Lionel Pearson Fellowship
The Pearson Fellowship Committee invites nominations for the 2012-2013 Lionel Pearson Fellowship, which seeks to contribute to the training of American and Canadian classicists by providing for a period of study at an English or Scottish university. The competition is open to outstanding students majoring in Greek, Latin, Classics, or closely related fields at any American or Canadian college or university.
Fellows must undertake a course of study that broadens and develops their knowledge of Greek and Latin literature in the original languages; candidates should therefore have a strong background in the classical languages. They should expect to obtain the B.A. by September 2012, in order to begin an academic year of postgraduate work at that time. Normally, the recipient will hold the Fellowship in the academic year immediately after graduating with a bachelor’s degree. The term of the Fellowship is one year. The recipient may use the Fellowship for part of a longer program of study, but under no circumstances will support from the Fellowship extend beyond one year. Fellows are responsible for seeking and obtaining admission to the English or Scottish university where they intend to study. The maximum amount of the Fellowship will be $25,000 which may be used to offset academic fees, travel expenses, housing and subsistence costs, and book purchases. Candidates should be aware that the Fellowship amount ($25,000) is the maximum that can be awarded each year, and will cover a significant portion, but by no means all, of the expenses the Pearson Fellow will incur during his or her Fellowship year.
Candidates for the Fellowship require nomination by a faculty member who is familiar with their work. Faculty members who wish to nominate a student for the Fellowship must send the student's name to the current chair, Professor Lesley Dean-Jones, who will send the nominator an application form and other relevant materials. The committee discourages programs from nominating more than one student, and those desiring to make multiple nominations should contact the chair in advance. Nominations and inquiries may be made only by e-mail to Prof. Dean-Jones (ldjones@mail.utexas.edu). The deadline for receiving nominations is Friday, September 30, 2011.
The second step in the nomination process is the submission of a completed application. Application materials will be sent to nominators and/or nominees via e-mail by October 5th and the completed application must arrive at the offices of the American Philological Association by Friday, October28, 2011.
Reminder for Organizers of Panels at 2013 APA Annual Meeting
The Program Guide for the January 2013 Annual Meeting will appear in October. Organizers of affiliated group and organizer-refereed sessions that have been approved for presentation at the 2013 meeting are reminded that calls for abstracts for their sessions should be sent to the Association Office no later than September 16, 2011. See the APA web site for samples of previously published calls for abstracts.
Awards to Members
The following APA members have received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) for the 2011-12 academic year.
- Alexander Jamieson Beecroft, University of South Carolina, An Ecology of Verbal Art: Literature and its Worlds from the Local to the Global
- Margaret E. Butler, Tulane University, The King's Canvas: The Transformation of Ancient Macedon
- Thomas M. Cirillo, University of Southern California, Categorizing Difference: Biology, Race, and Politics in Late Classical Greece
- Melissa Haynes, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Written in Stone: Literary Representations of the Statue in the Roman Empire
- Sandra R. Joshel, University of Washington (with Lauren Hackworth Petersen, University of Delaware), The Material Life of Roman Slaves
- Robert Morstein-Marx, University of California, Santa Barbara, Julius Caesar and the Roman People
Annual Meeting of the Classical Association (UK)
In 2012 the annual meeting of the Classical Association will be hosted by the Department of Classics & Ancient History at the University of Exeter. The dates for the conference are 11th-14th April 2012. The plenary lectures and panels will be held on campus in the Peter Chalk Centre. Accommodation and meals will also be provided on campus in Holland Hall and Mardon Hall, with the possibility for those who should wish it of individual bookings in nearby hotels. Excursions will be arranged to places of interest in Exeter and in the surrounding area.
We welcome proposals for papers (20 minutes long followed by discussion) and coordinated panels (comprising either 3 or 4 papers) from graduate students, school teachers, academic staff, and others interested in the ancient world on the topics suggested below, or on any other aspect of the classical world. We are keen to encourage papers from a broad range of perspectives.
Suggested topics: Hellenistic and Roman culture; globalisation and cosmopolitanism; impact of Greek culture; use of language in antiquity; the Black Sea; Galen and ancient medicine; the ancient book/material text; reading in antiquity; modern receptions of ancient erotica and sex; concepts of authenticity and the fake; ancient ideas and their reception; sport, spectacle and festival; gift-giving; food, culture and the environment; politics, religion and ideology. We also warmly encourage submissions for non-research presentations such as dramatic performances of ancient texts, introductory workshops on technical disciplines such as papyrology and palaeography, spoken Latin conversation sessions, oral reading workshops, etc.
Please send your title, abstract (no more than 300 words), and any enquiries (preferably by e-mail) not later than 31 August 2011, to: cah-ca2012 AT ex.ac.uk.
Meetings/Calls for Abstracts
Postgraduate Work-in-Progress Seminar, Institute of Classical Studies. School of Advanced Study, University of London. We are now inviting abstracts from postgraduate students who would like to present a paper at the seminar during the year 2011/12. Submissions will be accepted for all three terms, with a second call for papers in January, if necessary.
Speakers give a paper of about 45 minutes duration dealing with any subject connected with the ancient world (broadly defined), the reception of antiquity, or classical scholarship. They have the opportunity to receive questions, moderated by the joint chairs, from an audience of postgraduate students, mainly, but not exclusively, from the University of London, and to continue the discussion over wine and nibbles. The seminar provides a friendly environment in which speakers are able to talk about their research, take part in stimulating discussion of their paper, and extend their social and academic network. During the past three years we have been pleased to attract speakers from twenty-nine different institutions in the United Kingdom, the EU and North America. The seminar will take place at Senate House at 4.30 p.m. on Fridays during term (28 Sept- 16 Dec, 9 Jan- 23 Mar, 23 April- 8 June).
Please submit:
- an abstract of about 300 words
- a working title for your paper
- ONE Friday during term on which you are unavailable (for preliminary scheduling purposes)
Submissions should be directed to the seminar’s joint chairs, Jessica Baxter-Lloyd, Gillian Bentley, Beth Rowell and Gabrielle Villais at postgradwip@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is 12 midday on 22 August 2011.
Ancient Aitia: Explaining Matter between Belief and Knowledge, New York University Classics Graduate Student Conference, December 3, 2011. Why does a shepherd’s song echo in the mountains? What causes epilepsy? Why does the priest of Herakles on Kos wear women’s clothes? Graeco-Roman sources abound in myths of origins, and they are equally prominent in Near Eastern wisdom literature, apocalyptic texts, and biblical narratives. These texts tell aitia in order to explain names, religious rituals, civic institutions, crafts, natural phenomena or medical conditions. Aitia are a form of collective knowledge, created through tradition and living memory rather than through systematic inquiry. Because they treat topics also covered by ancient sciences such as history, medicine or natural philosophy, aitia sit at the juncture of divine and research-based accounts. Such causation narratives differ also from historical accounts, insofar as the aition replaces the complexities of diachronic evolution with a single, transcending moment of creation.
Aetiology, therefore, is an important locus for examining the intersection of religion and mythology with the various forms of ancient scientific thought and models. How this intersection is defined, where it lies, and what tensions (if any) it gives rise to is culturally dependent. Since many aitia occur in poetry, a literary approach to aetiology has traditionally prevailed. However, the organizers of this conference maintain that aetiology is a subject that explicitly invites a comparative and interdisciplinary approach. The exchange between students of mythology, literature, and intellectual history, with those of ancient sciences, anthropology and material culture can significantly enhance our understanding of ancient aitia.We invite submissions from all subfields and related disciplines (Graeco-Roman, Near Eastern and Judeo-Christian religion, ancient literatures, the study of material culture etc.) investigating topics such as, but not limited to, the following:
- conflict and co-existence between scientific and divine explanation; the modern question of the relation between science, religion and the natural world
- aetiological time vs. historical time
- socio-cultural and political functions of aitia; transmitting aitia; the significance of sharing explanations of origins; ancient critiques of aetiology
- cult-aetiology; the religious significance of origins; material remains of cults and their local aitia
- artistic representations of aitia; aitia about art; aitia of skills
- the origins of aetiology; what questions invite aitia; the believability of aitia
- the organization of knowledge through aitia in oral and highly illiterate societies
Graduate students wishing to present a paper at the conference should submit a titled abstract of 300 words or less to ancientaitia@gmail.comby August 17, 2011. Please write your name, institution, contact information, and the title of your abstract in the body of the email. Notifications will be sent in the first half of September. Papers should be no longer than 20 minutes in length, and NYU and other local students will prepare 5 minute responses. Questions about the conference can be directed to Inger Kuin and Katia Kosova at the same email address.
