzou in September. It was such a pleasure to be able to drive to a conference! I will also share some work on Oedipus and Theseus as uneasy counterparts in the Thebaid at CAMWS. As an interlude between Statius-related engagements, I travelled to Montreal in July for the Celtic Classics Conference to present work on the film The Hunger Games as a response to both Gladiator and to previous depictions of female gladiators on screen. The research for this inspired me to retool the final integrative assignment for my first-year seminar on spectacle (fall 2017) to focus on the four films adapted from The Hunger Games novels as responses to ancient Roman spectacle.

Faculty News

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MICHAEL SHAW: In the Fall of 2016 I taught my tragedy course with a slightly changed title, “ethics in Greek tragedy.” As one final exam question, I asked the students to talk Ajax out of committing suicide, for instance. The social highpoint for our family was celebrating the marriage of our daughter Helen and Bobby Webster. Between semesters, I joined Anne and Helen in a trip to Venice. In my second year as chair of the Senate Library Committee, we learned about the interesting developments in “Open Education Resources,” low cost or free resources for classes to use. I imagine most students have had some experience with them, such things as films on “Kanopy” and online texts.I used open resources in my class in the spring on “Thucydides and Realism,” including things like the film “Trojan Women” (on Kanopy) and Shepard’s “Lie of the Mind” (you tube), Machiavelli’s “Prince” (online), Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” both Marlon Brando’s version (three dollars on Amazon), and a live performance at the Lied Center. In April I gave a paper at CAMWS, titled “Why not the Nurse,” in which I argued that the Nurse in Hippolytus is justified, on realistic grounds, for proposing to Hippolytus that he should have an affair with Phaedra.In June, I spent three wonderful weeks in a “summer seminar” on Greek statues, sponsored by the American School in Athens and led by Prof. Mark Fullerton of Ohio State University. My report in the course was on the Nike of Paeonius, a copy of which is in the case across from the departmental office.

PHIL STINSON: This past year I enjoyed teaching some of my favorite courses on Pompeii & Herculaneum, the city of Rome, and Roman wall-painting. Last summer I traveled to Turkey as I normally do and continued work on a major new research project, the Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, a large and extremely interesting Roman imperial cult sanctuary-complex. I continue to use new and emerging digital methods in my fieldwork. Currently I am experimenting with 3D printing as a means to explore how marble architectural elements from

the Sebasteion’s well-preserved Propylon originally fit together. During the Spring I will be a visiting professor in Roman architecture studies in the Department of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. Next fall I will resume teaching at KU!

TARA WELCH: This year I participated in the University of Tennessee’s Marco Manuscript Workshop, presenting my ideas about decoration and other paratexts in some codices of Valerius Maximus.  The workshop so inspired me that I sought a Keeler Fellowship, which funds leave time and work in another discipline.  I am a student in Art History this Spring. Meanwhile, I’ve outlined a book on Reading Valerius Maximus that will include the medieval and Renaissance material – but never fear, the bulk of the book will be traditional Latin literary criticism.  I’ve continued to teach the myth course, and have added “Medical Terminology: Greek and Latin Roots” to my teaching repertoire. 

JOHN YOUNGER : John continues to direct the Jewish Studies Program. Our big event this year (so far) was a one-day symposium, “Jews in the Midwest,” celebrating David Katzman’s encyclopedia project of the same name and bringing in four other international scholars to speak on the midwest and west migrations of Jews in the 19th and early 20th century. Some 185 people attended this event. In April 2018, John will go to Venice for the next Aegenum conference where he’ll deliver a second talk on the “Origins of Classical Myth”. In Vienna in 2015, he gave the first installment, identifying Minoan images of the Hyperborean maidens (two sets of pairs) coming to Delos to attend Leto at the births of Artemis and Apollo. In Venice, he will present another image that demonstrates this myth as Minoan and then will use the genealogy of heroes to show how stories of their families and doings begin in the Neopalatial period (ca. 1650 BCE). When he is not using archaeology to demonstrate the antiquity of literature, he and his husband Cody are farming: before setting off to Crete in June 2017 they bought some 67 acres of

prairie above (literally) Lone Star township. The land has 3 springs, a pond, a canonical red barn and several outbuildings. Cody will be planting grape vines this upcoming spring and John will imbibe the results. Oh, there are also the chickens, the ducks, and the dogs already -- goats will come. John is set to retire at the end of July 2019.

