Tabulae, 2012-2013
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
ANNUAL LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
James B. Rives
Last spring, when I began telling friends and colleagues that I had agreed to take over as department chair, reactions were mixed. People outside of academia tended to congratulate me, regarding my new position as an honor or a promotion. Colleagues, in contrast, generally offered their condolences, since they realize that serving as chair means having a lot more obligations and responsibilities, not all of which are particularly pleasant.
Now that the end of my first year as chair is in sight, I’ve decided that both groups are right. On the one hand, the obligations and responsibilities are very real, and even weightier than I had anticipated. This has been a challenging year for me, and indeed for the entire department. The budget cuts of the last four years are having a serious albeit delayed impact, and we have been coping with an unusually busy year at a time of unusually low faculty numbers.
We have nevertheless had some significant successes, and have good reason to be optimistic about the future. It is indeed an honor to serve as chair of such an outstanding department. My colleagues have repeatedly risen to the occasion this year, and have ungrudgingly taken on heavier than usual service loads while maintaining our very high standards of teaching and research.
FACULTY
LETTER FROM GERMANY
After winning an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, Emily Baragwanath left Chapel Hill to live in Germany with her husband Sean and their daughter Julia from January 2013 to June 2014. The New Zealand native shares how she and her globetrotting family are adjusting to a new language, a new locale, and tempting chocolates and sausages. READ MORE >>
NEH SUMMER INSTITUTE: ROMAN COMEDY IN PERFORMANCE A YEAR LATER
During the summer of 2012, Sharon L. James co-directed the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer
Institute on Roman Comedy in Performance with Timothy Moore, PhD ’86. With the help of visiting faculty consultants, Profs. James and Moore lead 25 participants through the rough and tumble world of Roman comedy. Together they created multiple performance versions of scenes from Plautus and Terence by experimenting with staging, actors, translation, choreography, and more. By doing so, they crafted an excellent series of videos that relates the ancient plays to our modern society. READ MORE>>
EMERITI VOLUNTEER AT CHAPEL HILL SCHOOLS >>
RECENT FACULTY PUBLICATIONS >>
STUDENTS
WITZKE MULTI-TASKS STUDIES WITH SERVICE TO UNC
Although Serena has well distinguished herself as a teacher and academically — the Graduate School recently awarded her a dissertation fellowship for the next academic year. But she is also well known for her service work outside of Murphey Hall. Below she shares her experiences working in UNC student government.
Serena Witzke
Graduate philology student
“Since I’m in Classics, I’d like to bring the gift of Latin to you all: When I say ‘Salvete, discipuli et discipulae,’ you say, ‘Salve, Domina!’ — [repetition from 2000 incoming graduate students] — Ooh, I like the sound of that. Okay, welcome to university!” Thus began one of my first speeches as President of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation (GPSF).
AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE GRADUATE CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY STUDENTS …
Le Blanc learns from Leon Levy Expedition experiences >>
Schindler excavates, teaches at Huqoq Excavation >>
Worsham to spend another year researching in Greece >>
READ MORE GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS >>
UNDERGRADUATE NEWS …
Undergraduate honors society’s year in review >>
Caitlin Hines preps for graduate school in Classics >>
Henry Ross readies for year in Asia as a Henry Luce Fellow >>
ALUMNI
GELLAR-GOAD’S GAMIFICATION OF LATIN PROSE SPICES UP FIRST YEAR OF WAKE FOREST POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
Ted Gellar-Goad, PhD ’12, recounts his experiences teaching a full-course load as a postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest University. As many have promised him, it has been a busy year, but Gellar-Goad has found ways to spice up teaching Latin through “gamification,” which has won not only drawn students into his classroom, but garnered attention from the campus newspaper.
Ted Gellar-Goad
PhD ’12
When I was in grad school, everyone told me that the first years after the PhD are way, way busier than any time in grad school, and that’s true — except, perhaps, for the semester I took two of Sharon James’s seminars. READ MORE >>
UNC ALUMNA BRINGS JOY OF LATIN TO AREA MIDDLE SCHOOLERS
Through a Q&A with the department, Susan Meyer, BA ’09, shares what her life is like teaching Latin at Culbreth Middle School. Once inspired to take Latin after reading the Harry Potter series, Meyer aspires to share her love of the Romans, gladiators, political intrigue, and all. With material like that, Meyer can’t help but think she has it easy. READ MORE >>
ALUMNI NEWS
Let us know what is going on with you and see what others are up to here. Email us to share career changes or accomplishments, family additions, or anything else you have been doing since graduating. READ MORE >>
MORE NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENT
ULLMAN LIBRARY UPDATE
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, our departmental library has grown considerably this year, adding new titles to the collection and adapting an electronic check-out system to monitor its circulation. READ MORE >>
READ PAST ISSUES OF THE TABULAE >>