KUDOS TO CLASSICAL STUDIES STAFF, STUDENTS, ALUMNI, AND FACULTY FOR 2020-2021 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STAFF!

Michelle Biggs, Jeff Craft, Sarah Kandell, Anna Moyer, Rachel Sutton, you embody institutional memory (hats off to Michelle!) as you jump through administrative hurdles. Congratulations for seeing us through the many COVID 19 pivots, pirouettes, and arabesques of the past year, handling 10 faculty office moves, creating facility plans, budget plans, graduate student funding plans, responding to the GEO strike, and overseeing graduate recruitment, and commencement without missing a beat. You listened, advised, imagined, budgeted, gave timelines, remembered deadlines, set up meetings, tolerated, joked, and humored us. Highest honors go to you, Anna, as you start to imagine life beyond Classical Studies. We will miss you.

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CLASSICS LIBRARIAN!

Zach Quint wins the first responder in our research needs award. He has been speedy, resourceful, well informed, and thorough in responding to requests for books and resources through the pandemic. Warm thanks from all the Classics community for doing a terrific job.

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO UNDERGRADUATES!

GRADUATING SENIORS

Anneka Benison, BA, Classical Civilization;  Minors, Museum Studies; Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Alethia Blough, BS, Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience; Minor, Greek (Modern) Language and Culture

Malcolm Broda, BA, Classical Languages and Literature, Economics

Shannon Burton, BA, Classical Archaeology (Honors)

Anthony Cichocki, BA, History; Minors, Classical Civilization, Polish Language, Literature and Culture

Emma Creamer, BA, Anthropology; Minor, Classical Archaeology

Puneet Dhatt, BS, Biochemistry; Minor, Classical Civilization

Catharine Fennessey, BA, Classical Languages and Literature (Honors)

Bellina Gaskey, BA, Classical Languages and Literature (Honors)

Peter Georginis, BBA, Business Administration; Minors, Greek (Modern) Language and Culture, International Studies

Erin Grant, BA, Public Policy; Minor, Latin Language and Literature

Siera Grupido, BA, Anthropology; Minor, Classical Archaeology

Robert Hurley, BA, Political Science, Minors, Latin Language and Literature, Writing

Vasili Ioannidis, BA, Economics; Minor, Greek (Modern) Language and Culture

Maria Jonna, BA, Communication and Media; Minor; Greek (Modern) Language and Culture

Kyra Mangasarian, BA, Computer Science; Minor, Classical Civilization

Dillon McCallum, BS, Biochemistry; Minor, Latin Language and Literature

Timothy Michowski, BA, Latin Language and Literature, Political Science; Minor, Digital Studies

Christina Missler, BS, Greek (Modern) Language and Culture, Biology

Elyssa Moody, BA, Political Science; Minor, Greek (Modern) Language and Culture

Haley Perrin, BA, Communication and Media; Minor, Classical Civilization

Karina Peters, BS, Computer Science; Minors, Art and Design, Latin Language and Literature

Audrey Pierce, BA, History (Honors); Minor, Classical Archaeology

Molly Powers, BA, Anthropology; Minors, Latin Language and Literature, Museum Studies

Henry Raffel, BA, Philosophy, Politics and Economics; Minors, Latin Language and Literature, History

William Schwieterman, BS, Neuroscience; Minor, Classical Civilization

Samuel Seltzer, BA, Classical Civilization; Minor, Entrepreneurship

Austin Soos, BA, Classical Civilization; Minors, Earth Sciences General, Environment

Madeline Topor, BA, Anthropology, Classical Archaeology, Polish

Abigail Watroba, BA, Classical Civilization

Sevrin Williams, BA, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Classical Languages and Literature

 

SENIOR PRIZE WINNERS

Shannon Burton, Classical Archaeology Prize: Awarded to the top undergraduate student for distinguished achievement in the study of Classical Archaeology.

Abigail Watroba, Classical Civilization Prize: Awarded to the top undergraduate student for distinguished achievement in the study of Classical Civilization.

Christina Missler, Calliopi Papala Politou Prize in Modern Greek: Awarded in memory of Calliopi Evangelinos recognizing the most exceptional undergraduate senior who excels in the study of Modern Greek.

Bellina Gaskey & Catharine Fennessey, Copley Prize,  Awarded in memory of Frank O. Copley, recognizing the most outstanding undergraduate senior who excels in the study of Latin.