Undergraduate AwardsChloe Clouse, a junior majoring in classical antiquity received an Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) for her project “Typology of Oil Presses at 9th Century B.C.E. Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel,” mentored by Eric Welch, Jewish studies.

Kayla Lawson, an undergraduate Classics minor, won an Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) for the Fall 2017 semester to work with Professor Craig Jendza. Lawson’s project “Aphrodite: Where Did the War Go?” investigates how the Near-Eastern divinities of sexuality and war Ishtar and Inanna developed into Aphrodite, exploring the process through which Aphrodite lost the dominion over war. Drawing upon her background in psychology, Lawson seeks to better understand how religious divinities can cross cultures and adapt to the social structures of their new culture.

Korbin Painter, a senior majoring in history and Germanic studies and minoring in classical antiquity, was named a Hall Center Scholar for 2017-2018. Hall Center Scholars are selected for their strong academic credentials and significant activity within KU. The Scholars interact with the well-known authors, scholars, and public intellectuals who speak in the Hall Center’s Humanities Lecture Series.

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Alumni/Alumnae NewsTess Cavagnero (MA 2016): Tess

Cavagnero is currently pursuing a PhD at Northwestern University, where she studies Classics and Comparative Literature with an emphasis on film. In addition to teaching and studying for qualifying exams, she has been research assisting on an exciting forthcoming monograph on Catullus. She spent summer 2017 hiking around Greece with the American School in Athens, and plans to return to Crete as soon as possible.

Stephen Froedge, (MA 2013): Stephen has been making steady progress towards his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and should be defending his prospectus in the next few months on monstrous figures in Flavian-ish epic with Antony Augoustakis advising. He is still unsure where the project is headed but really enjoying the other side of coursework and exams. He has been teaching different combinations of Latin, medical terminology and mythology at Illinois.  He has been doing a little work on modern reception lately (mostly television). He and his partner, Nadia Hoppe (a PhD candidate in Slavic languages at Illinois), have a one year old daughter, Livia Inna Froedge-Hoppe, who keeps them relatively busy. 

Jason Lichte, (MA 2009): Two school years ago, Jason Lichte took over the Cair Paravel Latin School’s Latin program.  He inherited a robust program established by Brett Martin (BA, 1998) in the early 2000s.  Jason has been transitioning the school to using the Cambridge Latin Course beginning in the 6th grade.  Once students have finished 10th grade Latin, they will have read all of the Advanced Placement syllabus.  In the lower grades, students are memorizing Latin (Pater Noster, Symbolum Apostolorum, Adeste Fideles, etc.) and Latin paradigms. Jason also leads the lower classes in weekly stories, plays, chants, and songs.  Jason’s entire family made the switch with him. His wife, Jenny, teaches kindergarten at CPLS and his three school-aged children attend CPLS. Jason and Jenny also recently welcomed the latest Lichte.  In June of this

year, Clementine was born to round out the Lichte quiver at 5 kids and a dog.

Louise Willing Allen, (BA 1975): I married Mark Allen, grandson of Coach Phog Allen.  We raised 3 sons, now grown, in Kansas City, where Mark is a Gastroenterologist at St. Lukes Hospital.  Before kids, I worked for the Big Eight Conference and Kansas City Royals, in their ticket departments.  I was also an event coordinator at the Kemper Arena complex and Bartle Hall.

In 2010, Mark and I stumbled on the quest to bring the original rules of basketball back to KU, doing what we could to help that happen.  If you haven’t seen it, the amazing story is on an ESPN “30 for 30” called “There’s No Place Like Home”.  Since then, we founded “The Cradle of Basketball” as a trade mark to promote KU basketball and Lawrence as the place “Where the Game Grew Up” (also our trade mark). 

As for our 3 sons, we have a financial planner, a singer/songwriter and a Naval Officer.

