Tabulae 2019

Tabulae 2019 banner; students are gathered around a table with books

Tabulae 2019 banner; images from Fall fest 2018

Tabulae 2019 banner; commencement banner with faculty

Tabulae 2019 banner; interview with Susan Meyer

Letter from the Chair – James Rives

To say that this has been a challenging year would be something of an understatement. The fall semester began and ended with turmoil over the Confederate Monument, aka Silent Sam, with two hurricanes, a water main break, and a snowstorm in between. Although the spring semester was less turbulent atmospherically, conditions on campus remained stormy: the Chancellor’s decision to remove Silent Sam’s pedestal from campus was immediately followed by the Board of Governors’ decision to remove her from office within two weeks. This in turn led to a cascade of vacancies: in addition to an Interim President of the state university system, we now have an Interim Chancellor of the University, an Interim Dean of the College, and an Interim Senior Associate Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities. Thus far, I am relieved to say, the Department has weathered these storms with relatively little damage, although we are gearing up for our own transitions: among other changes that I will discuss below, next year will be my last as Department Chair.

Interview with Susan Meyer

“I make it clear the Romans were people, not just a bunch of Ciceros. You don’t have to be a certain image or person to take Latin. That’s an image I have to take with my kids, it’s not the smartest language and you don’t have to be a genius to take it.”

Diversity and Classics: A Roundtable Discussion

“2019 got off to a tumultuous start when two occurrences at the Society for Classical Studies annual meeting in San Diego attracted wide media attention and cast a fresh spotlight on longstanding questions of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the academic discipline of Classics….”

Graduate Symposium 2019

“This past February, UNC hosted a new Duke-UNC collaborative venture called the Duke-UNC Classics Graduate Symposium. This symposium was created with the intent of presenting research and ideas that could benefit from discussion by Classics scholars in a congenial environment.”

Faculty

Introducing Suzanne Lye

“I moved to the U.S. when I was three years old and grew up just north of Miami, Florida. I received my bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where I studied organic chemistry and the history of the modern pharmaceutical industry. Although I fully intended to pursue a career as a scientist long term…”

Visiting Scholar

An Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the UNC at Chapel Hill, Markus Hafner is working on a book-length project on conceptions of collaborative authorship and authorial voices in Late Archaic and Classical Greek literature.

Faculty News & Notes

Check out what our faculty members have accomplished this year around UNC and beyond.

Lecture Series 2019

We had a robust and exciting 2018-19 lecture schedule, thanks to generous funding from various departmental and University sources. It included two international speakers and two US speakers. All four speakers are leaders in their respective fields, and the topics were varied and rich…

Faculty Presentations

Our professors participated in the annual meetings of various professional associations as well as traveled abroad to give papers. The conferences and resulting papers are all listed in the article here.

Awards and Achievements

Jermaine Bryant

Jermaine Bryant, a senior majoring in classics, Robertson Scholar, and now an alumnus of our department, received a Diversity Award from Carolina’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion on April 29th. He was recognized for his mentorship and critique of Latin and Greek narratives from a perspective different from most classical scholars.

Graduate Fellowships and Awards

Several of our graduate students have received awards and funds for a variety of fields and research purposes. Check out the list to find out more.

2019 Departmental Award Winners

Congratulations to all of our students who won departmental and travel funds this year! You can read our list of students and the details to their achievements here.

2019 Latin T-Shirt Contest

Congratulations to Khari Hutchings, who created the winning design! View our pictures of the winner in his shirt below. Thanks to our participants for competing!

Out and About

Many of our graduate students participated in the annual meetings of various professional associations as well as traveled abroad to give papers.

Commencement

We’ve compiled a list of names and majors from the Commencement ceremony on May 12th, as well as some pictures from the ceremony itself.

Check out our Alumni page!

We’ve featured several of our alumni stories on our site as sources of inspiration for undergraduates and graduates alike looking for examples of careers using a Classics degree. Read some here.