Ancient and Medieval Interpretations of Aristotle’s Categories, Franciscan University of Steubenville, April 12-14, 2012. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together scholars interested in sharing their work on the ancient and medieval traditions of ontological interpretations of Aristotle’s Categories. Possible classical and medieval figures may include: Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Dexippus, Simplicius, Olympiodorus, Syrianus, Proclus, Boethius, Avicenna & Al-F?r?b?, Albertus Magnus, William of Ockham, John Duns Scotus, Henry of Ghent, John Buridan, Francisco Suarez, Radulphus Brito, Thomas of Erfurt, Martin of Dacia, Simon of Faversham & Peter of Auverne, Thomas a Vio, etc.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- How categories or other topics in the Categories are to be understood in relation to other metaphysical notions such as being, form, universals, etc., and other ontological topics;
- Ways in which philosophers sought to reconcile Aristotle both with himself (viz., his other works) and with a Platonic philosophy;
- Techniques or arguments for establishing the list of Aristotle’s categories;
- The nature of particular categories such as quantity, quality, relation, etc.;
- How categories relate to the disciplines of logic, grammar and metaphysics
Papers can pertain explicitly to commentaries on the Categories or to the use of, and reference to, the ten categories in other works. Please submit an abstract of approximately 500 words electronically by September 1st, 2011 to Paul Symington (psymington@franciscan.edu) or Sarah Klitenic Wear (swear@franciscan.edu).
Paris International Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 24-28 July 2012. The congress will bring together humanities and social sciences (HSS) researchers, scientists, academicians, experts, engineers, developers, administrators and other HSS research-related professionals and practitioners from all over the world. The aims are to promote multidisciplinary dialogue and mutual cross-fertilisation of ideas and methods; to offer a place for participants to present, discuss, and showcase innovative recent and ongoing HSS research works and their applications or development; to update on- and explore new ways and directions; and to take advantage of opportunities for contacts, interaction, international collaboration and networking. All areas of Humanities and Social Sciences research are invited: anthropology and ethnology; applied mathematics, statistics and sciences for HSS research; archaeology; area studies; arts; business administration; classics; communication studies; cultural studies; demography; development studies; economics; environmental studies; epistemology; gender studies; geography; history; information science; international relations; languages and cultures; law; linguistics and language sciences; literature; philosophy; policy, epistemology and methodology of multi-, inter-, trans- and cross-disciplinary HSS research; political science; psychology; religion; research policy, administration and strategies; and sociology. Proposals are in the form of abstracts. Session formats include individual paper sessions, symposia, workshops, roundtables and poster sessions. The languages of the congress are English and French. The deadline for abstract submission is 30 October 2011. The closing date for early registration is 29 February 2012. For more information, submission and registration: http://education-conferences.org/homehss.aspx. Contact: Paris-Conference@analytrics.org
Classical Association of the Canadian West, Victoria, B.C., March 16-17, 2012. No conception, ancient or modern, of the ancient world is entirely objective; every vision of of antiquity carries its own agenda. It is easier to see the prejudices of other eras than it is to interrogate our own. How is our vision of the ancient world affected by our cultural values, prejudices and experiences? How did the cultural, historical and intellectual contexts of previous generations of artists, scholars and intellectuals affect their conception of antiquity, and the uses to which they put it? How did the artists and intellectuals of antiquity themselves envision and make use of their past?
We invite contributions addressing the ways in which scholars and artists, past and present, have constructed their visions and models of the ancient world; the cultural, historical, artistic, economic and intellectual contexts that affected and nourished those visions; and their later influence. Papers on other topics of interest to classicists will also be considered. Abstracts of 100-150 words and a brief CV can be submitted by email to cacw2012@gmail.com. Conference organizers Dr. Laurel Bowman and Dr. Geof Kron can be contacted at cacw2012@gmail.com or at CACW 2012, c/o Department of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Victoria P.O. Box 3045, Victoria, BC CANADA V8W 3P4. The deadline for abstractsisSeptember 15, 2011.
Valuing Antiquity in Antiquity, The Seventh Penn-Leiden Colloquium on Ancient Values, University of Leiden, the Netherlands, June 15-16, 2012. The Colloquia were established as a biennial venue in which scholars could investigate the diverse aspects of Greek and Roman values. Each colloquium focuses on a single theme, which participants explore from a diversity of perspectives and disciplines.
The ‘classical tradition’ is no invention of modernity. Already in ancient Greece and Rome, the privileging of the ancient over the present and future played an integral role in social and cultural discourses of every period. In this colloquium we want to examine this temporal organization of value and the mechanisms by which it was produced and sustained—in other words, ancient valuations of antiquity as expressions of lived value-systems. How did specific Greek and Roman communities use notions of antiquity to define themselves or others? What models from the past proved most acceptable or desirable (or not) for political practice or for self-fashioning? What groups were the main agents, or audiences, of such discourses on the value of antiquity, and what were their priorities and their motivations? What were the differences between Roman and Greek approaches, or between antiquarianism, genealogy, classicism, nostalgia, canonization and their opposites? How did temporal systems for ascribing value intersect with the organization of space, the production of narrative, or the espousal and application of aesthetic criteria?
For the seventh Penn-Leiden colloquium, we invite abstracts for papers (30 minutes) that address ‘the past in the past’ along these lines. We hope to bring together researchers in all areas of classical studies, including literature, philosophy, linguistics, history, and visual and material culture, and hope to discover the significant points of intersection and difference between these areas of focus. Selected papers will be considered for publication by Brill Publishers. Those interested in presenting a paper are requested to submit a 1-page abstract, by email (preferable) or regular mail, by Friday November 18th, 2011, to both of the following organizers:
Dr. Christoph Pieper
Classics Department
University of Leiden
P.O.Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Email: c.pieper@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Phone: +31 (71) 527 2673
Prof. James Ker
Department of Classical Studies
University of Pennsylvania
201 Cohen Hall
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
USA
Email: jker@sas.upenn.edu
Phone: +1 (215) 898 3027
Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World X: Tradition, Transmission, and Adaptation, The University of Michigan, June 27-30, 2012. When oral theory first entered classical studies, it concerned itself mostly with the transmission of narratives in verse, and one of its first concerns was the accuracy of this process. It is time to think about transmission in a wider context. Information traveled by a variety of mechanisms in antiquity. Texts, ideas, and practices were all transmitted through time and space. Sometimes both form and content were retained, but were placed in a new context; often both were profoundly transformed. This iteration of the biennial conference on Orality and Literacy will consider the differences between oral and written transmissions, as well as their interactions. When knowledge crosses cultural and linguistic boundaries, does it matter whether it is transmitted orally or in writing? Are written texts always less fluid than oral performances? How should we think about the different kinds of writing as methods of transmitting information, from the wax tablet to the monumental inscription?
We are seeking contributions from classicists as well as scholars in ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies. Papers should be 25-30 minutes in length. There will be ample time for discussion. The conference will include an excursion to Detroit and a session introducing Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) oral tradition, and an opportunity to visit the University of Michigan's renowned papyrus collection.
Those interested in presenting a paper should send a one-page abstract to Orality2012@umich.edu by November 25, 2011. Inquiries to rscodel@umich.edu.
Poetic Language and Religion in Greece and Rome, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, May 31-June 1, 2012. We welcome paper proposals for the conference organized by the Research Group on Classical Philology at the University of Santiago de Compostela. A maximum of 20 proposals will be included in the Conference programme. Studies on the ‘Indogermanische Dichtersprache’ (‘Indo-European poetic language’) have proved fruitful thanks to the successful combined application of philological and linguistic methods when researching the spiritual background of ancient peoples, especially in Greece and Rome. This Conference intends to benefit from this methodological tradition to incorporate the new approaches to the analysis and exegesis of poetic texts, as privileged bearers of the religious thought of Greece and Rome.
Our aim is to join researchers in the fields of classical studies and linguistics to discuss key issues such as:
- The Indo-European poetic language and its reflection in the Greek and Roman context.
- Phonic, rhythmic and lexical elements in Greek and Latin poetry: its religious character.