Bellina Gaskey, Seligson Prize, Awarded in memory of Gerda M. Seligson, recognizing the most exceptional undergraduate senior who excels in the study of Classical Greek.

Catharine Fennessey, Future Latin Teacher Prize, Awarded to promising students who are preparing to teach Latin at the secondary level upon graduation.

 

SENIOR HONORS THESIS AWARDS

Shannon Burton’s thesis, Feeding the Roman World: A Reevaluation of Granary C65 from Karanis, received the Terrence McDonald Award for “the finest thesis which made substantial use of archives or museums.” It was directed by Arthur Verhoogt. David Stone was the second reader.

Catharine Fennessey’s thesis, Transformation of Terence in Hrotsvitha’s Dramas, received the John J. Kennedy Award for “excellence in writing and scholarship with preference for students working in literature or poetry.” It was directed by Donka Markus. Ruth Caston was the second reader.

Emma Reck thesis, The Acceptance and Rejection of Non-Normative Identities in the Ancient World, received the Patricia Kennedy Award for excellence in writing and scholarship. It was directed by Ian Fielding. Aileen Das was the second reader.

 

UNDERGRADUATE TRANSLATION PRIZE WINNERS

Hussein Alkadhim (English Language and Literature) translation of Homer, Iliad 24.486–512.

Joshua Johr (Film, Television, and Media) for Gripus, a film adaptation of Plautus, Rudens.

Isabella Reacher (Biochemistry) translation of Virgil, Aeneid 12.930–952.

 

2021 PHILLIPS CLASSICAL AND MODERN GREEK TRANSLATION PRIZE WINNERS

Bellina Gaskey, Senior  (Classical Languages & Literature major), Phillips Classical Prize for Greek Level 3.

Taewon Chung, Junior (Chemistry major), Phillips Classical Prize for Latin Level 1.

Ellie Randolph, Senior (Political Science major), Phillips Classical Prize for Latin Level 2.

Kara Kozma, Junior  (Classical Languages and Literature and English major), Phillips Classical Prize for Latin Level 4.

Catharine Fennessey, Senior (Classical Languages and Literature Major), Phillips Classical Prize for Latin Level 5.

Conor Smith, Senior, (History major), Modern Greek Translation Prize, Intermediate Level.

Margarita Pipinos, Junior (Neuroscience major and Modern Greek minor), Modern Greek Translation Prize, Advanced Intermediate Level.

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRADUATE STUDENTS!

 

GRADUATING MASTERS STUDENTS

  • Katie Davenport, Classical Studies Bridge MA (summer 2020)
  • Erin Haney, Latin MA with Teaching Certificate (winter 2021)
  • Sierra Jones, Classical Studies Bridge MA (summer 2020)

 

GRADUATING PHD STUDENTS

James Faulkner (Classical Languages and Literatures)

Foreign Professionals and Roman Cultural Revolutions (149–91 BCE)

Committee Chairs: David Potter and Basil Dufallo

 

Craig Harvey (IPCAA),

Imperial Ideals and Provincial Realities: The Construction of Baths in the Roman East

Committee Chair: Christopher Ratté

 

Elizabeth Nabney (Classical Languages and Literatures)

Labour and Family Separation in Roman Egypt

Committee Chair: Arthur Verhoogt

 

Edward Nolan (Classical Languages and Literature)

Language and Difference in Herodotus

Committee Chair: Sara Forsdyke

 

Dan Walden (Classical Languages and Literatures)

To Sing the Deeds of Men: Epithet and Identity in Homeric Epic (Director: Benjamin Fortson)

Committee Chair: Benjamin Fortson

 

CONTEXTS FOR CLASSICS (CFC)

GRADUATE TRANSLATION PRIZE WINNERS

Anna Cornel (Classical Languages and Literatures), translation of Bion, fragment 8.

Allen Kendall (Interdepartmental Program in Ancient History), translation of Hymns to Senwosret III.

Sara Yeager (Classical Languages and Literatures), translation of Ecclesiastes 4

 

GRADUATE STUDENT GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS,

Justin Barney - Member of the Classics Pedagogy Development team (Summer 2020) and Graduate Student Mentor (GSM) in Winter 2021. He has been awarded the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship 2020-2021 to complete his dissertation, “Plato and Aristotle on the Efficacy of Religious Practice: (Ruth Scodel and Richard Janko, co-chairs).

