Back with a Bounce
With the pandemic shutdown becoming a dim memory, our department is rebouncing. Last year, we hired a new Greek historian, Sam Blankenship, who is expanding our view to the East, as she is a specialist on Greek-Persian cultural interactions. New Assistant Professors Salvador Bartera and Jessica Westerhold have thrown themselves into recruitment, visiting all Latin high-school programs in the region and reconnecting with teachers. Salvador also runs a Latin club in Fulton High School, which has a very diverse student body. Given the current shortage of Latin teachers in Tennessee, we want to streamline teacher training: together with the UT College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, we have designed a double major in education and Latin that makes it possible for students to obtain their teaching license in four years instead of five.
As UT keeps growing, we are designing new courses to serve growing student interest. Stephen Collins-Elliott has created Business and Trade in the Ancient World; Lorenzo Del Monte is reviving Susan Martin’s Roman Law course; and Tristan Barnes plans to offer Ancient Astronomy next year.
We are also happy to announce that, thanks to a new agreement with the University of Athens, Greece, our students can study there for a semester or a year and receive UT credit. Two of our majors agreed to be the proverbial Caviae porcelli (a.k.a., guinea pigs), and report here about their adventures.
We held most of our usual departmental activities last year, but a temporary faculty shortage after the recent spate of retirements forced us to take a break from organizing our classics undergraduate conference. The conference will be back in February 2024.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter, and do stay in touch!
Valē/Χαῖρε!