- Greek and Latin poetic genres: religious origins and developments.
- The interrelation of literary expression, religion and thought.
- Overlapping of related areas: elements of poetry in the Greco-Roman magic.
Communications should not exceed 25-30 min. We welcome abstracts addressing, among other topics:
- Survival of formulas of the Indo-European poetic language
- Poetic language and religious language
- The language of magic and the language of poetry
- Poetic and prophetic language
- Characterization of Greek and Roman cultic poetry
- Greek and Roman poetry on religious antiques
- The possibility of secular poetry in Greece and Rome
Titles and abstracts (about 200 words) should be sent to J. V. García Trabazo [josevirgilio.garcia@usc.es] or A. Ruiz Pérez [angel.ruiz@usc.es] before 27 November 2011. Answers on the acceptance of paper proposals before 01.20.2012. Postal address and Conference Venue: Departamento de Latin y Griego, Facultad de Filología, Universidad de Santiago, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN.
41st Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 13-14 June, 2012. Papers on a wide range of classical subjects, including but not limited to history, philology, philosophy, and archaeology of Greece and Rome and neighboring countries are welcome. The time limit for each lecture is 20 minutes. The official languages of the conference are Hebrew and English. Sessions where Israeli scholars present their papers are held in Hebrew; sessions where foreign scholars deliver their lectures are held in English. Proposals, abstracts and other correspondence may be forwarded to Dr. Sonia Klinger, Secretary of the ISPCS, email: klinger@research.haifa.ac.il, or regular mail:
The Secretary, ISPCS
Dr. Sonia Klinger,
Department of Art History,
University of Haifa,
31905 Mt. Carmel, Haifa
ISRAEL
office telephone: +972-4-8240567
All proposals should be accompanied by a one page abstract (about 250-300 words). Proposals in Hebrew should also be accompanied by a one page abstract in English to appear in the conference brochure. All proposals should reach the secretary by 18th December, 2011. Decisions will be made after the organizing committee has duly considered all the proposals. If a decision is required prior to late January, please indicate this in your letter and we will try to accommodate your needs.
Stereotyped Thinking in Classics: Literary Ages and Genres Re-Considered, University of Vienna, May 30-June 1, 2012. This conference is intended to be the first of a series of conferences or workshops (and publications) on the present, 21st century, condition and self-conception of Classical Philology. ‘Stereotyped Thinking in Classics: Literary Ages and Genres Re-Considered’ is primarily meant to critically examine the long-lasting problem(s) of categorizing literature according to ‘ages’, ‘genres’, etc. At first sight, the advantage of such classifications in various categories seems to be evident, for they purport to lend stability and clarity to otherwise chaotic forms. This includes purely temporal classifications by historical and literary ages, systematic ones by ‘genres’ or ‘types of texts’. Often enough, such simplistic concepts result in aesthetic judgments, such as ‘high/low’, ‘good/bad’, etc., which entail the development of canons or lists (e.g., ‘must-reads’ vs. ‘don’t-reads’). The standard companions to, and histories of, Greek and Latin Literature are full of classifications and simplifications that are for the most part handed over from one generation to another. It is the aim of this conference to critically re-assess the pros and cons of such categorizations and to bridge the undeniable gap between traditional philology and modern literary theory. Conference languages: German and English.
Individual talks: 30 minutes plus ca. 15 minutes of discussion each. Those who wish to contribute a paper should send an e-mail to Farouk F. Grewing (farouk.grewing@univie.ac.at) and/or Christine Walde (waldec@uni-mainz.de). Please include a brief abstract in your mail.
Funding Opportunities/Fellowships
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) will open its 2011-12 competitions at the end of July. Updated program descriptions and application information will be posted at www.acls.org/programs/comps.
The Princeton University Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts announces postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities and social sciences for 2012-2015 for recent PhDs (from January 2010) in the humanities or allied social sciences. Four fellows will be appointed to pursue research and teach half-time. The stipend for 2012-13 will be approximately $76,000. The postmark deadline for applications is September 30, 2011. For eligibility, fellowship and application details, see www.princeton.edu/sf.
American Academy in Rome, Rome Prize 2012. The American Academy in Rome invites applications for the Rome Prize competition. One of the leading overseas centers for independent study and advanced research in the arts and the humanities, the Academy offers up to thirty fellowships for periods ranging from six months to two years. Rome Prize winners reside at the Academy’s eleven-acre center in Rome and receive room and board, a study or studio, and a stipend. Stipends for six-month fellowships are $14,000 and stipends for eleven-month fellowships are $26,000. Fellowships are awarded in the following fields: Architecture Design (including graphic, fashion, interior, lighting, and set design, engineering, urban planning, and other related design fields), Historic Preservation and Conservation (including architectural design, public policy, and the conservation of works of art), Landscape Architecture, Literature, Musical Composition, Visual Arts, Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, and Modern Italian Studies. For further information, or to apply, visit the Academy’s website at www.aarome.org or contact the American Academy in Rome, 7 East 60 Street, New York, NY 10022, Att: Programs. 212-751-7200. Please state specific field of interest when requesting information.
Competition Deadline: 1 November 2011.
Contact Information for APA Member Services
American Philological Association Membership Services
Journals Division, Johns Hopkins University Press
P. O. Box 19966, Baltimore, MD 21211-0966
Telephone (U.S. and Canada only): 800-548-1784; (other countries): 410-516-6987
FAX: 410-516-6968; E-mail: jrnlcirc@press.jhu.edu
Important Dates For APA Members
(All deadlines are receipt deadlines unless otherwise indicated.)
September 6, 2011 | Extended Deadline for Roundtable Discussion Proposals |
September 16, 2011 | Nominations for Precollegiate Teaching Awards |
September 16, 2011 | Calls for Abstracts for Organizer-Refereed and Affiliated Group Panels for 2012 Annual Meeting |
September 30, 2011 | Nominations for Pearson Fellowship |
November 15, 2011 | Nominations for APA/NEH Fellowship to TLL |
January 5-8, 2012 | 143rd Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA |
January 3-6, 2013 | 144th Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA |
January 2-5, 2014 | 145th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL |
January 8-11, 2015 | 146th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA |
January 7-10, 2016 | 147th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA |
January 5-8, 2017 | 148th Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Officer/Committee Survey
Capital Campaign News
The APA’s Campaign for Classics in the 21st Century has received pledges worth close to $2.1 million from more than 800 different donors. We are well on our way to meeting our goal of raising $2.6 million by the deadline of our National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant: July 31, 2012. While the Campaign is ongoing, the funds that it is establishing are already beginning to support important Association programs. The work of the American Office of L’Année philologique is continuing without interruption although its final year-to-year grant from the NEH ended last month. Major grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Classical Association of the United Kingdom, along with many gifts from APA members, made this smooth transition possible.
This summer, thanks to an early grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, we provided an additional full minority scholarship. The Delmas Foundation has recently made a generous addition to this grant which will allow this stipend to increase in the future. The generosity of Daniel and Joanna Rose will allow the APA to improve our collegiate and precollegiate teaching awards this winter by increasing the amount given to each awardee and adding a new grant for teaching materials to their institution. During the fiscal year that begins in July 2012, several gifts in support of teacher training will fund the professional development of Classics teachers, especially efforts to obtain certification to teach in public primary and secondary schools.
The successful completion of the Campaign to secure the full $650,000 from the NEH will require additional gifts of all sizes. In order not to leave any money “on the table,” we urge members who made their last Campaign gift several years ago or who have not yet made a gift to the Campaign to give serious consideration to a donation that will enable the APA to raise the necessary $500,000 well before next July’s deadline. Please don’t wait to click on one of the links below to make your donation.
