Department of Classics

Listen to Ryan Sellers TED Talk on “The Value of Learning Latin.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eYkDhH61Y&sns=fb

Ryan Sellers is a Latin teacher at Memphis University School. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association and as a Regional Vice-President of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. He is the current Co-Chair of the CAMWS Latin Translation Contest and the former State Co-Chair of the Tennessee Junior Classical League.

On Monday, October 17, 2016 at 7:00 PM (Simons Center for the Arts, Room 309) Classics will sponsor Joe Goodkin performing his Folk Opera, Homer’s Odyssey. Part lecture, musical performance, and interactive discussion, the centerpiece of Joe’s program is a 30 minute continuous performance of 24 original songs with lyrics inspired by Odysseus’ famous exploits. Drawing on his years of writing and recording original rock music and his Bachelor’s Degree in Classics/Ancient Greek from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Joe’s performance represents in a contemporary musical mode both the abridged plot and the performance circumstances of Homer’s original oral composition of The Odyssey. The concert is free and open to the public. For further information, see http://www.joesodyssey.com/

Learning a language requires a community — and in Latin and Greek we have many opportunities to support each other in learning these languages:

♦ All Latin 101 students can attend Supplemental Instruction sessions, taught by Gwen Gibbons. There are three sessions every week:

Sundays 5:00 – 6:00 ECTR 102

Tuesdays 6:00 – 7:00 Randolph 301B

Thursdays 5:00 – 6:00 Randolph 301B

♦ LATN 102-202 and all Greek students can see Sophie Naughton for free study/help sessions. To make an appointment, visit the webpage for the Center for Student Learning. It’s easy: http://csl.cofc.edu/labs/foreign-languages-tutoring-lab/index.php

♦ Our Classics Honor Society sponsors an open study hall-session every Thursday, 2-4pm in Randolph Hall 301B.

Gwen Gibbons (SI instructor) and Sophie Naughton (CSL tutor) say come on and join in the fun of learning together!

The Department of Classics is pleased to welcome to our faculty, Dr. Sam Flores. Dr. Flores earned his Ph.D. in Greek and Latin from The Ohio State University. His primary research interest is Ancient Philosophy, in particular Platonic thought and Plato’s dialogues as literature. His article on “The Development of Critias in Plato’s Dialogues” will soon appear in Classical Philology. Before coming to the College of Charleston, Dr. Flores was a visiting professor at Gettysburg College and Kalamazoo College, and he has taught widely in Greek and Latin Literature, and Classical culture.

Welcome Dr. Flores! We look forward to the many contributions you will make to our program.

Dr. Jen Gerrish presented her work on the calamity of civil warring at the international conference on “Emotional Trauma in Greek and Roman Culture-Representations and Reactions” at the European Cultural Center of Delphi (ECCD), Greece, June 23-25, 2016. Her paper, “Sallust’s Histories, the Repetition Compulsion, and the Trauma of Civil War,” was selected to be part of a prestigious assembly of scholars meeting over four days. For more on the European Cultural Center and their events, see http://www.eccd.gr/en/.

College of Charleston field reports. There are exciting projects on-going and ways you can participate. Come hear Drs. Hays, Newhard, Sterrett-Krause, Harris, and Ibarra talk about the projects and the opportunities.

There is so much to learn about the past and ourselves from rocks and stone. See “The Chipped and Ground Stone” in M. Cosmopoulos, (ed.) The Political Geography of a Mycenaean District. The Archaeological Survey at Iklaina. Athens: Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens. Pp. 177-188.

In today’s tech-driven world, the humanities may seem like the marginalized cousin to the increasingly popular STEM subjects. But Classics professor James Newhard believes that without an understanding of the human element, advances offered through science, technology, engineering and math won’t get very far. http://magazine.cofc.edu/2016/06/17/james-newhard/