Report on the Annual Meeting

I am happy to report that the 107th Annual Meeting of CAMWS held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 6-9, 2011, was a "grand" success!  The program featured 331 presentations, covering every conceivable topic related to Classical Studies, all delivered in the space of three days.  The 70 sessions included 11 panels and 2 undergraduate paper sessions.  For the fourth year in a row, the Graduate Student Issues Committee also offered a pre-convention workshop.  As if that were not enough, Plautus' The Braggart Soldier was performed on the GVSU campus Thursday evening for those adventurous enough to take the bus to Allendale.

  
Our 457 attendees enjoyed elegant accommodations at the Amway Grand Plaza,

Amway Grand Plaza

and the hotel's tasty refreshments made visiting the book exhibit a pleasure in more ways than one!  It was an honor to have Mayor George Heartwell personally welcome CAMWS to Grand Rapids at the opening reception.  On Friday afternoon we were treated to not just one but two on-campus receptions, one at the Prince Center of Calvin College, the other at the Eberhard Center on the Grand Valley State University downtown campus.   At the latter reception Fred Antczak, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences at GVSU, greeted the multitude and received a Special Service Award from CAMWS for his enthusiastic support of Classics. 

We owe a huge debt of thanks to our local committee, especially Peter Anderson and his colleagues at GVSU and Mark Williams and his colleagues at Calvin; they and their gracious undergraduates were models of team work and cooperation--and who could miss seeing them in their stylish purple caps?  At the Friday-night banquet Mark Williams, along with Keely Lake and Peter Knox, received ovationes for their service to the  profession; Jim May's Latin rendition of the Michigan state song (to the tune of "O Tannenbaum") was worthy of American Idol.  From David Tandy's engaging presidential address ("Taxes, taxes, and more taxes") we learned how much the ancient Athenian economy has to teach us about the demands of citizenship in the modern world.  And at the business meeting the next morning we welcomed our own new citizens as we voted to add Nevada as the 32nd state in CAMWS territory.  What a bonanza!

   
Next year Tom Sienkewicz, Secretary-Treasurer Elect, and I will be co-running the 108th Annual Meeting of CAMWS in the Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel, at the invitation of Louisiana State University.  Yes, the rumor is true:  there is a riverboat casino attached to the hotel!  If you are like me, you always leave a CAMWS meeting enriched with new knowledge and new friendships.  Next year you may find yourself leaving the meeting financially enriched as well.  Hope to see you and Lady Luck there. 

    
--Anne Groton, CAMWS Secretary-Treasurer 

 

Return to Top 

Photo Highlights from Grand Rapids

CAMWS President David Tandy, Mayor Heartwell, and Secretary-Treasurer Anne Groton

Local Committee Chair Peter Anderson

Bolchazy-Carducci Book Display

Reception at Calvin College's   Prince Conference Center

Reception at Grand Valley State's Eberhard Center

Banquet MC Michael Gagarin

Ovatio recipient Mark Williams and   CAMWS orator Jim May

David Tandy passes the official presidential gavel to Julia Hejduk

Return to Top 

Awards 2010-2011

Ovationes

Peter Knox (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Keely Lake (Wayland Academy)

Mark Williams (Calvin College)

Return to Top 

CAMWS Special Service Award

The Classical Association of the Middle West and South's Special Service Award, which is not bestowed every year, honors exceptional promotion of the Classics and/or accomplishments for the profession in CAMWS territory. Frederick J. Antczak, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Grand Valley State University, indeed exemplifies the support of Latin and Classical Studies which the award is intended to celebrate.  This award is presented for his many years of successful promotion of the Classics.  As Dean Antczak's nominator pointed out:

The program in Classics at GVSU was founded in 2000 and has experienced remarkable success and growth in the past decade. It's scarcely an exaggeration to suggest that this success would hardly have been possible without Dean Antczak. He has enthusiastically embraced the Department's vision for a dynamic and innovative face-to-face learning community and has enabled our efforts to promote the Classical world both within the GVSU community and to our partners in the wider region.