Donate online: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/AmericanPhilologicalAssociat/OnlineDonation.html
Print out a donation form: http://www.apaclassics.org/images/uploads/documents/pledge_form_revised_10-10.pdf
Table of Contents
- Letter from the President
- Placement Service Notice
- Appointment of Amphora Editors
- Financial Statement for 2010 and 2009
- Board Meeting Minutes
- 2011 Coffin Fellowship Winner
- Announcements from Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP)
- Departmental Membership
- Roundtable Discussion Session at the Annual Meeting
- 2011 Ballot Materials
- Call for Nominations for 2011 Precollegiate Teaching Awards
- APA/NEH Fellowship to TLL
- Pearson Fellowship Announcement
- Reminder for Organizers of Panels at 2013 Annual Meeting
- Awards to Members
- Classical Association Annual Meeting
- Meetings/Calls for Abstracts
- Funding Opportunities
- Important Deadlines
- Advertisements
- Officer/Committee Survey
- Capital Campaign News
Letter from the President
A few years ago, I sat with two neighbors from my condo block in our insurance agent’s office, crowing over the unlikelihood that Cambridge, Mass., would ever be struck by an earthquake. Last month, parts of Springfield, Mass., were flattened by a tornado. Google tells me that it is only 77 miles as the crow flies from Springfield to Cambridge. That seems awfully close. But Cambridge is almost on the ocean. Maybe tornadoes don’t happen near the ocean. Better consult Google again.
Caring about human tragedy only when one perceives oneself to be in danger is, of course, a very self-centered reaction. But Springfield’s fate, so close to home, did set me wondering what it was like to face climate threats before Google, before meteorology became sophisticated, before the secrets of barometric pressure had been unlocked, before—really—anyone understood weather at all. In other words, what was it like to live with perpetual uncertainty, driven by fear, fear not only of what might happen, but of what one might inadvertently do to offend the powers that could make it happen? From the pre-Socratics onwards, philosophers struggled to find scientific explanations for the arbitrary behavior of the elements. The Stoics pursued meteorology so as to understand the divine λόγος ordering the world, the Epicureans so as to eliminate divine interference from the sphere of human affairs. But, for every person liberated from fear by Seneca’s prose or Lucretius’ poetry, there must have been thousands of others trapped in fearful ignorance, an easy target for soapbox orators threatening divine wrath.
When the weather misbehaves in terms of our pre-conceived patterns of what its proper behavior should be, the effect is deeply unsettling. All those standard couplings—ice floes in the Arctic, England’s “green and pleasant land,” tornado-free Massachusetts—become unfastened. Confidence to conduct daily life depends upon predictable associations. Most people in Antiquity led parochial lives, and communication was slow, so that people could go on relying on the traditional associations, even if actual circumstances undermined them. The snows of Rhodope were a valid cliché, even if snow-cover became very thin over a number of years or none fell at all. But nowadays news moves fast, and the comfortable clichés of our own experience are being replaced by paradox: drought threatening verdant Europe, Arctic winters descending upon New England, tornadoes straying thousands of miles from their customary swathe of destruction. Unsettling, indeed.
Scientific enquiry has always been a target for ridicule by the layman, as in the scene at Clouds 228, where Socrates is suspended in a basket so as to contemplate τὰ μετέωρα πράγματα (“meteorological phenomena,” lit. “things above”); it is hard to know what the experts are up to. Aristotle and his successors struggled to express their findings in language that lacked the scientific terminology to describe them—a fortunate lack, from our perspective, because we can hear the Greeks and Romans experimenting with metaphor, analogy, and all the other tools that language provides to convey notions as abstract as the hidden forces that control the elements. In the process, we sometimes hear noises that were familiar to them, or see the sights around them or smell the smells; Lucretius, for instance, describing the clouds, compares a thunder clap to the noise that an awning makes in the theatre when it gives a sudden ear-splitting flap (DRN 6.109–10): dant etiam sonitum patuli super aequora mundi, / carbasus ut quondam magnis intenta theatris / dat crepitum malos inter iactata trabesque, “They also give out a sound over the surface of the spreading heavens, just as a canvas stretched over a mighty theater sometimes gives a crack, tossing among the masts and beams.” Thunder must have seemed inexplicably savage; the urban image tames it a little.
We should not underestimate the perennial fascination exerted by extreme weather and natural disasters, easily demonstrated by browsing through a list of films, from The Wind (1928) to The Perfect Storm (2000). Terrifying emissions from above are a feature of apocalyptic literature, memorably exemplified by the trumpet-blast delivered by the first of the seven angels standing before God in the Book of Revelation, which precipitated “hail and fire mixed with blood” (χάλαζα καὶ πῦρ μεμιγμένα ἐν αἳματι, Rev. 8.7). Disasters in the ancient world became a respectable belletristic theme, employed, for instance, in Pliny’s taut and vivid account of a flood of the Tiber at Epist. 8.17, and furnishing a powerful opening to a letter of Seneca to Lucilius on facing the unexpected, which takes as its pretext a fire that ravaged Lyons, the home of a mutual friend (Epist. 91.1–2). In historiography, the annalistic record of prodigies requires mention of disasters; these can become worked up into set-pieces of thrilling intensity, as at Hist. 1.86, where among the prodigies recorded for AD 69 Tacitus dwells especially on the Tiber flood, and the pathos of innocent people swept away in the streets or overwhelmed in their shops or their beds.
But not every mention of a natural disaster is designed to thrill or shock; disasters also inspired some of the most moving writing to have come down to us from Antiquity. With exquisite empathy and a rare exclamatory heu shattering the emotional detachment of the didactic poet, Virgil personifies the vine trying to protect its grapes from a hailstorm that crackles with alliteration (G. 1.448–9): heu, male tum mitis defendet pampinus uuas: / tam multa in tectis crepitans salit horrida grando, “Alas, the vine will then defend its grapes to no avail: so much bristling hail leaps rattling on the roof.” Other treatments call on us to muster our resolve; the cadences of Seneca’s exhortation to bravery in the face of natural disaster are still inspiring in their simplicity, precisely captured in Harry Hine’s new translation (NQ 6.32.2–3): maiora me pericula expectant: fulminibus et terris et magnis naturae partibus petimur. ingenti itaque animo mors prouocanda est, siue nos saeuo uastoque impetu adgreditur, siue cotidiano et uulgari exitu, “Greater dangers are waiting for me: we are the targets of lightning-bolts, of the earth, and of large segments of nature. So we must challenge death with great courage, whether it attacks us with a cruel, large-scale assault, or with an ordinary, everyday exit.”
The weather was not, of course, stable across the millennium with which we, as Classicists, are professionally concerned. The weather gods were notoriously fickle, and the default expectation was that disaster might strike at any moment. The long view back into the past depended upon memory transmitted from generation to generation, rather than scientific recovery of data from the permafrost layer or the remnants of primeval forests. Now, suddenly, we can access the evidence of those weather patterns that so terrified the inhabitants of the ancient world. An article in Science on January 13, 2011, reconstructs summer rainfall and fluctuations in temperature in Central Europe over the past two and a half millennia, based on the evidence of tree-rings. The authors suggest that it is no coincidence that climate variability is noticeable ca. AD 250–600, precisely the period of massive migrations and political upheaval that marked the decline of the Roman Empire. The people trapped in the moment could not assemble the data that the tree-rings have left for us; but their texts register their alarm, for which pagans and Christians alike could muster only providential explanations: it is God’s will/the will of the gods.
As Classicists, we are all aware of the need to insert ourselves into the discourse about “hot” topics, and we are all familiar with the buzzword “interdisciplinarity.” Climate change seems an ideal opportunity for us to take possession of both these arenas. The reactions of the ancient writers to extreme weather (the Classicist’s domain), coupled with the evidence for climatic factors and climate change in the ancient world (the domain primarily of geologists and environmental scientists), could provide a team-taught course of undeniable relevance to every College student poised on the brink of a cataclysmic alteration to the planet as we know it. Will they follow Aristotle and Seneca? Or succumb to divine will? Or only start getting anxious when the tornado strikes too close to home?
Kathleen M. Coleman
Interim Placement Service Procedures for Summer 2011
The Joint Committee on Placement and APA Staff are developing a system that will bring greater automation to the process of registering candidates and institutions for the Service and of scheduling interviews at the 2012 Joint Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. We hope to have this system in place by the beginning of September. While this new system is being developed, the Service will operate in the following manner:
For candidates: Placement Director Renie Plonski will send an e-mail to all candidates registered for last year’s Service (2010-2011) stating that, unless they wish to discontinue their subscriptions, they will continue to receive e-mails around the 1st and 15th of each month containing all position listings recently submitted to the Service. Any new candidate who wishes to receive the semi-monthly e-mails may be added to the e-mail list at no charge by submitting that request to Renie (plonskii@sas.upenn.edu). Note: Once the new automated system is implemented, we will no longer use this interim e-mail list. All candidates wishing to participate in the 2011-2012 Service will need to register for it and pay the required fee.