Leah Bernardo-Ciddio - Member of the Classics Pedagogy Development team (Summer 2020); CAW executive committee; and Kelsey Museum DEI Committee. 3 Fields Coordinator. GEO Communications Chair 2020-2021. First Alternate, AIA Coleman Traveling Fellowship. Etruscan Foundation Research Fellow 2021-2022.

Marshall Buchanan - Member of the Classics Core Pedagogy Group and developed materials for remote instruction in ClCiv 101. He contributed a module for the Latin Day website.  

Andrew Cabaniss - Member of Classics DEI committee. He has been awarded the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship 2021-2022 to complete his dissertation, “Household Choices and Urban Dynamics in the 1st Millennium BCE Ancient Greek World” (Lisa Nevett, chair).

Caitlin C. Clerkin - Institute for the Humanities Fellowship, 2020-2021. Caitlin presented a Classics DEI lightning talk on archaeological labor (excavation workers in Iraq and WPA workers in Detroit) for the Seleucia-on-the-Tigris excavation and collection, as well as a paper on the same topic at ASOR (“Working on Seleucia: Archaeological Labor in Interwar Iraq and America,” Nov. 2020). She published the review essay, “Online Encounters with Museum Antiquities,” in AJA (Jan. 2021, co-authored with Brad Taylor). She is a grant recipient on the “Narrating NubiaL The Social Lives of Heritage” U-M Humanities Collaboratory project co-directed by Kelsey Associate Research Scientist Geoff Emberling.

Sheira Cohen - IPCAA Grad rep and Co-chair of the Roman Republic Reading Group. She held a Rackham Public Engagement Internship at Michigan Publishing, summer 2020 and received a Classical Studies Internship Fellowship for summer 2021. Sheira received a Rackham International Research Award, summer 2021. She was nominated for Outstanding GSI for CLCIV 101 Fall 2020. She was accepted into the Sweetland Junior Fellows program for the 2021-2022 academic year. She published two chapters (one co-authored with IPCAA alum Matt Naglak) in JRA supplementary series Elite Infant Burial Practices and Urbanization Processes at Gabii, Italy: The Area D Tombs and their Contents.  

Anna Cornel - Successfully taught two self-designed courses as instructor of record: CLCIV 250 “Self and Other(s): Identity in Ancient Greece” in Spring 2020 and ENGLISH 125 “In Your Own Words: Reading, Writing, and Identity” in Fall 2020. They completed the UM Graduate Instructor Certificate (December 2020) and received a CfC Graduate Student Translation Prize (April 2021).

Alexandra Creola - Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for Italy 2021-2022 (deferred from 2020-2021 due to the pandemic) for her project “Roman Nymphs and the Underworld: Landscape, Religion, and Identity in Southern Italy.” Alexandra completed her Certificate of Graduate Studies in Museum Studies (August 2020). She presented “Place-making and Sacred Springs in Republican and Imperial Rome” at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America virtual conference (January 2021), and “Dangerous Exchanges: Identity and Religion in the Boundary Areas of Roman Italy” at the Berlin-Oxford virtual conference on (Re-)Constructing Identities-Culture, Communication, and Exchange in the Ancient World (February 2021). Her paper “A Changing Cityscape in Central Italy: The Gabii Project Excavations, 2012-2018,” co-authored with multiple colleagues, appeared in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

Christina DiFabio - Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations Predoctoral Fellowship for 2020-2021, deferred until 2021-2022. American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) fellowship for advanced Turkish language study and Rackham Language Training Award, both for a summer online advanced Turkish class with Boğaziçi University. Christina was chosen to be the instructor of record of CLARCH 250 for her class “Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in the Mediterranean and Middle East” and will teach it in Summer 2021.

Amelia Eichengreen - IPCAA Alumni Newsletter Editor

Hannah Edwards -  Presented the paper “Docta puella Latinae in Spain: translations of the Latin epigrams of Catalina de Paz (fl. c. 1550)” at the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

James Faulkner - Classics Pedagogy Development team leader, producing our Classics teaching resources Hub and the Slack channel. James successfully defended his dissertation, “Foreign Professionals and Roman Cultural Revolutions (149–91 BCE)” and completed his PhD in Classical Languages and Literature.

Joseph Frankl - IPCAA Digital Curator. He presented a Classics DEI lightning talk on the programming for the Collaborative Archaeology Workgroup (CAW) this year as one possible model for using institutional infrastructure to pursue DEI work at the student level.