One of our committee members, on reviewing the nomination, remarked, "A dean who supervises, cultivates, and patronizes the creation of a brand-new Classics program, now up to SEVEN faculty members, in the space of a decade, provides a ray of light in the darkness and is certainly deserving of a special award from CAMWS!"  He has provided administrative and financial support of non-sabbatical research leaves; budget allocations for equipment, special topics courses and projects, and release time for members of the Department of Classical Studies. Both materially and morally, he encourages co-curricular, interdisciplinary, and outreach efforts, including productions of Seneca's Oedipus and Sophocles' Antigone by the Grand Valley State University Classical Theatre Workshop, a three-day Summer Latin Institute for secondary school teachers in a multi-state region and subsequent Summer Classics Institutes for area teachers, and hosting meetings of the Michigan Junior Classical League and the Michigan Classical Conference.  Dean Antczak's advocacy has been instrumental in winning well-deserved recognition for Classics students and faculty, including most notably Grand Valley State University's most prestigious honor, the Glenn A. Niemeyer Award, for Professor Diane Rayor in 2011; the APA's Award for Excellence in Teaching at the College Level for Professor Peter Anderson in 2010; and a Manson A. Stewart Scholarship from CAMWS for student Donna St. Louis in 2009.

Beyond these tangible benefits which Dean Antczak has provided to Classical Studies in the Michigan area, he has demonstrated, in his own life and work, the benefits of training in the Classics.  His bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame shows a major in Greek.  This study of Classics informed his M.A. (1976) and his Ph.D. (1979) from the Committee on the Analysis of Ideas and the Study of Methods at the University of Chicago.  He taught in the Rhetoric Department at the University of California-Berkeley, the Department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies at the University of Virginia, and for seventeen years in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa, coming at last to Grand Valley State University in 2004. The CAMWS Special Service Award is only one in a long string of accolades accorded to Dean Antczak, from the University of Virginia's  Thomas Jefferson teaching award "for best embodying the educational ideals of Thomas Jefferson" to the University of Iowa's Outstanding Teaching Award in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, to the Conference on College Composition and Communication's Citation for Outstanding Classroom Practice, among others. The CAMWS Award for Special Service honors the life's work of Dean Antczak, not just for its promotion of programs in Classical Studies but also for its promotion of the use of Classical ideals and ideas in modern life.   

--Alice M. Sanford, Chair, CAMWS Steering Committee on Awards and Scholarships

News of Dean Antczak's award was featured on the Grand Valley State website.  

Return to Top 

Outstanding Publication Award

CAMWS Award for Excellence in College Teaching

Ian Worthington is Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he teaches ancient Greek history.  Having written or edited fourteen books and over 80 articles, Professor Worthington seems to throw boundless energy into all of his endeavors, but especially into his teaching.  His colleagues describe him as an enthusiastic and hard-working teacher, advisor, and colleague, who works with students both in his own department and in the University of Missouri's interdisciplinary Ancient Studies Program.  But the committes's attention was most drawn to the comments of students, who, across the board, praise Professor Worthington's demands that students develop critical thinking skills.  Students report never before being required to support their opinions with such rigor.  They mention his aggressive questioning style during class; to their shock, he even calls on people who do not volunteer.  As one student wrote, "These questions, though, are not just basic ones; they are questions that invoke thought and critical thinking. This teaching strategy motivates students to do the assigned reading and really pull material away from it." Such comments suggest that Professor Worthington is in fact achieving his own goals for his students; in his teaching statement, he wrote, "I provide the class with the often conficting and controversial ancient sources...that we then critique as a group.  I find that by involving students in an active learning process and helping them develop the key skills of analyzing a source for what it says (and does not say)..., they also come to hone their communication skills." Worthington's description of his teaching goals matches his students' interpretation of them: one student wrote, "He expects his students to read and be prepare to discuss texts in class." Another student commented, "By keeping the bar high, Worthington motivates students to try their hardest every day in class, in ever sentence of every essay in an exam, and in every aspect of his class. He wants students to succeed, but he wants them to succeed in learning and developing skills and knowledge that will help them in future semesters and future years." In short, his students don't just learn; they know that they have learned. Another refrain was the difficulty of his courses, but students seem to have undestood the purpose of the difficulty: one wrote, "Often his students find him outspoken and incredibly difficult. What I found was a professor...who asked for his students nothing more than he expected of himself.  He asked his students to formulate opinions and defend them." Another commented, "His class was extremely difficult to get an A in, but that was not because he was trying to torture his students, but he was trying to bring out the best in them." For his "vast amount of care he has for his students, combined with his engaging teaching methods and absolute zeal for his subject matter," Ian Worthington is a deserving winner of the CAMWS Award for Excellence in College Teaching.