For institutions: Complete the new registration form and submit it to the APA Office via mail, FAX (215-573-7874), or as an e-mail attachment (plonskii@sas.upenn.edu) along with the text of the advertisement and payment information. The form can be filled out online, but information entered into it cannot be saved. Institutions can print a completed form and scan it to submit an e-mail attachment. Institutions submitting listings during this interim period will not need to register once the automated system becomes available. Placement Service staff will enter their information into the new Placement database.
All institutional representatives and candidates should read the recently revised Placement Guidelines. Institutions must acknowledge that they have reviewed these Guidelines before they submit a position listing. In addition, institutions are urged to read the Reminders for Search Committees, and candidates, the Checklist of Advice for Job Candidates.
Adam D. Blistein
APA Executive Director
New Editors of Amphora
The American Philological Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Ellen Bauerle of the University of Michigan Press as Editor, and Dr. Wells Hansen of Milton Academy as Assistant Editor, of Amphora, its Outreach publication, effective January 2012.
Ellen has for several years worked as the editor for classics and archaeology at the University of Michigan Press. She also oversees book production for the not-for-profit Michigan Classical Press, and in the past has created and sold ebooks on the web. Recipient of a BA in Greek and English from Oberlin College, and an MA and PhD in Classics from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, she has been an Eric P. Newman Fellow at the American Numismatic Society and Seymour Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Ellen is delighted that Amphora is evolving to include the latest technologies, as additional ways of reaching its key constituencies among interested nonspecialists, scholars, teachers and students at the secondary level, and administrators.
In addition to his role as housemaster at Milton Academy outside of Boston, where he manages the academic and social programs of about 40 students each year, Wells teaches in Milton's classics department. He also works with university partners and private clients in Asia to promote talent identification and development, especially in math and science. After earning his BA in classics from Boston College, and his MA in classics at the University of Chicago, Wells received his doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. A longstanding APA member, he has published numerous journal articles about classical topics, especially Roman poetry. Wells has a particular interest in developing the visibility of Amphora in social media and in social aspects of the web.
Many thanks to the members of the Amphora Editor Search Committee for their efforts in identifying and selecting these two talented colleagues: Adam Blistein (ex officio); Barbara Weiden Boyd, Bowdoin College; Matthew Dillon, Loyola Marymount College; John Gruber-Miller, Cornell College; Davina McClain, Louisiana Scholars' College (ex officio), Kathryn Morgan, University of California at Los Angeles.
Judith P. Hallett
University of Maryland, College Park, Vice-President for Outreach
Financial Statements for 2010 and 2009 Fiscal Years
http://www.apaclassics.org/images/uploads/documents/FY10FinancialStatement.pdf
Board Meeting Minutes
Meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Philological Association
January 6, 2011
San Antonio, TX
The Board of Directors of the American Philological Association met at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, San Antonio, TX, on January 6, 2011. Those present were Profs. Dee L. Clayman, President, Ronnie Ancona, and Roger S. Bagnall, Dr. Adam D. Blistein, Profs. Barbara Weiden Boyd, Kathleen Mary Coleman, Bruce W. Frier, Alain M. Gowing, Judith P. Hallett, Robert A. Kaster, John Marincola, James M. May, Carole E. Newlands, Josiah Ober, James J. O’Donnell, and Ann Vasaly. Also present by invitation were the following Directors who would take office on January 9, 2011: Profs. Joseph Farrell, Jonathan M. Hall, Jeffrey Henderson, and Kathryn Morgan. Profs. Peter Bing and S. Georgia Nugent were absent.
Prof. Clayman called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. She welcomed the newly elected directors and officers whose terms would begin on January 9 and she thanked the following members of the Board whose terms were concluding at the annual meeting: Prof. Ober (President, 2009), Prof. Kaster (Vice President for Program, 2007-2011), and Profs. Boyd and Gowing (Directors, 2008-2011).
The Board had received an agenda for the meeting as well as minutes of its meeting on October 1-2, 2010.
Action: The Board approved the agenda for the meeting.
Action: After adopting one correction offered by Prof. May, the Board approved the minutes of its meeting on October 1-2, 2010.
Report of Outgoing Vice President
Prof. Kaster thanked the Board, the members, and APA staff for their support during his four-year term. He noted that three of the five members of the Program Committee would be new in the coming year (the Vice President and two ordinary members). All members of the Committee (incoming, outgoing, and continuing) would meet on the following day to review several issues before the Committee and to give the new members an overview of the Committee's work.
Report of Subcommittee on Professional Ethics
In October the Board had imposed disciplinary actions against a party involved in an Ethics Subcommittee case and had asked Prof. May to notify parties involved in this case of its action. Prof. May reported on events that had taken place in the course of carrying out the Board's instructions and noted that the disciplined person's institution was aware of the complaint.
Action: The Board asked Prof. May to write to the disciplined person's institution, explain the Association's involvement in the case, ask what action the institution intended to take, and offer to share information gathered by the APA with the institution.
Proposal to Modify Structure of Advisory Board to American Office of l'Année philologique
The Directors had received a proposal from Prof. Bagnall to create a new position on the Advisory Board to the American Office of l’Année philologique (APh), an appointed chair who would serve a five-year term and represent the Association at meetings of SIBC and the directors of APh offices. The Vice President for Reseach, who currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board would continue to be an ex officio member.
Action: The Board approved the modification of the Regulation concerning the Advisory Board to the American Office of l’Année philologique to create the position of Chair appointed by the President for a five-year term and to make the Vice President for Research an ex officio member.
Financial Matters
Dr. Blistein had distributed to Directors a statement comparing the Association’s income and expenses to budgeted numbers for the 2010 fiscal year as well as a revised budget for the current (2011) fiscal year that reflected changes in assumptions or experience during the first six months of the year. The budget for 2010 had anticipated that the APA would break even financially during the year by retaining $80,000 from the NEH challenge grant to offset fund-raising expenses. Because of the extension of deadlines for the challenge grant, this sum had not been received, and Dr. Blistein expected the resulting deficit to be slightly below $50,000 as a result of other savings.
The significant changes in assumptions in the 2011 budget were estimating registration fees based on 2,000 paid registrants instead of 2,100 and increased exhibit income. When the Finance Committee met, it would also review a proposal from the Ad Hoc Committee on Archives to fund expenses for its work in the APA Office during the Winter. If this proposal were accepted, the budget anticipated a year-end deficit of about $17,000, provided that the $80,000 in challenge grant funds were claimed.
The Directors had also received a summary of the Association’s investments from July 1 to December 31, 2010. The four funds had appreciated by 15% to 17% in that period, net of withdrawals and additions. Dr. Blistein briefly described the Association’s portfolio and the work of its investment manager. He noted that the Research and Teaching Fund, which had previously been invested more aggressively than the other three funds, now had the same guideline, i.e., 60% in equities and 40% in fixed income securities, because the first disbursements from the fund would take place this summer. He also reviewed a document showing gifts to the Research and Teaching Fund for purposes other than supporting the American Office of l’Année. During the annual meeting, the Finance Committee would discuss the procedures for calculating withdrawals from the Fund, and the Education Committee and the Joint Committee (with ACL) on Classics in American Education would consider appropriate uses for gifts made to support teaching awards and teacher development.
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Archives
The Committee on Archives had met by conference call on several occasions during the year, and the Board had received summaries of their meetings. Dr. Blistein reviewed Committee recommendations that required Board action.
Action: The Board approved the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Archives to retain files in the format in which they were produced, to modify its document retention policy to place into archives information relevant to the history of the discipline that might not have to be retained for legal reasons, to set up rules for access to the archives, and to establish policies for retention of peer-reviewed materials.
Annual Meetings
Dr. Blistein reported that he expected the San Antonio meeting to attract between 2,000 and 2,100 paid registrants. The exhibit manager, AIA’s meeting planner, was having some success in finding exhibitors from fields other than academic publishing, and this had made it possible to sell all available booths in the exhibit hall.
Staff was working with the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) to determine whether SSRN could again host abstract submissions for the 2012 annual meeting in Philadelphia, but staff was also seeking proposals from other firms. Dr. Blistein had signed contracts for several additional meetings in the past few months. Future meetings would take place in Seattle (2013), Chicago (2014), New Orleans (2015), and San Diego (2016).