Eura Ryan Szuwalski, (MA 2006): In addition to welcoming a new baby girl, I started a new position as a Business Systems Project Manager for the College of Letters and Science Information Technology at UCSB this fall.  We are loving Santa Barbara, but Cody and I will always miss Lawrence and KU. 

Mark Alterman, (BA 1994): After teaching for fifteen years at Manhattan Christian College, I decided to see a bit of the world.  I taught Latin to Middle School kids in Houston, TX in 2015, and taught Latin and Greek to Middle School and High School students in Colorado in 2016.  Since January, 2017, I have been the minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

in Chillicothe, MO.  In 2018, I will take an early retirement to concentrate on writing and being a grandpa.  Our eighth grandchild is expected in time for Christmas this year.  Sonja and I will live at our home in Kansas City, Kansas, and will make frequent visits to Lawrence to see our grandchildren there.  I will also be working some with our daughter in Lawrence in farming and running a local restaurant business.  I may also drop in at the KU library.  I hope to finish my book “Amos Ruined My Politics,” about the prophet whose words inspired the civil rights movement.  I also plan to keep up with a couple translation projects for my own amusement: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Gilgamesh Epic.  I also plan to keep riding my bike and working in some other exercise, and maybe do a little traveling.

Caroline Nemechek, (MA 2017): Shortly after graduating from KU last May, I headed off to Italy to participate in a field school, which was hosted by the Centro di Conservazione Archeologica di Roma and Randolph College. The program balanced excavation with instruction about culture heritage and conservation. It also included visits to several archaeological sites and museums in and around Rome. The main focus of our field work involved the conservation of floor mosaics from several ancient Roman villas. We also excavated a complete new room in one of the villas. Sadly we did not find more mosaics. However, we found interesting fresco fragments and several tubuli, which suggested to us that the room belonged to a Roman bath. This was a really great experience! I am grateful for the financial support from the Department. I am now at the University of Michigan.

Michael Woo, (MA 2017): As a preventive measure against accidently leaving anyone in the heart of Lazio on one of our many field trips outside Rome, each member of the 2017 American Academy in Rome Classical Summer School was assigned a Roman emperor, whose name upon getting back to the bus we would shout out, one-by-one, in the chronological order of their reigns (“Augustus!” “Tiberius!” and

www.classics.ku.edu 9

so on). Being alphabetically last of twenty-something members I was assigned 3rd c. C.E. emperor Macrinus. That’s me pictured with his bust above.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of Macrinus before this summer. His life and reign is now just one of many, many reminders from this summer that Romanitas extends far beyond, both before and after, the rather slender part of Roman history in which my scholarly interests rest. My conceptions about Roman culture and identity were challenged every day when, either in expertly led tours of sites and museums or in classroom lectures and seminars, we studied the various and complicated forces that have shaped not only ancient Rome but also our understanding of it today. A recurrent theme of the summer that I found particularly interesting was the influence of the Italian Fascist era on the preservation efforts of the monuments and spaces we cherish today. This was one among many areas of expertise of our wonderful magistra, Genevieve Gessert.

This experience would not have been possible without the generosity of CAMWS. The Mary A. Grant Award every year provides a fortunate student with the financial means to have the same vivid encounter with the Ancient World as I did this summer. Mary Grant was a longtime Associate Professor of Latin and Greek (1921-1960) at the University of Kansas. I am, therefore, in especially great debt to Professor Grant’s lifetime service to the study of Classics.

LaShawnda Glover, former Classics Office Manager: Happy holidays, to all my Classics friends. I left Classics and Lawrence to pursue a career the medical field.  I have spent the last nine years working as an Interventional Radiology Technologist at St. Luke’s  Hospital in Kansas City. My son, Ethan, is now fourteen years old. He has played the contrabass for ten years, and loves a good story.  

Cote Smith (BA Classics and English/Creative Writing 2005) published his first novel, Hurt People, with Farrar, Straus &

Giroux in 2016. The story follows two young brothers who become involved with a mysterious stranger one hot Kansas summer. It’s a gorgeous coming-of-age tale and a riveting and disturbing thriller, all wrapped in period and local detail. Tara Welch says, “I couldn’t put it down as I read it last summer, and I find my mind returning to it again and again. You might think I am biased, since Cote was an excellent student in many of my classes when he was here – but Marilyn Stasio at the New York Times Book is surely not biased, and she calls it, ‘[A] very special first novel . . . Writing with extraordinary grace and tenderness, Smith injects unnerving tension into a delicate coming-of-age story set squarely in the path of a tornado.’”