-Margaret Musgrove, Chair, Subcommittee on Kraft/CAMWS Teaching Awards

Professor Worthington kindly shared the following appreciation for this award with the CAMWS Newsletter:

"I am delighted and honored to have been awarded the 2011 CAMWS Excellence in College Teaching Award. As a teacher, I have numerous aims and challenges, and I expect a lot from students and myself. In my courses my aim is not merely to impart information and give compelling content, but to inspire learning as a lifeskill. It is not enough for me to keep students engaged by understanding connections with the ancient world and between it and the modern world, I want them to apply that knowledge in their lives and in understanding the world in which we live.  I'm very flattered to have received an award for doing a job I love to do, and I thank the committee and CAMWS again for it."

Return to Top 

Kraft Award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching

Presidential Award for Outstanding

Graduate Student Paper

• Kerry Lefebvre (University of Wisconsin, Madison), "From Field to Fold: Mixed Metaphors in Moschus' Europa"
• George Hendren (University of Florida), "Woven Alliteration in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura"   

Kerry Lefebvre and Anne Groton

David Tandy and George Hendren

Return to Top 

Manson A. Stewart Scholarships

• Colleen Blosser, Creighton
• Molly Harris, University of Michigan
• Claire Heitzman, University of Kentucky
• Stephen Margheim, Baylor
• Josh Semrow, University of Minnesota
• Crescentia Stegner-Freitag, University of Wisconsin

Honorable Mentions: 

• Stephanie Hutchings, Universtity of Michigan
• Kyle Oskvig, University of Iowa

David Tandy and Kyle Oskvig

Return to Top 

Manson A. Stewart Teacher Training

and Travel Awards

Winners of the Teacher Training Award for 2010-2011 were:

• Lauren Rogers (Salem Academy, Winston-Salemn, NC)
• Lindsey Campbell (Dacula High School, Dacula, GA)
• Charlaine Lunsford (Woodrow Wilson High School, Portsmouth, VA)

Winners of the Travel Award for 2010-2011 were:

• Micah Everson (Murrah High School, Jackson, MS)
• Kelly E. Shannon (Corpus Christi College)
• Amy Leonard (Henry W. Grady High School, Atlanta, GA)
• Marsha McCoy (Southern Methodist University)
• Catherine Wickham (Deer Path Middle School, Lake Forest, IL)

Winners of the Southern Section Travel Award for 2010-2011 were:

• John Young (Marshall University)
• Patrick J. Bradley (Rockbridge County High School, Lexington, VA)
• Daniel W. Leon (University of Virginia)

Return to Top

Latin Translation Contest

Cash Award Winners (alphabetically, with school and teacher)

• Roman Berens, Charlotte Latin School, NC (Lawrence Wall)
• William Bergan, Thomas Jefferson High School, VA (Christine Conklin)
• Nicole Bray, Brookfield Academy, WI (Ruth Osier)
• Uttara Chakraborty, Chakraborty Homeschool, MO (Uday Chakraborty)
• Patrick Ford, Eastside High School, GA (Eric Adams)
• Spencer Nash, The Westminster Schools, GA (Conway Brackett)
• Mason Osborn, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, TX (Jennie Luongo & Andrew Rist)
• Matthew Petrella, St. Ignatius High School, OH (Joseph Zebrak)
• Fiona Sappenfield, Hume-Fogg Academic High School, TN (Alice Sanford)
• Avery Wiens, The Lovett School, GA (Kenneth Rau)

Book Prize Winners (alphabetically, with school and teacher)