Executive Director’s Report
The Directors had received summaries of receipts to date in both annual giving and the Gateway campaign. Solicitation for the latter campaign had reduced member participation in annual giving, but response to the Fall 2010 appeal was projected to be at about the same level as in the past few years. Efforts in the Gateway campaign would focus on obtaining a number of larger gifts.
About 40 institutions, the same number as in the previous year, were conducting interviews with the help of the Placement Service. While further automation of the Service’s process was clearly necessary, staff still believed that it needed to oversee the actual scheduling of interviews.
Staff was now settled into its new offices. The additional space there made work easier.
Other Business
Action: The Board voted its congratulations to a member, Dr. Constance Carroll, who had been named to the National Humanities Council. Prof. Hallett agreed to write a letter conveying the Board’s good wishes.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.
January 9, 2011: San Antonio, TX
The Board of Directors of the American Philological Association met at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, San Antonio, TX, on January 9, 2011. Those present were Profs. Kathleen Mary Coleman, President, Ronnie Ancona, and Roger S. Bagnall, Dr. Adam D. Blistein, Profs. Dee L. Clayman, Joseph Farrell, Bruce W. Frier, Jonathan M. Hall, Judith P. Hallett, Jeffrey Henderson, John Marincola, James M. May, Kathryn Morgan, Carole E. Newlands, S. Georgia Nugent, James J. O’Donnell, and Ann Vasaly. Prof. Peter Bing was absent.
Prof. Coleman called the meeting to order at 11:40 a.m.
Action: The Board approved the agenda it had received in advance of the meeting.
Action: In accordance with By-Law #14, Profs. Bagnall and Hall were chosen by lot to be members of the Executive Committee for 2011.
Development Report
Dr. Blistein reported on the meeting of the Development and Capital Campaign Committees that had taken place the previous day. The Campaign Committee agreed to focus on raising larger gifts to meet upcoming NEH matching fund deadlines, and there was considerable discussion of potential prospects for these gifts. The Committees discussed content and format for appeals to be mailed to members during the winter for the capital campaign and during the spring for annual giving. They also reviewed the success of the fund-raising event in New York City in October, plans for subsequent ones in other cities, and the generally positive reactions to the campaign display at the APA booth in the exhibit hall in San Antonio. Appeals to honor several distinguished classicists had generated a significant number of gifts in 2010, and the Committees agreed to list the names of donors to these “Friends” funds in a separate section of the APA web site.
The Committees discussed the campaign case statement at some length and concluded that the APA should not revise it at that point but agreed that its fund-raising efforts could focus on outreach and pedagogical goals now that sufficient funds had already been raised to meet the research component’s initial goal, i.e. continuing operations of the American Office of l’Année philologique. The Committees felt that the membership at large would welcome this news and the news that in the coming year the Association would also be able to use some earlier gifts to the campaign for additional minority scholarships and enhancements to the teaching award program. Several Committee members agreed to draft this message to the membership for signature by Prof. Coleman as the new President.
The Board discussed the importance of reminding members that the Association was conducting two appeals at once, its usual annual giving appeal and the capital campaign. It asked the Development Committee to consider modifying acknowledgment letters for each campaign to mention the other one.
Action: The Board approved a suggestion to add a line for donations to the capital campaign to the dues bill.
Report of the Finance Committee
Prof. Nugent stated that during its meeting the previous day the Committee had reviewed both an initial draft of the auditors’ report for the 2010 fiscal year and a comparison of budgeted income and expense figures to actual results prepared by Dr. Blistein. It reviewed the budget for the current (2011) fiscal year which had been modified to reflect new information about ongoing costs and to accommodate two proposed meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee on Archives. Finally, it discussed the fund-raising expenses the Association would incur during the 2012 fiscal year because of the extension of time given by the NEH to raise matching funds for the challenge grant.
The Association’s auditors had asked the APA to establish a policy on the treatment of investment gains and losses in permanently restricted funds. The Committee had reviewed an opinion on this matter from the APA’s attorney. (This document had also been distributed to the Board.) In addition, the Committee discussed the length of time funds should be in an Association endowment before they could be used for the purpose the donor had designated.
Action: With one abstention, the Board voted that the Association should never change the value of permanently restricted assets unless new gifts were received. All investment appreciation should be treated as temporarily restricted assets, and no expenditures should be made from a fund if investment losses resulted in its falling below its initial level.
Action: The Board accepted the Finance Committee’s recommendation that APA should have gifts on deposit for at least a year, and that any special fund needed to reach $50,000 before it could generate support for a particular program.
Action: The Board approved the expenditures proposed for two meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee on Archives in the APA Office to sort through papers accumulated since the last addition of materials to its archives at the Columbia University Rare Book Library in 1986.
Action: The Board extended the term of the Development Director’s position to June 30, 2012.
Reports of Vice Presidents
Outreach. Prof. Hallett described the annual meeting panels organized by committees in her division in San Antonio and planned for the next meeting in Philadelphia. The editorial board of Amphora had held a useful meeting to plan articles for the next issue, and Prof. Hallett had formed a search committee to find a new Editor and Assistant Editor for the publication during the spring.
The annual performance organized by the Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP) had been well received. In the future, the Committee would attempt to integrate its rehearsals better into the available meeting space, and it asked that any panel it organized be held after the performance. The Committee continued to assist the Aquila Theatre Company to identify program scholars for its Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives project and was developing suggested criteria for assessing the work a scholarputs into performance. It would also seek ways to publicize the APA’s lists of music and performance experts outside of the Association’s own web site.
The Committee on the Classical Tradition urged the APA to maintain some kind of liaison with the Modern Language Association now that the latter group was holding its meeting at the same time and had changed its regulations for allied status. It also asked the Board to consider a new name for the Committee.
Action: The Board changed the name of the Committee to the Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception.
Professional Matters. Prof. May expressed the concern of the Committee on the Status of Women and Minority Groups (CSWMG) that its survey work often required expertise that its members did not have, and that it distracted the Committee from other activities it might undertake. He would ask the committees involved in these surveys (CSWMG collaborates with other Association committees on some of its questionnaires) to recommend possible changes to these instruments. Prof. May had arranged for the next installment of the Association census of classics departments to be conducted online; it would be important to increase the number of responses to the questionnaire.
For 2012 the Placement Committee was considering organizing another panel on nonacademic job options for classics Ph.D.’s. In the next few months it would review Placement Guidelines for possible changes and would work on additional automation of the Service.
Publications. Prof. O’Donnell reported that the Committee on the Web Site and Newsletter had had a useful meeting with the new Information Architect, Samuel Huskey. Katharina Volk’s first report as Editor of TAPA indicated that the journal was flourishing. He expressed gratitude to Kathryn Gutzwiller for her excellent stewardship of the Monographs Series for five years, especially her willingness to extend her term by a year and her considerable assistance to authors. To date the search for her replacement had been unsuccessful. In the interim, Prof. O’Donnell would handle the Monograph Editor’s duties. Finally, he described books in production and several new publishing initiatives that were still in the discussion stage.
Program. Prof. Farrell stated that the Program Committee had discussed two areas in which it might take a more direct role in shaping the annual meeting program: by encouraging the organization of panels on more imaginative topics and by more careful selection of presiders who would, in turn, have more responsibility for the success of their sessions. At a future date, it might ask the Board for modification of the current rules for submissions.
The Board discussed the changes implemented in the Plenary Session at the San Antonio meeting as well as the low attendance at the President’s Reception. Suggestions for improvement included finding a way to combine the many receptions hosted by individual institutions with the President’s Reception, asking award committees to provide a very short (a few sentences) citation that could be read as the award winner came to the stage to receive his or her prize, and emphasizing the various projects the Research and Teaching Fund was now supporting in the regular talk about progress in the capital campaign.
Research. Prof. Bagnall reported that the Advisory Board for the American Office of l’Année philologique had discussed various production issues as well as the need for more publicity about the new features in the online version of the bibliography. The Office had successfully taken on some additional work caused by the failure of a Canadian office to generate records from journals published in that country. The TLL Selection Committee continued to operate well and had selected a Fellow for 2011-12 from a very large number of submissions.
Several Research Division task forces had made progress on their assignments since the Board meeting in early October, and Prof. Bagnall asked the Board to act on several of their recommendations.
Action: The Board created a standing Committee on Translations of Classical Authors reporting jointly to the Publications and Research Divisions.
