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Department of Classics
The University of Mississippi

Archive for the ‘Classics in the news’ Category

Dr. Cook named University of Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year

Posted on: January 11th, 2019 by amyevans

Poster for public talk: Documenting Freedon in Ancient Greece and a Broze Inscription in Oxford, Mississippi. Monday Defburary 11, 2019 at 7:00 in Bryant 209. Reception preceding at 6:30 in the Bryant Hall Gallery.We are very proud to announce that the Mississippi Humanities Council has named Associate Professor of Classics Dr. Brad Cook the 2019 University of Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year. As part of the celebration of this well-deserved recognition, Dr. Cook will be presenting a public lecture on some of his current research on Monday, February 11, 2019 at 7:00 in Bryant 209. His talk, “Documenting Freedom in Ancient Greece and a Bronze Inscription in Oxford Mississippi,” stems from his work with a small portable inscription in the University Museum that records the manumission of a female slave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ave atque vale: Dr. Edward Capps III

Posted on: August 22nd, 2018 by amyevans

The Department of Classics is saddened to report that our emeritus colleague Dr. Edward Capps III passed away in Oxford, MS on August 15, 2018.

Dr. Capps was born in 1935 in Oberlin, Ohio where his father was a Professor of Classical Art at Oberlin College; his grandfather was a Professor of Classics at Princeton. Educated at Swarthmore College and Yale, Dr. Capps joined our department in 1964 and taught ancient languages, literature, mythology and civilization courses for many years to many thousands of University of Mississippi students. From 1969 to 1972 he served as Vice-President for Mississippi in the Classical Associate of the Middle West and South. Dr. Capps retired in 2002 and was named Professor Emeritus, but continued to teach freshman liberal arts seminars for some years after that.

Donations and memorials in honor of Dr. Edward Capps III, may be made to the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Foundation (www.mpbonline.org/more/support/).

Dr. Jacqueline DiBiasie Sammons and UM undergrads in Herculaneum

Posted on: August 6th, 2018 by amyevans

Assistant professor of Classics Dr. Jacqueline DiBiasie Sammons and three UM undergrads, Arianna Kitchens, Madeleine McCracken, and Mweyeria Offord spent part of Summer 2018 hard at work locating and digitally documenting graffiti in the ancient city of Herculaneum. Dr. DiBiasie Sammons is the field director for the Ancient Graffiti Project and will be taking more students to continue the project’s work in Pompeii in Summer 2019. The Mike and Mary McDonnell Endowment for the Study of Classics helped fund all three students’ work on the project.

Read more about Dr. BiBiasie Sammons and the Ancient Graffiti Project here.

L to r: Dr. DiBiasie Sammons, Madeleine McCracken, Arianna Kitchens, Mweyeria Offord.

The students at work in a Roman house in Herculaneum.

Dr. Molly Pasco-Pranger wins teaching award.

Posted on: August 5th, 2018 by amyevans

Dr. Pasco-Pranger. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Communications

Associate Professor and Chair of Classics Dr. Molly Pasco-Pranger was awarded the College of Liberal Arts’ 2018 Cora Lee Graham Award for Outstanding Teaching of Freshmen. The award was announced in May 2018.

Dr. Brad Cook awarded NEH Fellowship in Athens

Posted on: January 25th, 2018 by amyevans

Dr. Brad Cook

 

 

 

 

 

Associate Professor of Classics Dr. Brad Cook will spend February-June 2018 at the American School for Classical Studies in Athens, having been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in support of his work on two inscriptions in the University of Mississippi Museum’s Robinson collection. For more here on the project and the fellowship.

Ancient Italy in Context: June 2016

Posted on: July 13th, 2016 by amyevans

Dr. Hilary Becker took 8 intrepid Classics majors and minors on a study tour of sites in Rome, Latium and Campania for four weeks this June. Several of the students were supported by McDonnell Foundation scholarships. Here’s just a sampling of their adventures!

Campidoglio-1024x510
Cerveteri
Forum
Hadrians_villa
Paestum
Palatine
Pompeii_painting
Pompeii_street
Pompeii
Tomb_of_the-_Scipios
Villa_dEste
Jewish_catacombs-1024x768

Historic Greek-English dictionary discovered, donated

Posted on: July 13th, 2016 by amyevans

In sorting through materials shelved in an extra office (our “departmental library”– now to house a member of the University’s ever-growing faculty!), we discovered this week a historical gem! This 1849 Greek-English Lexicon, a forerunner of the Liddell and Scott lexicons widely used today, bears the signature of James Jones Quarles of College Hill, Mississippi. Quarles was the first graduate of the University of Mississippi in 1851, and later a member of the faculty. Further signatures belong to John H. Quarles, who is likely a brother of J. J. Quarles. He is listed in the Historical Catalogue of the University of Mississippi: 1849-1909 as “Not graduating” in 1856. On a later page, Frank Quarles records that this lexicon was left to him by his father, J. J. Quarles. Frank was the grandson of the original owner of the book, and is listed as a “New student” at the University in 1904-05. The Department has donated the Quarles lexicon to the University of Mississippi Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections for preservation.

Title page of historic Greek-English dictionaryPage showing 1850 signature of James Jones Quarles, who was the first graduate of the University of Mississippi in 1851.Front matter page of historic Greek-English dictionary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McDonnell foundation doubles gift to Classics

Posted on: April 19th, 2016 by amyevans

In 2009 UM alumni Mike and Mary “Bickie” McDonnell of Memphis made a generous gift of $250,000 to establish the Mike and Mary McDonnell Endowment in Classics. The endowment’s first priority is the support of study abroad opportunities for Classics majors, and more than two dozen of our students have benefitted from their help since the first funds were donated.  This year, the McDonnells have committed another $250,000 to the endowment. We are beyond grateful for this support for Classics, and are excited to make direct experience of the sites of ancient Mediterranean culture available to even more of our students.

 

Dr. Hilary Becker named UM’s Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year

Posted on: October 13th, 2015 by amyevans

CLA_Humanites_2015posterJoin us for a public lecture celebrating Dr. Becker well-deserved honor on October 28 at 7:00 in Bryant 209.

Dr. Becker will talk about one aspect of her wide-ranging research in Etruscan and Roman archaeology and economic history in this “case study” focused on the trade in pigments in ancient Roman.

A reception will follow in the Farrington Gallery on the first floor of Bryant Hall.

Dr. Aileen Ajootian Named ASCSA Whitehead Professor

Posted on: March 19th, 2015 by amyevans

/Aileen Ajootian

Dr. Aileen Ajootian, professor of classics and art, has been selected to serve as Elizabeth A. Whitehead Visiting Professor at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens for 2014-2015. In this prestigious position, Dr. Ajootian will reside at the American School and continue her research project treating several large but fragmentary Roman architectural sculpture programs excavated in the Forum at ancient Corinth. Upon completion, the study will be submitted to the ASCSA for publication in their series of Corinth volumes. In addition, she will teach a seminar to the Regular Members of the School, who are graduate students in Classics from US and Canadian universities. As Dr. Ajootian describes it, the seminar, Studying Ancient Sculpture: From Apotheke and Marble Pile to Publication, “is designed to encourage young scholars to focus on ancient sculpture, to help them learn current methods of analysis, to guide them through the process — from visual analysis and physical description to research, interpretation, and publication.” The University of Mississippi has been Cooperating Institution of the American School for many years, and Dr. Ajootian herself has maintained a close research relationship with the School throughout her years at the University.