• Matthew Ahlgren, Summit County Day School, OH (Kim Ashcraft & Larry Dean)
• Myles Anderson, Montgomery Bell Academy, TN (Edward Gaffney)
• Andrew Boudon, St. Edward High School, OH (Stergios Lazos)
• John Bowman, Charlotte Latin School, NC (Karen McQuaid)
• Nathan Bremmer, D'Evelyn Junior/Senior High School, CO (Pierre Habel)
• Conner Bryan, Eastside High School, GA (Eric Adams)
• Peter Carr, Saint Catherine's School, VA (H. Lee Perkins)
• Evan Draim, St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, VA (Ian Hochberg)
• Andrew Frazier, The Lovett School, GA (Kenneth Rau)
• John Groden, Loyola Academy, IL (David Mathers)
• Christopher Halverson, Flint High School, VA (Howard Chang)
• Melissa Hite, D'Evelyn Junior/Senior High School, CO (Pierre Habel)
• Richard Lee, The Lovett School, GA (Kenneth Rau)
• Claire Lo, Shaker Heights High School, OH (Robert White)
• Melissa Luttman, St. Mary's Episcopal School, TN (Patrick McFadden)
• Jonathan Marks, Brookfield Academy, WI (Ruth Osier)
• Elizabeth Ridgeway, The Lovett School, GA (Kenneth Rau)
• William Baynes Welch, Charlotte Latin School, NC (Karen McQuaid)
• Thomas Woodruff, Thomas Jefferson High School, VA (Christine Conklin)
• Catherine Zucker, Thomas Jefferson HIgh School, VA (Christine Conklin)

Letters of Commendation (alphabetically, with school and teacher)

• Ellen Bruner, Stanford EPGY, CA (Caedmon Haas)
• Meaghan Carley, Barrington High School, IL (Christopher Condrad)
• Scott Dollen, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, TX (Jennie Luongo & Andrew Rist)
• David Fan, Hume-Fogg Academic High School, TN (Alice Sanford)
• Bridget Golembiewski, Regina Dominican High School, IL (Daniel Ristin)
• Abhinav Goyal, Hume-Fogg Academic High School, TN (Alice Sanford)
• Melissa Greer, Eastside High School, GA (Eric Adams)
• Win Holt, Charlotte Latin School, NC (Lawrence Wall)
• Carson House, Memphis University School, TN (Trey Suddarth)
• Eric Jesse, St. Ignatius High School, OH (Joseph Zebrak)
• Hailey Johnson, Thomas Jefferson High School, VA (Christine Conklin)
• Seamus Leahy, Shaker Heights High School, OH (Robert White)
• Jorge Bonilla Lopez, Herndon High School, VA (Ann Graham)
• Daniel Lowes, St. Ignatius High School, OH (Joseph Zebrak)
• Grace Paquelet, Brookfield Academy, WI (Ruth Osier)
• Kirby Rayburn, Shaker Heights High School, OH (Robert White)
• Jacob Schafer, Hume-Fogg Academic High School, TN (Alice Sanford)
• Will Steward, Montgomery Bell Academy, TN (Edward Gaffney)
• Jenny Tobat, Thomas Jefferson High School, VA (Christine Conklin)
• Stephen Wood, Saint Catherine's School, VA (H. Lee Perkins)  

Return to Top

Semple, Grant, & Benario Awards

• Semple Award: Robert E. Hedrick (Florida State University)
• Mary A. Grant Award: Kenneth M. Draper (Indiana University)
• Janice and Herbert Benario Award: Shannon O. Walker (Trinity Academy), for Reginald Foster's Aestiva Milvachiae Latinitas   

David Tandy and Kenny M. Draper

Return to Top 

CPL Award for Outstanding Promotional Activity 

Resolutions for the 107th Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South 

I.