Action: The Board dissolved the Task Force on Ancient Biography and asked the Research Committee to monitor other groups’ work in this area to determine whether additional efforts by APA were necessary.
Action: The Board made the Task Force on a Biographical Database of Classical Scholars an Advisory Board to a project on this topic to be hosted by the Center for Digital Humanities at the University of South Carolina. The APA would have no financial responsibility for this project, but the Board authorized the Executive Director to work with the Center in other ways.
Action: The Board authorized the Task Force on Performance Archives to set a March 31, 2011, deadline for final proposals to host an archive of classical performances and to recommend an acceptable proposal to the Board.
The Research Committee had reviewed a useful report from the Task Force on Digital Peer Review and the APA Portal which had been chaired by Cynthia Damon. Neither the Task Force nor the Committee was interested in ranking journals. The Task Force had greater interest than the Committee in establishing a system of peer review for digital projects. The Committee had greater interest than the Task Force in developing a mechanism to identify useful resources on the Internet and suggested that the Board assign this responsibility to the six ordinary Directors. Prof. Bagnall stated that he would circulate Prof. Damon’s report as well as his own to the Board for further discussion of this matter.
Education. Prof. Ancona described the annual meeting panels organized and being planned by the Committee on Ancient History. The Committee was developing suggestions for changes in abstract categories. The Committee on Minority Scholarships had selected two outstanding recipients for the summer of 2011, and its fund-raising raffle had been successful. AIA had offered to print a new brochure for the program.
The Education Committee’s panel on the new Standards for Latin Teacher Preparation had been successful, and, in conjunction with the Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education (JCCAE), it was working on further dissemination of the Standards document. The Committees had considered appropriate uses for gifts to the Gateway campaign designated for improvements in Latin teaching (next generation gifts) and for teaching awards.
For next generation funds, the Committee recommended establishing programs to reimburse tuition for courses taken to acquire certification in Latin teaching (to be awarded after courses were completed) and to solicit and review proposals for professional development from established teachers. The latter grants should range between $500 and $2,500. The Board deferred action on this recommendation because the Association had not yet received sufficient gifts to fund these programs.
Action: The Board accepted the recommendation of the Education Committee and JCCAE to use the gift of Daniel and Joanna Rose to increase the amounts of teaching awards to $1,000, plus a contribution of $250 to the awardee’s institution for teaching materials of the awardee’s choice. [It was subsequently determined that the current level of the fund would permit only $500 for the award and $200 for the teaching materials in 2012.]
Other Business
Action: The Board amended the instructions it had given to Prof. May on January 6 concerning a letter it had asked him to write concerning an Ethics Subcommittee matter. It asked him to send a copy of the letter to the disciplined party.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
Coffin Award Winner for 2011
It is with great pleasure that I announce the winner of the David D. and Rosemary H. Coffin Fellowship for Travel in Classical Lands. From a strong field of applicants, Mr. William Clausen of Washington, DC emerged as an inspiring teacher intensely dedicated to his students and his school.
A graduate of Cornell University with a B.A. in Classics, Mr. Clausen went on to complete a second degree (M.A., Oxon) at Oxford University. For the last four years he has taught Latin and English at Washington Latin Public Charter School, where he serves as the head of the Foreign Languages Department.
Describing Mr. Clausen’s teaching, a student cites “his earnest and honest and belief in his students and desire to see them succeed” as the reason for his transformation into an engaged student. A school administrator remarks: “The students love him and his classes, and many of them, in all seriousness, have remained at this fledgling, experimental school because Mr. Clausen is still there.” Mr. Clausen’s participation in the Vergilian Society’s summer program (Vergil, Aeneas, and Augustus) will enrich his teaching of the AP Vergil course and further student trips to classical lands.
I would like to thank my colleagues on the committee, Dr. Greta Ham and Dr. Bronwen Wickkiser, for their deliberation, and Adam Blistein for his help with the process.
Eric Dugdale
Chair
Announcements from Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP)
2012 Annual Meeting. The APA Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP) seeks participants for its performance at the APA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. This year’s play is the premiere of The Jurymen, an Aristophanic take on the last days of Socrates, written by Katherine Janson, and directed by Amy R. Cohen. We need actors, musicians, stage crew, and helpers for our limited-rehearsal staged reading. Rehearsals will begin on Wednesday, January 4 and the performance will take place on the evening of Friday, January 6. Send an e-mail describing your interests and talents to acohen@randolphcollege.edu, by September 1, 2011. Read the script at apollonejournal.org.
2013 Annual Meeting. The Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance invites expressions of interest in directing a staged reading at the 2013 APA meeting in Seattle, Washington. CAMP is very proud to sponsor this reading, which has become a tradition. The tenth annual reading, which will take place at the 2012 APA meeting in Philadelphia, will be The Jurymen, an Aristophanic take on the last days of Socrates by Katherine Janson, directed by Amy R. Cohen.
Past scripts have included translations and adaptations of ancient Greek and Roman plays, as well as plays inspired by classical themes, figures, and topics. Previous performances were:
- The Invention of Love (Tom Stoppard), 2002, Philadelphia, Mary-Kay Gamel, Director
- The Heavensgate Deposition, or Claudius, the Gourd (Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis, translated by Douglass Parker), 2003, New Orleans, Amy R. Cohen, Director
- The Golden Age (Thomas Heywood), 2004, San Francisco, C. W. Marshall, Director
- Iran Man (Plautus’s Persa, translated by Amy Richlin), 2005, Boston, Mary-Kay Gamel, Director
- Thespis (Gilbert and Sullivan), 2006, Montreal, John Starks, Director
- Birds (Aristophanes, translated by Alan Sommerstein), 2007, San Diego, Thomas Talboy, Director
- Cyclops (Euripides, translated by Heather McHugh), 2008, Chicago, Mike and Laura Lippman, Directors
- Thersites (Nicholas Udall), 2009, Philadelphia, C.W. Marshall, Director
- Thesmophoriazousai (Aristophanes, translated by Bella Vivante), 2011, San Antonio, Bella Vivante, Director
Proposals for plays must be accompanied by a firm commitment by a director or a larger creative team who will assume full responsibility for production. Scripts must be complete by the time the statement of interest is submitted, and the proposer must have the legal right to perform the script.
The director is given free rein with regard to the artistic realm of the play, including the scale of the production, though we strongly caution potential directors to be mindful of the extreme limitations imposed by a very short rehearsal period (approximately two days), a short time slot for performance (under two hours), few theatrical resources, and a limited budget. The director is responsible for writing and distributing a call for actors, for planning in advance the type of production to be done, for maintaining contact with a CAMP liaison and the APA regarding performance progress and needs, and of course for directing the show in Seattle.
Statements of interest must address the following issues:
- Why is this show worth doing, and why is the APA/AIA Meeting a good venue for it?
- How and when do you intend to distribute your call for actors?
- Approximately how many actors and other participants (musicians, stage managers, etc.) do you anticipate requiring?
- Who do you anticipate your actors will be? Members of the APA/AIA or non-members?
- When will you require those involved in the show to arrive in Seattle to begin rehearsals and what would the general outlines of your rehearsal schedule be?
- What do you anticipate the running time of the show to be?
- What do you anticipate requiring in terms of props, costumes and other resources?
Please send statements of interest and a script of the play to Dorota Dutsch (ddutsch@classics.ucsb.edu) by October 15, 2011.
Departmental Membership in the American Philological Association
The American Philological Association (APA) invites college and university departments offering programs in classical studies to become departmental members. The APA instituted this category of membership as a way of giving recognition to those departments that are willing to support the entire field while they do the essential work of passing on an understanding of classical antiquity to each new generation of students. Departmental members will be listed on the Association's web site, in an issue of the Association's Newsletter, and on a page in the Annual Meeting Program. The APA will issue outstanding achievement awards to students designated by the department. Departmental members will also be able to obtain certain APA publications and other benefits at no charge, and they will support two important international classics projects in which the APA participates: the American Office of l'Année philologique and its fellowship to the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL). Departmental dues revenue that exceeds the value of benefits received will be used to support these two projects and, in the case of the TLL Fellowship, will make the APA eligible to receive matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) which is currently the major supporter of this project.