Bailey Franzoi - FAST Coordinator. She presented two papers this semester: “Ataecina and Religious Change” at CAMWS and “(Proserpina) Ataecina: Lusitania, Western Mediterranean Mobility, and the Underworld” at the Brandeis AGRS conference. She was accepted into the Museum Studies Program. She is also a member of the UM Humanities Collaboratory project
Narrating Nubia: The Social Lives of Heritage.”

Laurel Fricker - IPCAA Grad rep. She presented the paper “Play Time or Work Time: Identifying Child Crafters in the Bronze Age Aegean” at CAMWS. She is also the graduate student member of the research project “Advancing the Technical Study of Color in Archaeological Collections” led by Kelsey Museum of Archaeology conservators Caroline Roberts and Suzanne Davis.

Dora Gao - GEO steward. She presented the paper “Homer at Home: Classics, the Cultural Revolution, and the Construction of Identity” on the panel “Classics In/Out of Asia” sponsored by the AAACC; and “Velut Iphis: A Trans* Approach to the Woman (Neo-) Latin Poet” at the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

Fernando Gorab Leme - Member of the Classics DEI committee. He presented the paper “If Clodia Despised Catullus, you can very well, Dionysus, despise Ariadne” at the 2021 CfC Classical Receptions Workshop.

Machal Gradoz - Member of the Pedagogy Development team (summer 2020) and Classics DEI GSRA (Winter 2021), who organized  the Anti-Racist Pedagogy Workshop, a set of Classics DEI lightning talks, and the Classics Anti-Racist pedagogy community, and researched and created resources on engaged community work. Machal was also a public programming intern for the Institute for the Humanities in Winter 2020. She is serving as a co-editor of the bi-annual bibliography of recent scholarship on ceramics of the Hellenistic period for the International Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic Period (IARPotHP).

Lucca Green - Co-presented (with Richard Janko) work at the Greek Manuscripts at the University of Michigan Symposium organized by UM Library.

Melissa Gryan - IPCAA Art History Liaison.

Erin Haney - completed MA in Latin with Teaching Certification (MAT) and will take the position of Upper School Classics teacher at Gilman in Baltimore beginning August 23, 2021.

Brittany Hardy - GEO steward and member of the Pedagogy Development team. She delivered a paper at CAMWS entitled “Ariston’s Tragic Illness: Medical Language in Demosthenes 54.” Brittany has served as a trainer/ volunteer coordinator for the Open Greek and Latin Project overseen by the Center for Hellenic Studies. She was selected to help create a career network for Language and Literatures PhD students.

Craig Harvey - Defended his dissertation, “Imperial Ideals and Provincial Realities: The Construction of Baths in the Roman East,” and completed his PhD in IPCAA.

Alanna Heatherly - Latin Day Coordinator and Three Fields Coordinator.

Nadhira Hill - Pedagogy Development Team leader and winter instructional support team member. She received a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship 2020-2021 to complete her dissertation, “De-centering the Symposium: Characterizing Commensality in Late Classical Olynthos, Greece” (Lisa Nevett chair) and a Jacob Hirsch Fellowship from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Tyler Johnson - Rackham Conference Travel Grant for virtual participation in the 27th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA, September 2021). Tyler presented a Classics DEI lightning talk on the potentials, problems, and questions in digital archaeology and how they pertain to accessibility, both in terms of publication and of archaeological sites.

Sierra Jones - Latin Day Coordinator. Sierra completed the Classical Studies Bridge MA and entered the IPAH PhD program. Her abstract was accepted by the Christian Cole Society, and she is giving a talk on "Re-envisioning the Classics through African Diasporic Art: Alison Saar."

Brittany Joyce - IPAH Grad Rep.

Allen Kendall won the CFC translation award for his translation of Hymns to Senwosret III.

Kaitlin Karmen - presented “A first edition and translation of an unpublished poem (1566) from Johanna Otho to Camille de Morel” at the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

Amanda Kubic - Co-cordinator (with William Soergel) of the Topics in Classical Intersectionalities Rackham workshop (TiCI) and organizer of the Classical Receptions Virtual Symposium. Amanda presented “Teaching Antigone in Ferguson and Carrie Mae Weems’ Past Tense—Pedagogical Dilemmas, Questions, and Insights” at the 2021 CfC Classical Receptions Workshop.