Paul Thomas (BA Classics and Anthropology 2015): Since earning bachelor’s degrees from KU Classics and Anthropology and a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago, Paul recently took a job as a library specialist at KU. This past year he published his first book, Haunted Lawrence (The History Press 2017), a popular history that focuses on supernatural legends that have cropped up in and around the Lawrence area. Striking a balance between healthy skepticism and a desire to believe in the truly mysterious, Paul’s book explores the stories of Stull Cemetery, the Eldridge Hotel’s mysterious room 506, Haskell Indian Nations University, Sigma Nu’s resident spirit “Virginia”, and many more. Each chapter

focuses on a different legend, and the tales themselves are interwoven with historical facts and testimony from experts and witnesses alike. Paul lives with his wife Trina in Overland Park.

Joy Mosier-Dubinsky (BA Classics and History 2017): is the brand-new Assistant Managing Editor at Allen Press in Lawrence. Congratulations, Joy, on your new job! In her KU degrees, Joy pursued a particular interest in cultural history; she wrote an honors thesis in History on Woody Guthrie, folk songwriter of Dust Bowl era and beyond. In Classics, Joy did concentrated work on Greek and Roman Sexuality and wrote her McNair Scholars research paper on Plutarch’s women. Joy has experience as a writing tutor and editor. We are proud that Joy brings these interests and talents to Allen Press.

PLEASE SEND US YOUR NEWS

Whether your name appears in this issue or not, please send us your greetings, your comments, and your

news for next year’s issue. We will be happy to hear from you.

E-mail your Classics news to

Emma Scioli (scioli@ku.edu).Or write to: Newsletter Editor,

Classics Department, 1445 Jayhawk Blvd, University of Kansas, Lawrence,

KS 66045-7590.

Please also let us know if you would like us to list an address or URL along

with your entry.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERKonstantinos Nikoloutsos, St. Joseph’s University

“Elite vs. Popular Antiquity: Helen of Troy and Metacinemain Carnaval Atlântida”

MASTERS OF CEREMONIES Anthony Corbeill

Vt ver dat florem,studium sic reddit honorem.

DEGREES M.A. in Classics Casey Hughes“Optima Carme: A Reexamination of the Nurse in the Ciris”

Scott McMickle“Innovation in Latin Teaching: A Case Study of the ‘Flipped Classroom’ at the University of Kansas”

Caroline Nemechek“Sophisticating a Cyclops: Polyphemus in Roman Wall-Painting”

Michael Woo “DECUS POSTERITAS REPENDIT: Reevaluating Cremutius Cordus in Tacitus’ Annals”

Bachelor of Arts and B.G.S.Classical Antiquity MajorLydia Baas, Alexander Felts, Libby Sanders, Phillip Becker, Brendan Jester, Dallas Sims, Killian Brown, Sarah Pestock

Classical Languages MajorAlexa Davis, Juan Torres-Gavosto, Brendan Jester,Aaron Waldeck

Minor in Classics Jack Foster, Lanie McMullin, Matthew Jones, Paige Werner

B.A. Honors ThesisLydia Baas, The Place of Royal Women in the Hellenistic EraAlexa Davis, Orion in the FastiBrendan Jester, Gendered Behaviors in the Roman Republic and Early Empire

AWARD RECIPIENTS Albert O. Greef Translation AwardAwarded to any student currently enrolled in a Greek or Latin course for the best translation of a passage from Greek or Latin literature.

Latin: Owen Toepfer

Tenney Frank Award for Study Abroad Awarded to a student who is studying abroad.

Danielle Houltberg, Owen Toepfer, Caroline Nemechek, Michael Woo

Mildred Lord Greef Award Awarded to a student for an outstanding paperwritten on a classical topic.

Graduate Student Category Rachel MorrisonUndergraduate Student Category Elizabeth Godinez

Oliver C. Phillips Scholarship Awarded to a student pursuing a career teaching Latin.