A form for enrolling a department as a member is available on the APA web site. Departments may select a membership category that corresponds to the highest academic degree that each one offers. However, departments selecting the higher Supporting or Sustaining categories will enable the Association to claim additional matching funds from the NEH so that the Association can focus its fund-raising efforts on the capital campaign and on unrestricted annual giving.. The listings of member departments give appropriate recognition to those selectingthe higher levels.
As of July 15, 2011, the following departments are participating in the program for this year.
Sustaining
- Cornell University
- Princeton University
- University of Washington
Supporting
- University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D.-granting Departments
- Catholic University of America
- Stanford University
- The Johns Hopkins University
- University of California, Irvine
- University of Michigan
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Toronto
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
- M.A.-granting Departments
- University of Kentucky
B.A.-granting Departments
- Baylor University
- Brooklyn College
- College of William and Mary
- Colorado College
- DePauw University
- Grand Valley State University
- Gustavus Adolphus College
- Hamilton College
- Hillsdale College
- St. Olaf College
- University of Akron
- University of Mary Washington
- University of New Hampshire
- University of Rochester
- University of Tennessee
- Virginia Wesleyan College
2012 Annual Meeting: Deadline for Proposals for Roundtable Discussion Sessions Extended
This 90-minute joint session with the AIA consists of a number of tables devoted to discussions of a variety of topics, with at least one discussion leader for each topic. Members are invited to propose themselves as roundtable discussion leaders. Topics may be the leader’s area of scholarly interest or an issue important to the profession. Since certain topics lend themselves to presentation by more than one leader, proposals for multiple leaders are welcome. The Program Committee believes that these sessions can provide an excellent opportunity for younger registrants (both graduate students and recent Ph.D.'s) to interact with established scholars in a less formal environment than a session or a job interview. Leadership of a roundtable discussion does not count as an “appearance” on the annual meeting program; i.e., roundtable leaders may present a paper or serve as a respondent in an APA paper session.
The Program Committee invites members to submit brief (50-100 word) descriptions of a suitable topic for a roundtable. These submissions for the annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA should be sent to Heather Gasda (heatherh@sas.upenn.edu) by September 6, 2011.
2011 Ballot Materials
The slate of candidates for this Summer's election has been posted on the APA web site. Once again, members will have the option to cast ballots online and will receive voting instructions in August.
APA Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the Precollegiate Level
Call for Nominations for 2011
The Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education invites nominations for the 2011 APA Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the Precollegiate Level. Thanks to a very generous gift to the APA’s Gatekeeper to Gateway Campaign for the Future of Classics from Daniel and Joanna Rose, the amounts to be awarded this year have been increased substantially. Up to two winners will receive a certificate of award and a cash prize of $500. In addition, each winner’s institution will receive $200 to purchase educational resources selected by the winner. The winners will be announced at both the APA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA in January 2012 and the ACL Institute in June 2012, and winners may select the meeting at which they wish to receive the award.
Eligibility is open to 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. Membership in the APA is not required. Nominations may be made by a colleague, administrator, or former student, who is thoroughly familiar with the teacher's work. (Additional guidelines for nominators are offered below.)
The nomination packet should consist of three components and should be submitted collated in sextuplicate under one cover. The components are 1) a letter of nomination; the letter may come from someone within the educational institution of the nominee; 2) a letter of support from someone in the field of classical studies; and 3) the candidate's current curriculum vitae. Nomination letters should indicate how the candidate meets the criteria of the award. The letter is the key to the candidate's continuation in the selection process.
The Committee reviews nominations and invites the submission of full dossiers for selected nominees. Note these new instructions for the full dossiers: These dossiers must also be submittedcollated in sextuplicate and will include
- a short cover letter with a one-paragraph summary of the nominee's key achievements as a teacher.
- a curriculum vitae – no more than 2 pages.
- a personal statement of no more than 750 words in which the nominee explains his or her achievements in terms of vision, strategies, and methods.
-
letters of recommendation:
- no more than two letters from a supervisor or colleague in the field of classics or foreign language teaching
- no more than four letters from students and/or recent graduates or parents.
- portfolio materials—e.g., pedagogical materials, program flyers, class memorabilia, news clippings. The complete portfolio should contain no more than 10 items and should not exceed 20 pages or the electronic equivalent.
Applicants will be compared and judged by quality rather than quantity of application materials and are asked to be selective rather than comprehensive.
Award winners are selected by a subcommittee of the Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education, whose membership is selected equally from both the APA and the American Classical League. September 16, 2011, is the deadline for the receipt of nominations.
Applications should be submitted to the ACL/APA Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education, c/o The American Philological Association. The APA's address is University of Pennsylvania, 220 South 40th Street, Suite 201E, Philadelphia PA 19104-3512. Questions about the competition may be directed.to info@classicalstudies.org.
Additional Guidelines for Nominators. The key to a successful nomination is detailed information about the nominee's teaching practices and results. The nominator plays a crucial role in gathering and presenting this information. The additional letters of support should be from students, colleagues, administrators, parents, etc. who can also speak in detail about the nominee. Due to the fact that all of the nominees are usually highly qualified, letters of nomination must move far beyond general statements that the nominee is an excellent teacher.
Supporting Materials for the Second Round. Finalists in the competition will be invited to submit additional supporting materials such as innovative teaching units, Latin publicity items, additional testimonials and recommendations, etc. As noted above, these materials must be submitted collated in sextuplicate and cannot be returned except under special circumstances.
Every application should address at least four of the following criteria:
- success, size, and growth of the classics program in the candidate's school
- outreach and promotion of the classics
- innovative and creative classroom activity
- evidence of improved student learning
- student success in contests and competitions
- movement of significant numbers of students to the next level of study
- student travel and field trips ranging from study of local architecture to study abroad
- the teacher's professional service and professional development including workshops (both taken and given), papers presented, offices held, awards received, etc.
American Philological Association/Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Munich)
Supported by a Generous Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
The American Philological Association invites applications for a one-year Fellowship, tenable from July 2012 through June 2013, which will enable an American scholar to participate in the work of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Institute in Munich. Fellows at the TLL develop a broadened perspective of the range and complexity of the Latin language and culture from the classical period through the early Middle Ages, contribute signed articles to the Thesaurus, have the opportunity to participate in a collaborative international research project in a collegial environment, and work with senior scholars in the field of Latin lexicography. The Fellowship carries a stipend in the amount of $50,400, and is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The incumbent Fellow may re-apply for a second year, but all applications will be judged on an equal footing.
Applicants must (i) be United States citizens or permanent residents and (ii) already have the Ph.D. or anticipate the award of the degree by July 1, 2012. The opportunity to be trained in lexicography and contribute articles to be published in the lexicon may be of special interest to scholars who are already established in tenure-track positions, as well as those who are just entering the profession. The Fellowship offers valuable experience for scholars in a variety of specialties (e.g., Latin language and literature, Roman law, Roman history, the literature of early Christianity); although it is not limited to individuals working in Latin philology, applicants should possess a thorough familiarity with and a special interest in the Latin language, as well as advanced competence in Greek. It is anticipated that applicants will already have a reading knowledge of German and will be willing to work toward proficiency in spoken German. Women and members of minority groups underrepresented in Classics are particularly encouraged to apply.
Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a statement of what benefits the applicant expects to derive from the Fellowship for his/her research and teaching, and the names of three referees, whom the applicant should ask to send supporting letters to the Executive Director of the American Philological Association without further notice. It will be in the candidate’s interest if at least one letter can specifically address the candidate’s suitability for the Fellowship. Candidates will be considered by the APA’s TLL Fellowship Committee, which serves as the selection committee. The committee will choose a short-list of candidates to be invited for interview at the Annual Meeting in January 2012 in Philadelphia, and the name of the successful candidate will be announced shortly thereafter. Applications must be received by the deadline of Tuesday, November 15, 2011. Applications must be submitted via regular mail or courier. Materials sent via FAX or e-mail will not be accepted.
Applications should be sent to Dr. Adam D. Blistein, Executive Director, American Philological Association, University of Pennsylvania, 220 South 40th Street, Suite 201E, Philadelphia PA 19104-3512.
For additional information about the Fellowship, see the relevant section of the APA web site or contact the Chairperson of the APA's TLL Fellowship Committee: Professor Anthony Corbeill, Department of the Classics, University of Kansas, 1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Rm. 1035, Lawrence, KS 66045-7590, Telephone: (785) 864-2393, E-mail: corbeill@ku.edu