Emily Lamond - Institute for the Humanities Fellowship, 2021-2022. She will use the time to complete her dissertation, “Disability and Lived Law in the High Empire of Rome.”

Antonello Mastronardi - Brown Bag organizer (with Stephen Shiflett). He presented “Rigorous Law and the Blanditiae of Spouses: Constantine’s marriage legislation” at the SCS annual meeting (January 2021).

Andrew Mayo - Graduate Rep for Language and Literature and Classics student librarian.

Ginevra Miglierina - AIA Rep.

Ryan Migliore -  Website committee and member of the Classics Core Pedagogy Group. He developed materials for remote instruction in Elementary Latin and Greek.

Katelin Mikos - Graduate Rep for Language and Literature and member of the Classics DEI committee. She was accepted into the Museum Studies Program. Katie was selected to help create a career network for Language and Literatures PhD students.

Matteo Milesi - Classics student librarian.

Alex Moskowitz - Initiator and member of the committee setting the Professionalization series.

Lizzie Nabney - Defended her dissertation, Labour and Family Separation in Roman Egypt, and completed her PhD in Classical Languages and Literature.

Theodore Nash - Published a chapter, “Cultures of Writing: Rethinking the ‘Spread’ and ‘Development’ of Writing Systems in the Ancient Mediterranean,” in The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices, ed. P. Boyes, P. Steele and N. Elvira Astoreca. Reviewed E. Salgarella’s Aegean Linear Script(s) for BMCR.

Caroline Nemecheck - GEO steward.

Shannon Ness - Member of the Pedagogy Development team (Summer 2020). Shannon is a grant recipient on the “Narrating Nubia: The Social Lives of Heritage” U-M Humanities Collaboratory project co-directed by Kelsey Associate Research Scientist Geoff Emberling. She completed the Rackham Professional Development Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Certificate (Winter 2021).

Edward Nolan -  Rackham Outstanding Student Instructor Award for excellence in teaching and mentoring students in Modern Greek 325, “Athens Present and Past.” Ed defended his dissertation, Language and Difference in Herodotus and completed his PhD in Classical Languages and Literature. He was selected to help create a career network for Language and Literatures PhD students.

Lauren Oberlin - Member of the Classics DEI committee.

Zoe Ortiz - Head Classical Studies student librarian. She contributed a module for Latin Day website. Zoe received a Fulbright Fellowship for 2020-2021, deferred until 2021-2022.

Malia Piper - Presented “Playing the Player: Thinking about the Meretrices of Plautus’ Truculentus” at CAMWS.

James Prosser - GEO steward and Kelsey Museum Rep.

Alison Rittershaus - Presented a Classics DEI lightning talk on lessons learned about inclusive teaching during this pandemic year and how to be a better, inclusive teacher going forward.

Buck Roberson -  AIA Rep and FAST organizer.

Sam Ross - GEO steward, AIA Rep, and FAST organizer.

Wares Salehzai - Presented “Meter: Made To Be Broken. Versification and innovation in the works of Hrotsvitha and Hildegard” at the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

Robert Santucci - Member of Classical Studies Professionalization series and of the Classics Core Pedagogy Group and developed materials for remote instruction in Elementary Latin. He serves on the SCS Graduate Student Committee. Rob published two articles: “Erysichthon Gets Fed: A Menu in Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses” in the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (available here) and “Eating Yourself Empty: Erysichthon and the Environment” in the open-access journal Antigone (available here). He presented his dissertation research (on eating in the younger Seneca’s text) at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States in October, as well as at the CAMWS meeting in April. He was selected to help create a career network for Language and Literatures PhD students.

Catherine Schenck - Classics student librarian, member of the Classics DEI committee, and member of the committee setting the Professionalization series.

Stephen Shiflett - 3 Fields Coordinator and Brownbag Coordinator (with Antonello Mastronardi).

William Soergel - Received an Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies Graduate Student Research Fellowship for 2021-22. William was a co-coordinator (with Amanda Kubic) of the Topics in Classical Intersectionalities Rackham workshop (TiCI) and organizer of the Classical Receptions Virtual Symposium. In the History department, they were also co-president of the Graduate Organization of Students in History (GOSH) that represents and builds community for more than 140 graduate students at the university.

