CCAAMMWWSS NNEEWWSSLLEETTTTEERR THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SOUTH • VOLUME 15.2 : WINTER 2006 • INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 02 HURRICANE, GAINESVILLE, VERGIL 09 SUMMER PROGRAMS 03 HONORS & URLS 11 MEETINGS FOR CLASSICISTS 04 GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS 12 CAMWS INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS 05 CAMWS AWARD CALLS 13 SOUTHERN SECTION CALL FOR PAPERS 07 SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES 15 CAMWS MEMBERSHIP FORM A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT The program for the 102nd Annual Meeting of CAMWS in Gainesville, Florida, April 6-8, 2006, is on the web site and in the mail. We look forward to a program of excellent and diverse papers. With the support of a tourist development grant from Alachua County, Tim Johnson and the local committee have organized a ‘night out' in downtown Gainesville for Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon, as is our custom, we will be meeting on the campus of the University of Florida. I look forward to seeing many of you in Gainesville. On a more serious note, many of our colleagues in the areas afflicted by hurricanes last fall are now returning to class in dramatically changed circumstances. In an effort to assist in hurricane relief, the American Classical League has been established as a clearinghouse for information and support efforts The Executive Committee of CAMWS and the CAMWS-Southern Section have made a donation of the profits from the most recent CAMWS-SS meeting to the ACL relief fund. We would welcome suggestions about how we might, as an organization and as individuals, be of assistance to classicists and classics programs afflicted by the hurricanes. Finally, CAMWS will waive the registration fee for members who are teaching or studying at schools in the afflicted areas that are still closed or in the process of rebuilding and reopening. Qualifying members should write “waived” on the line for the registration fee with a brief note explaining why the waiver is requested. Best wishes for a successful spring term. -Susan Martin, CAMWS President THANKS FROM LOUISIANA Maximas Gratias Vobis Omnibus! To all of you who were so kind and so supportive and who took in and took care of our students during the Fall 2005 semester, please accept our deepest thanks. -T. Davina McClain, on behalf of Loyola University New Orleans and all the schools affected by Hurricane Katrina 1 ADDITIONAL HURRICANE UPDATES The American Classical League is coordinating a hurricane relief effort for classicists affected by the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As we all know, hurricane relief is no longer a front page story, but the needs of those affected will be a reality for years to come. This second-wave effort is important in helping those who are struggling to get their feet back on the ground. Many still can only hope for a semblance of normalcy in their daily lives. Kenneth Kitchell, ACL President, has made a plea for two things: (1) names of schools and people, along the coast and elsewhere, who have been affected by the hurricanes and are in need of assistance, and (2) donations of any size or kind to assist in this coordinated effort. If you have any information, needs, or assistance that you can offer, please contact him directly at [email protected] (http://www.aclclassics.org/relief.asp). As an organization, the Texas Classical Association will be donating $500 to the hurricane relief effort. Also, with the recent adoption of new textbooks in Texas, many old textbooks may be available. If you have access to such books and would like to donate them, please contact ACL via its website. Texas has already played a major role in assisting people displaced by these tragedies. As Texas classicists, we hope to continue that giving effort in whatever ways we can. Vobis omnibus maximas gratias ago! -Clyde Lehmann, President, Texas Classical Association OPPORTUNITY TO EARN CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS Teachers who would like to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for attending the CAMWS Annual Meeting in Gainesville do not have to do anything in advance. When they arrive at the meeting, they should simply ask at the CAMWS registration desk for a CEU application form. Before leaving the meeting, please return the completed form to the CAMWS registration desk, along with a check for $7.50, payable to UW-Madison Extension. This service is available once again through the kindness of Mr. William Kean of Madison. Any questions regarding CEUs should be addressed to Dr. Victoria Pagán, Department of Classics, University of Florida, Gainesville: [email protected]. “VERGIL’S GARDEN” THRIVING IN CYBERSPACE Holt Parker, Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati, has developed a website called “Vergil's Garden,” an illustrated guide to the plants in Vergil's Georgics. One can enter and navigate the site in any number of ways. The easiest is by using the text