 

WHEREAS all of us who have been in attendance at this meeting have arrived in a city where art is abundant, the breweries are hopping; where Da Vinci's Horse trots; where Gerald Ford was born; and where fluoridated water was first used; a city of wonders where fish fly and pigs steam;

 

WHEREAS, in this Grand City, we broadened, widened, and deepened our intellectual horizons as should be the case in an assemblage of this many learned holders of B.A.s, M.A.s, Ph.D.s, and perhaps yet other degrees, by listening to and commenting on each other's presentations;

 

WHEREAS all the members, helpers, students of Grand Valley State and Calvin College, and supporters of the local committee, under the leadership of Peter Anderson, whose Herculean efforts guarantee him a spot on Mt. Olympus, and have made this meeting of CAMWS at the invitation of the Grand Valley State and Calvin College a grand and predestined success; and

 

WHEREAS the staff of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel have offered their gracious hospitality combining the elegant charm of a gilded age with Knossian complexities minus the Minotaur;

 

BE IT RESOLVED that we tender sincere thanks to all and sundry concerned.

 

II.

 

WHEREAS, at this meeting, we were invited to revisit the inspired verses of Homer and Vergil, the bracing philosophies of Plato and Lucretius, the learned lines of Ovid and Horace, the edifying histories of Herodotus and Tacitus, and much more;

 

WHEREAS, we were enlightened by means of panels on such topics as bioethics, literacy in the empire, epigraphy, linguistics, ideology, reception, and much more;

 

WHEREAS we were challenged to be ever more mindful and engaged educators through panels discussing curricular options, writing textbooks, and new resources and methodologies;

 

WHEREAS we were amused and aroused by the antics of the admirable actors of The Braggart Soldier;

 

BE IT RESOLVED that we extend our admiration, appreciation, and gratitude to all speakers, presenters, and discussion participants.

 

III.

 

WHEREAS James May, vertically challenged, but a magnus orator nonetheless, delighted us with his engaging, intelligent, and mirabilius dictu, intelligible Latin, duly honoring the accomplishments of Peter Knox, Keely Lake, and Mark Williams; and, moreover, sang the praises of our gracious host state in a way that will forever haunt all future renditions of "O Tannebaum";

 

WHEREAS our President David Tandy, soon to depart the colonies for the life of a country gentleman in Leeds, drew on the economic history of ancient Athens to demonstrate the contemporary need for civic commitment and euergetism, casting a spell that was broken only by the ringing of the presidential cell-phone;

 

WHEREAS President and President-Elect, the Executive Committee, and all members of all committees have labored to make this meeting a success, thereby reminding us of all the benefits of membership in this, our Association; and

 

WHEREAS Anne Groton, our indefatigable and inexplicably sanguine secretary-treasurer, has not only, and once more rendered services far beyond the call of officium, but also graciously endured a very public and cacophonous celebration of her birthday;

 

BE IT RESOLVED that we offer all those mentioned or referred to our profound gratitude and appreciation.

 

IV.

 

WHEREAS we have indulged in the dual delights offered by Grand Valley State University and Calvin College, the beautiful city of Grand Rapids and the great state of Michigan, which we would be happy to enjoy again in a land of Michiganders but no Michi-geese; and

 

WHEREAS CAMWS as a distinguished institution of long standing is ever dedicated to furthering the careers of students, scholars, and teachers on all levels by inviting them as members, by maintaining a stimulating environment, and by encouraging them to present their teaching and research;

 

BE IT THEN FINALLY RESOLVED that, having been intellectually enriched and collegially gratified by this year's meeting, we agree to continue our ancient and ongoing conversation next year at our 108^th meeting, trading rapids for riverboat gambling, cherries for chicory, breweries for beignets in the sportsman's paradise that is LOUISIANA.

 

-Submitted by Resolutions Committee members Ippokratis Kantzios (Chair), Charles Chiasson, Sophie Mills, and Rebecca Muich (substituting for Shannon Byrne)

 

Charles Chiasson delivers the Resolutions

Return to Top 

  Forthcoming in

Classics at Trinity College   

Call for Papers:

Lutheranism & the Classics II:  

Reading the Church Fathers 

LATINITAS VIVA anno 2011 - LIVING LATIN 2011

A List of Programs of Spoken Latin for Language Mastery

"Latinate cingere!" - get your Latin on! 

Society of Ancient Military Historians 

Latin Teacher Certification State-by-State  

Classics in the News   

Submissions