Alex Tarbet - Gave a Classics DEI lightning talk (with Sara Ahbel-Rappe) on what went right and what went wrong in decolonizing Great Books.

Taylor Tyrell - Onassis Foundation Diversity Scholarship. Taylor presented “Johanna Otho (c. 1549–c. 1621)” at the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

Daniel Walden - Successfully defended his dissertation, “To Sing the Deeds of Men: Epithet and Identity in Homeric Epic” and completed his PhD in Classical Languages and Literatures.

Megan Wilson - Member of the Prison Creative Arts Project and, as part of the Confronting Conditions of Confinement team, has undertaken archival research on the history of Michigan prison conditions and conducted oral history interviews with returning citizens about their lived experiences. Megan also leads the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement (DCC) Communications & Outreach Team.

Sara Yeager - GEO steward and Head Steward. Yeager presented the paper “Jerome’s Curriculum Vitae and the Departmental Division” at the 2021 CfC Classical Receptions Workshop and the paper “Eloquence as Innocence: Rhetorical Skill as Defense and Offense in Apuleius’ Apologia” at CAMWS. They were also accepted to the 2021 Institute for Social Change in the Program for Public Scholarship, as well as the German for Students of Classical Studies program at the University of Cologne.

 

GRADUATE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES AND OTHER LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

DEI GSRA: Machal Gradoz

DEI committee members: Drew Cabaniss, Fernando Gorab Leme, Katie Mikos, Lauren Oberlin, and Catherine Schenck

Graduate Reps: Sheira Cohen (IPCAA), Laurel Fricker (IPCAA), Brittany Joyce (IPAH), Andrew Mayo (Lang & Lit), and Katie Mikos (Lang & Lit)

Latin Day: Sierra Jones (Bridge MA), Alanna Heatherly (Lang and Lit)

Professionalization series: Alex Moskowitz, Rob Santucci, and Catherine Schenck

Pedagogy Development team, summer-fall and winter: James Faulkner and Nadhira Hill (leads), Justin Barney, Leah Bernardo-Ciddio, Machal Gradoz, Shannon Ness, and Ed Nolan

Student librarians, Zoe Ortiz, Andrew Mayo, Matteo Milesi, and Catherine Schenck

AIA Reps: Ginevra Miglierina, Buck Roberson, and Sam Ross

GEO Stewards: Dora Gao, Brittany Hardy, Caroline Nemecheck, James Prosser, Sam Ross, and Sara Yeager

FAST Organizers: Bailey Franzoi, Buck Roberson, and Sam Ross

IPCAA Art History Liaison: Melissa Gryan

IPCAA Alumni Newsletter Editor: Amelia Eichengreen

IPCAA Digital Curator: Joseph Frankl

Kelsey Rep: James Prosser

Lang & Lit and IPAH Brownbag: Antonello Mastonardi and Stephen Shiflett

Three Fields: Alanna Heatherly (Lang and Lit), Stephen Shiflett (IPAH), Leah Bernardo-Ciddio (IPCAA)

Website: Ryan Migliori

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ALUMNUS!

Anthony Cornish (BA, Classical Archaeology 2003), who teaches Latin at Detroit Catholic Central High School, is the winner of the 2021 Glenn M. Knudsvig Award for Outstanding Latin Teaching in Michigan Secondary Schools.

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FACULTY!

Natalie Abell received an AIA-NEH Grant for Archaeological Research, APS Franklin Grant, Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship, and Rust Family Foundation Fellowship for her project, "Chronological and Environmental Assessment of Charcoal from Neolithic and Bronze Age Kea (Cyclades, Greece). She completed her book, Ayia Irini: Area B (Keos XII), and a number of articles.

Sara Ahbel-Rappe gave the World Philosophy lecture on “Socrates & Shantideva” invited by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. She received LSA 2021 Summer Research funding for her proposal titled, “A Commentary on Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations for students of Greek,” was selected for funding. She gave a Classics DEI lightning talk (with Alex Tarbet) on what went right and what went wrong in decolonizing Great Books.

Sue Alcock is Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at UM Dearborn.

Nicola Barham held a Getty/American Council of Learned Societies Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art (2020) for the project, “Syrian Diasporas in the Ancient Roman World: Soldiers, Wives, and Economic Migrants.”

Netta Berlin was the Undergraduate Academic Advisor for Honors and also for Transfer Students. She created the departmental transfer plan.