Alexa Davis

Hannah Oliver Latin PrizeAwarded to a Classics student; determinedby a competitive, handicapped exam.

Owen Toepfer

Austin Lashbrook AwardFor outstanding overall contribution to the Classics program.

Joy Mosier-Dubinsky, Caroline Nemechek

42nd Annual Honors Recognition Celebration 2017

10 www.classics.ku.edu

Thanks to our Departmental Representatives:Michael Woo, Chad Uhl, and Owen Toepfer

2017 MA graduates, L to R: Professor Phil Stinson, Caroline Nemechek, Casey Hughes, Scott McMickle, Professor Anthony Corbeill

THANK YOU TO OUR MOST RECENT DONORS.

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Oliver PhillipsScholarship Fund

This fund honors the memory ofProfessor Phillips with awards

going to prospective Latin teachers.

For information on direct giving, please see:

http://www.kuendowment.org/ depts/classics/phillips

Support Classics!For inquiries about contributions, please contact: Nancy Jackson, Development Officer, Kansas

University Endowment Association, P.O. Box 928, Lawrence, KS 66044.

Phone: 785-832-7465.

Tara Welch, the Chair of the Classics Department would also be happy to talk with you at 785-864-2396, or mail: tswelch@ku.edu. To donate online to Classics, please visit the website of the KUEA, and mention

“Classics Department”: http://www.kuendowment.

org/givenow.

A box on the form allows you to specify your particular interest.

Unless otherwise directed, we will use your gift exclusively for student

scholarships.

Gifts of any sizeare greatly appreciated.

Kathleen ColemanLeonardo D. CuevasIan C. Dahl & Haley Smith Dahl William C. FelicianoPaul S. FotopoulosPamela GordonMary L. IbarraBrian E. Krob & Kelly K. KrobMichelle Muller Mehta, MD & Sunil Mehta, MD, PhD

David G. MougakosKristine MougakosThomas V. Murray & Emilie Howse MurrayBeth E. NettelsLucy J. Price, PhDDaniel J. PullenZachary L. QuintAnne Rabe & Kyle S. RabeSister Barbara SellersJohn Williamson

Donor NewsTwo new awards honor the past, support the futureThe department is delighted to mention two new awards, the Anthony P. Corbeill Award and the Fannie Hughes Durham Award.

The Anthony P. Corbeill Award pays tribute to our long-time colleague Tony Corbeill, who retired from KU this year to accept a signal honor: the Gildersleeve Chair of Latin at the University of Virginia. Tony’s years at KU molded our Classics MA program into something truly special – an outstanding program, rich in curriculum and teaching opportunities, that fulfills a crucial role in the broader profession. This Spring 2018, the Department will award the first ever Corbeill Award to a graduate student in our program, for their overall contribution to our program through their coursework, research, and teaching.

The Fannie Hughes Durham Award honors an educator who fostered a love of learning among younger students. Hughes was a pioneer woman born in 1886 near the Chisholm Trail in Oklahoma; she later became the teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in northern Texas, where she taught all things to all ages – including, it seems, Latin and Greek. What dedication! Hughes even married one of her students, Arch Durham, when he refused to come back to school otherwise. Fannie Hughes Durham’s grandson Douglas Hamilton (BA Classics 2015, BA English 1998) established this award to help an undergraduate student pursue an interest in ancient Greek language and/or culture.

In addition to these awards, the gifts of our donors – some of them anonymous – help us fund student travel to study abroad programs, conferences, and other educational opportunities; provide student scholarships and competitive awards; support faculty and student research; and enrich the intellectual climate of the department by funding lectures, symposia, and other programs. We are grateful to our donors, whose generosity enables KU students to do so much. If you are interested in contributing to one of these award funds or to any other of our endeavors, please contact the Department or KU Endowment at www.kuendowment.org

Fannie Hughes Durham stands with her classroom (center, front)

A portrait of Fannie Hughes Durham

Non-Prof i tPostage

PAIDPermit #229

Lawrence, KSClassics Department 1021 Wescoe Hall1445 Jayhawk BoulevardLawrence, KS 66045-7590

The mysterious armed pig from the Wilcox Collection.