of the Georgics. Each book is also linked to the Latin text as broken up into segments at Perseus. The names of the plants are highlighted and a click will take the reader to a page with pictures of the plants, their scientific names (genus and species), and the common names in English, French, German, and Italian. Clicking the Latin name leads to the entry in Lewis and Short. Or one can look up plants by their Latin, Scientific, English, French, German, or Italian common names. “Vergil’s Garden” provides at least some idea for what Vergil saw and smelled and tasted and heard. To visit “Vergil’s Garden,” go to classics.uc.edu/~parker/hortus/vergilsgarden.html. 2 FRANCIS WINS NEH FELLOWSHIP James Francis, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Kentucky (Lexington), has been offered a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for next year, for his project “People as Pictures: Visualities of Text and Image in the Second through Fourth Centuries C.E.” The fellowship, in the amount of $40,000, will allow Dr. Francis to make significant progress towards completing a book that explores the complex relationship between verbal and visual representation in the period, the use of visuality to communicate power and divinity, and the vesting in living persons with the qualities and functions of images. Ultimate, Francis seeks to establish that a change in the nature and deployment of visualities was a key characteristic marking the cultural passage from classical to late antiquity. LINDZEY NOMINATED FOR DISNEY AWARD Since 1989 Disney has rewarded the skills of outstanding teachers and this year Ginny Lindzey, teacher of Latin at Porter Middle School in Austin, Texas, has garnered a nomination for this award. In late spring, Disney will announce the forty honorees and at an awards ceremony in July one teacher will be named 2006 Disney Teacher of the Year. All forty honorees will receive $10,000, a $5,000 grant for their schools, and a six-day teaching retreat at the Walt Disney World Resort. As part of the nomination process, Lindzey was required to write some essays about her teaching. These and other observations about her life as a Latin teacher at a secondary school can be found at her blog, appropriately entitled “The Latin Zone” (ginlindzey.livejournal.com/). URLs OF INTEREST… On 21 January, 2006, Katherimini reported that recent excavations in the Kerameikos pointed toward typhoid fever as the source of the plague that ravaged Athens in the early years of the Peloponnesian War. For the full story, go to: www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/ell__KathiLev&xml/&aspKath/ell.asp? fdate=21/01/2006 On 19 January, 2006, Katherimini provided an update on the restoration work taking place on the Athenian acropolis. For the full story, go to: www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_1992524_ 19/01/2006_65343 On 19 January, 2006, the Associated Press reported that a tomb containing a funerary urn and dating to approximately 1000 B.C.E. had been uncovered in the Roman Forum. For the full story, go to: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_sc/italy_ancient_tomb On 14 January, 2006, Elaine Fantham provided a brief history of the ancient site of Alexandria, Egypt. Fantham relates some of the anecdotes connected with Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra. For an audio file of Fantham’s remarks, go to: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5158003 On 6 January, 2006, M&C Science and Nature reported the discovery of a Greek temple near Apollonia, Albania. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati presented their findings about this temple, which may date back to the sixth century B.C.E. For the full story, go to: science.monstersandcritics.com/ news/article_1073890.php/Greek_temple_discovered_in_Albania On 25 November, 2005, The Chronicle of Higher Education presented an article on actor-turned- professor Peter “Robocop” Weller, who has been teaching a course on Roman art and history at Syracuse University. See chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i14/14a00602.htm 3 GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS The Graduate Student Issues Committee (GSIC) is pleased to announce a panel to be presented at this year's Annual Meeting in Gainesville, FL, titled “Don’t Forget Your Towel: Preparing for Success in the Interview Process”. Our five speakers will address some of the finer points of the process and tackle issues that will help you stand out as an applicant at various types of institutions. Victoria Pagán (University of Florida) will lay out the many facets of the interview process at smaller, non-research- oriented schools. Monica Cyrino (University of New Mexico) will provide the armament necessary to face the gauntlet of the R-1 interview in order to make it a productive, pleasurable experience. John Gruber- Miller (Cornell College) will address the interview process from the perspective of the smaller liberal arts school that focuses on teaching more than research.