Anna Bonnell-Freidin published “Animal Wombs: Visualizing the Uterus in Graeco-Roman Culture” (Classical Philology, 2021); “The Birthday Present: Censorinus’ De die natali” (The Journal of Roman Studies, 2020); and “Carrying Risk in Antiquity and the Present” (Mona Oraby and Myrna Perez Sheldon eds., “Religion and Reproductive Science,” The Immanent Frame: Secularism, Religion, and the Public Sphere, 2020).

Ruth Caston is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Classics Language and Literature PhD program and heads the committee with three students organizing the Professionalization series.

Aileen Das published the book, Galen and the Arabic Reception of Plato's Timaeus (Cambridge) and was promoted to Associate Professor of Classical Studies with tenure. She was the Director of IPAH (2020-2021) and serves on the Steering Committee of Contexts for Classics.

Basil Dufallo completed his book, Disorienting Empire: Republican Latin Poetry's Wanderers (OUP, June 2021). He gave a Classics lightning talk bringing queer theory and postcolonial theory into dialogue with stories about wandering, becoming lost, and being disoriented in Republican Latin poetry. His first book Ghosts of the Past: Latin Literature, the Dead, and Rome's Transition to a Principate went into paperback this year.

Ian Fielding has been promoted to Associate Professor of Classical Studies with tenure (pending provostial and regential approval). He is the Director of the Bridge MA program and a Steering Committee member of Contexts for Classics. He organized the Women Latin Poets Symposium: From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period.

Sara Forsdyke was named Josiah Ober Collegiate Professor of Ancient History. She chaired the DEI committee, lleading community discussions, developing the committee’s charge, overseeing the DEI GSRA, and participating in the department’s anti-racist pedagogy community. For the LSA Democracy and Debate theme semester, she prepared a Democracy Café toolkit on "Perils and Possibilities of Democracy: The Example of Ancient Greek Democracy."

Ben Fortson is the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Meg Foster began as Associate Professor of Classical Studies in Fall 2020.. She successfully taught ClCiv 101, with over 200 students and 10 GSIs under pandemic remote conditions during her first semester.

Bruce Frier taught his last class in the UM Law School and will retire after a career of 52 years’ teaching. He is the John and Teresa D=Arms Distinguished University Professor of Classics and Roman Law (with tenure in Classical Studies and in Law) and began his teaching career in the UM Department of Classical Studies in 1969.

Michael Galaty is the Director of the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology.

Brendan Haug published “Politics, Partage, and Papyri: Excavated Texts between Cairo and Ann Arbor (1924-1953)” (American Journal of Archaeology 2021) and has three articles forthcoming in 2021. In his joint appointment in the Library as the archivist of the Papyrology Collection, he worked to make papyrology materials accessible under pandemic conditions.

Richard Janko published Philodemus: On Poems, Book 2. With the fragments of Heracleodorus and Pausimachus in the Philodemus Translation Series.

Vassilis Lambropoulos is on the steering committee of Contexts for Classics. He published a monthly series of articles, «Παίζουμε ένα ποίημα;» (Shall we play a poem?), each on a new poetic collection in the journal Χάρτης from January 2019-January 2021. He edits the series Εξέγερση / Revolt on the UM Modern Greek website.

Artemis Leontis published the audiobook of Eva Palmer Sikelianos: A Life in Ruins, participated in a UM Library Scholar Sprint on her digital project, "Queer Correspondence," and presented a paper at the MGSA Pedagogy Workshop. To honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, she revisited the statue of Demetrius Ypsilanti in Ypsilanti to reflect on the history of how the city received its Greek name. She is Vice President of the Modern Greek Studies Association Executive Board (2020-2023). She completed her fourth and last year as Chair of the department.

Despina Margomenou’s nomination for Collegiate Lecturer (2020) was forwarded by LSA to the Provost and Regents.

Donka Markus published “Harmonizing Binaries: Hypatia’s Synesius” in the International Journal of the Platonic Tradition. Her nomination for Collegiate Lecturer was forwarded by LSA to the Provost and Regents. Her nomination for Collegiate Lecturer (2021) was forwarded by LSA to the Provost and Regents.

Laura Motta received an AIA-NEH Grant for Archaeological Research to support her project, “Herding, Husbandry and the City: Stable Isotope Analysis of Gabii’s Animals.” She published two book chapters and completed four articles. She is the Academic Advisor for Classical Archaeology and was nominated for the Excellence in Departmental Advising Award 2021.

