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Dear members and friends,

As promised in my May letter about APA strategic planning (see the link below), I am writing to invite comment on the Board's unanimous view that we should change the name of our association. The Board is divided between American Classical Association or the Classical Association of North America, so would be interested to know which you prefer, or whether you can suggest a better name. Whether or not to change the name of TAPA would be decided at a later stage.

The Board did not approach this proposal lightly, indeed has been considering it for a decade. The grounds for special caution are obvious. We have long been a learned society true to the purpose of its founders, "professors, friends, and patrons of linguistic science" -- not improperly called philology. As we approach our 150th anniversary in 2019 we take just pride in our success, adaptability, and continuing vitality as the American Philological Association. In recent times, however, the scope of classical studies has broadened, and we have become a professional organization as well as a learned society, so that the practice of philology no longer defines all that our association is about. The case statement created for our successful capital campaign and the resulting strategic plan call for us to play ever broader roles as an academic, professional, and public resource. In addition, the term philology has become so obscure to all but practitioners as to impede our efforts to gain broader public (even academic) visibility, and we are not readily found when people search online (for instance in Google) for information about classics and the classical world.

The Board welcomes your thoughts and comments about this proposal and its ramifications. Please respond to namechange@apaclassics.org.

With my personal thanks,

Jeff Henderson
APA President

My May letter about strategic planning.