ORMOND COLLEGE – UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE – VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
Seymour Reader Ancient History & Philosophy
Ormond, a College at the University of Melbourne, is seeking to appoint a stipendiary fellow in classical philosophy known as the Seymour Reader in Ancient History – a post established through a bequest by Percy and Beatrice Seymour for ‘instruction in Ancient History and Philosophy’. The reader will also be a member of the University’s School of Historical and Philosophical Studies.
The Reader will teach courses in Greek Philosophy and in ancient languages (Greek or Latin) in the University’s School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, and help establish and teach a program on the history of ideas of justice beginning with ideas from the classical world for Ormond students. The Reader will also be encouraged to pursue his/her own program of research
Ormond College is a College within the University of Melbourne that has resident and non-resident students undertaking the University’s full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Currently it has 350 members. The College has traditionally provided tutorials and academic support for the courses that students are undertaking on campus as well as vibrant student community life and pastoral support. The College is also home to 20 senior academic staff of the University who support its learning programs.
The College has committed to increasing its role in students’ learning to deepen the work they are undertaking on campus and to expand their learning experiences. The Seymour Reader will contribute the development and delivery of some of that expanded learning program. Central to that expanded experience is to deliver, in the context of the University today, the vision of the College’s founder and benefactor, Francis Ormond. In 1881 he set out a vision of an institution committed to the education and formation of students as that would “exercise an important and sensible influence … on the affairs of our country”. Today, we talk about Ormond’s mission as preparing people to make a disproportionate difference in the world.
History: Percy Seymour &Seymour Readership
The Seymour Readership was established to expand the knowledge and appreciation of classical studies and create significant awareness of the benefits of both Greek and Latin literature and a classical education. Seymour himself was an exemplary classical scholar, born in Australia and educated at Ormond College, graduating in 1910 in classics. He then obtained a scholarship to study at Jesus College, Oxford and obtained a first-class degree in Literae Humaniores, then returned to Australia to lecture at Queensland University until 1921. He then returned to Oxford, becoming a Fellow of Jesus College in 1924 (a position he held until 1943). In addition to his teaching duties in ancient history, he also served as the College's bursar from 1930 to 1935, helping to strengthen the College's financial position in difficult financial conditions. Seymour then resigned his fellowship and become Vice-Master of Ormond College in 1949 (after teaching at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe for a while) and helped raise an endowment fund for the College. He died in Florence in 1954.
The Readership has seen the appointment of a number of exemplary candidates, after the model of this significant scholar and philanthropist, with the last readership concluding in 1994 with Dr Robin Jackson, who is currently the Chief Executive and Secretary of the British National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The readership was in abeyance for a period while the terms were altered to enable appointments to be made of either gender and to remove the requirement of residency within the College.
Key Responsibilities
Within the College the Reader will be responsible for:
• Developing and delivering a course on the history of the idea of justice beginning with ideas of justice in the classical world. It is currently envisaged that this would be an intensive one week residential program based around classic texts on justice that would be undertaken in groups of approximately 20 by the College 100 second year students.
• Delivering two lectures or seminars within the College ‘relating to some ancient classical text preferably Greek that is relevant to spreading of a sound knowledge and appreciation of ancient life’
• Undertaking their own program of research
• Contributing to strategic discussion and work on the overall direction of the College’s learning program.
• Participating in the College’s provision pastoral support to students.
Within the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies the Reader will be responsible for:
• Providing two courses a year, one in Greek Philosophy and one in an ancient language (Greek or Latin). The details of the courses are to be agreed between the Reader and the School.
• Supervising a number of Research Students from the School
Other requirements
The Reader is not required to live in Ormond, although the College would warmly welcome the Reader to do so (accommodation costs would be negotiated and separate from the stipend). The Reader is expected to dine in the College at least twice a week, attend the four major College dinners of the year, and generally interact with students and members of the Senior Common Room in informal and formal forums. A Reader who does not live in the College will be provided with office space when they are working in the College. The Reader is also required to present a seminar on their work each year.
Term of appointment
Three years, preferably beginning in 1 February 2011, but subject to negotiation.
Stipend
The Reader has a package including salary and superannuation in the range of ~A$110,000.
Criteria for appointment
According to the terms of trust ‘The person appointed to the Seymour Readership (‘the Reader’) shall be a person suitably qualified in the ancient Greek and Latin languages and of proven ability to teach ancient Greek and Latin classical literature particularly the writings of Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle’. The Reader will need to demonstrate the experience and aptitudes required to fulfill the duties of the post and explain their vision for engaging all students around the importance of knowledge of the classic world.
Appointment process:
The appointment will be made by a panel comprising representatives of the College and the University. Applications should address the criteria for appointment and be addressed to the Master, Ormond College, email: rufus.black@ormond.unimelb.edu.au with Seymour Readership as the subject or via mail: 49 College Crescent Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia. Applications are due by 30 November 2010.
Information about Ormond is available on the college website: www.ormond.unimelb.edu.au
For further information about the position please contact the Master of Ormond, Associate Professor Rufus Black, at rufus.black@ormond.unimelb.edu.au