Ian Moyer published Classicisms in the Black Atlantic in Classical Presences series (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-edited with A. Lecznar and H. Morse

Lisa Nevett was the Archaeological Institute of America’s Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecturer for 2019/2020. She gave the final talk in March 2021 on the scope and range of work encompassed by the Olynthos Project.

David Potter will be a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton next year and will use the time to finish his book on Caesar and the destruction of Roman democracy (under contract with Oxford University Press). David’s most recent book is Disruption: Why Things Change (Oxford, 2021).

Yopie Prins is Chair of Comparative Literature and serves the steering committee of Contexts for Classics. Her article “An Essay on An Essay on Irony” is forthcoming in Anne Carson/Antiquity, ed. Laura Jansen (Bloomsbury Press 2021).

Zachary Quint, our Classics and Modern Greek Librarian. He is part of The Greek Digital Journal Archive (GDJA) / Το Αρχείο Ελληνικών Ψηφιοποιημένων Περιοδικών (ΑΕΨΠ), a consortium of libraries and archives in North America and Europe committed to open online access of their historic journal and newspaper collections in Greek and other languages.

Christopher Ratté is the director of IPCAA.

Jonathan Ready began as Professor of Classical Studies in Fall 2021. He was runner up for the 2020 Katharine Briggs Award for his book Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics: An Interdisciplinary Study of Oral Texts, Dictated Texts, and Wild Texts (Oxford UP 2019). He will be an Institute for a Humanities 2021 Summer Fellow working on his project “Immersion, Identification, and the Iliad.”

Francesca Schironi was selected to receive LSA 2021 Summer Research Proposal titled, “Mapping Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue.”

Celia Schultz was a fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Uppsala for 2020-2021 working on a monograph on Roman sacrifice. Unfortunately, her stint as the William Evans Fellow at the University of Otago (NZ) in summer 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19. Her book, Fulvia: Playing for Power at the End of the Roman Republic, will be out from OUP in August. She will be the new Chair of Classical Studies beginning July 1, 2021.

Ruth Scodel was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and as VP for Professional Matters of the Society for Classical Studies. She is also chair of the CAMWS Subcommittee for the First Book Award.

Gina Soter is the Undergraduate Advisor for Latin Minors. She supplied faculty with Classics humor during our lockdown.

Irene Soto-Marín arrived in Fall 2020 as Assistant Professor of Classical Studies and Kelsey Museum Curator. She immediately started a new blog, The Social Lives of Coins: Archaeology and Numismatics at the Kelsey. She was interviewed by Candida Moss in the Daily Beast here on the unearthing of a horde of roughly 7,000 Roman and medieval coins. She published Ancient Taxation: The Mechanics of Extraction in Comparative Perspective, co-edited with Jonathan Valk (NYU Press 2021) and has articles forthcoming in the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists and the American Journal of Numismatics.

Will Stroebel began as Assistant Professor of Modern Greek and Comparative Literature in Fall 2020. He published the article “Longhand Lines of Flight: Cataloging Displacement in a Karamanli Refugee's Commonplace Book” in the PMLA, examining a handwritten Karamanli refugee ballad in a handmade codex and using this to illuminate some of the lingering blind spots in national philology and world literature.

David Stone wrote a chapter for the publication of a conference on Connectivity held at Michigan in February 2020. He published a short article in the American Journal of Archaeology (2021), and was a co-author on articles published in the Journal of Greek Archaeology (2020), the Annual of the British School at Athens (2020), and To Αρχαιολογικό Εργo στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη (2021). One of his biggest challenges was teaching a new course in each semester of the pandemic.

Nic Terrenato is Director of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. He received the prestigious AIA James R. Wiseman Book Award for his book, The Early Roman Expansion into Italy. He gave a Classics DEI lightning talk on the inherent challenges in decolonizing the Kelsey Museum.

Shonda Tohm is Elementary Latin Coordinator. She managed all the parts of her complex position remotely—teaching, training GSIs, and mentoring our Latin MAT students, while planning for the future of the Latin MAT. She worked with graduate students in the summer Classics Core Pedagogy Group to create new remote teaching materials for teaching Latin.

Arthur Verhoogt is Associate Dean of Humanities at Rackham Graduate School.

Carrie Wood continues as head section leader for GSIs in Great Books.