Classics newsletter spring 2024

In this issue

Spotlight on students

• New students and graduating seniors
• Honors and accolades
• News from alumni

Campus events and activities

• Guest lectures
• Collegia Classica
• Classics banquet
• Curricular fun!

Classics hits the road!

• Classics Day at Monmouth College
• Illinois Classical Conference
• Classical Association of the Middle West and South annual meeting

Acknowledgments

Spotlight on students

New students and graduating seniors

WELCOME to our newest majors and minors!

So far this year, we have added five new students to our Classics family: Elios Ballard is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Classical Studies with a Latin emphasis; Sam Baugous is a double major in Classical Studies with a Latin emphasis and English; Mari Hanson is a double major in Classics and Biology; Pheonix Martin is majoring in English Ed and Middle Grades Education and minoring in Classical Studies with a Latin emphasis; and Liv Parker is a double major in Classics and Creative Writing. We are glad to have you with us, carissimi! 

This spring we bid a fond farewell to our graduating seniors: Allie Anderson (Classics and Political Science major and Sociology/Anthropology minor), Via Montgomery (Classical Studies with a Greek emphasis and Philosophy major and Geology minor), Laurence Pavlik (Classics and Geology major), and Jessica Zabala (Classics and Pre-Med). After graduation, Allie will be working as a children's advocate for the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh; Via is taking a gap year during which they hope to work in their hometown for the betterment of the community before returning to graduate school in Library Sciences; and Laurence will be pursuing his Master’s degree in Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. We are proud of you all!

Honors and accolades

At our spring banquet (see below), we inducted sophomore Jules Fielder into our Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the national honor society for Classics, and both Jules and junior Iratze Aceves into Glaux Aquila, our local honor society for those who excel in both Greek and Latin.

This year Iratze was also honored with the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) Manson A. Stewart Undergraduate Award, and seniors Allie Anderson and Laurence Pavlik both won CAMWS Awards for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies. Laurence also won Honorable Mention for his poster presentation "Missing the Forest for the Trees: Identifying the Italian Sacred Grove." This topic was the subject of Laurence’s senior inquiry project, for which paper he also won the award for Best Research by an Eta Sigma Phi Laureate. εὖγε!

Among our students’ extra-Classical honors of note, History major with minors in Classical Studies with a Latin emphasis and Psychology Charlotte Newport was one of twelve juniors selected to participate in the prestigious Texas Medical Center Summer Research Internship Program. And senior Allie Anderson was honored with induction into Augustana’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society. Congratulations to all our Classics superstars!

News from alumni

Kira Banks (’23) is Community Outreach Coordinator at Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, where she works to increase awareness and education of organ donation through workshops, tabling events and training volunteers to advocate in their communities. Her specialization is building relationships with high school and college/high school community partners.

Jessica Thoresen (’22) is working at the University of Chicago's Hematology/Oncology department as a data manager for cancer studies. She recently had the opportunity to travel to Egypt and was kind enough to share a photo of her trip!

Ezekiel Aurelius (’22) sends the following:

An update from Magistrē Ezekiel Aurelius of Rivermont Collegiate. Teaching Latin in the Real World II

Salvēte Omnēs!

When you last heard from me, I had serendipitously happened into a long-term substitute Latin teaching position at Rivermont Collegiate. This evolved from a substitute position and next year I will teach Latin, Greek/Roman Mythology, and Etymology. I have also been working with the Pre-School this year and will continue working with them and some band students during Summer Camp. I hope to keep growing student interest in Latin and other topics in Classical Studies.

In addition to my duties at Rivermont, I also stayed in touch with my Alma Mater, the Classics Department of Augustana College. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they were in need of a drop-in tutor for Greek and Latin and I was more than happy to help them out. It wouldn’t have been fair to the students to leave them hanging and I was happy to be able to help where I could.

Additionally, it seems that I will still be present at Augustana a bit longer. Dr. Janina Ehrlich was a cello instructor at Augustana for 45 years and also spent time as the faculty advisor for Augustana’s Hillel, a Jewish student group. I was recommended for the position by my Rabbi and starting in fall of 2024 I will be the new advisor for the Hillel. I hope to grow opportunities for Jewish students to connect with Judaism and for non-Jewish students to learn how to be good allies. I also hope to have great collaborations for events to help inter-community growth on campus.

That is all for now, which is more than enough to keep me busy! As for where the future takes me, I cannot wait to find out!

Sī valētis, valeō.

Campus events and activities

Guest lectures

Last fall, we welcomed Dr. Yorke Rowan, Research Professor in the Archaeology of the Southern Levant at the Institute of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago, as our annual Archaeological Institute of America lecturer. Dr. Rowan’s lecture was entitled “Desert Kites: The Enigmatic Traps in the Air and on the Ground.” And this spring we welcomed the University of Chicago’s Dr. Patrice Rankine as our annual Antiquity in the New Millennium Lecturer. Dr. Rankin spoke on “Does History Have a Mood? Herodotus at the Dawn of Athenian Democracy.” These lectures offer us valuable insights into material culture as well as research areas outside the scope of our own faculty’s expertise. We are grateful to the Harry S. B. Johnson and Terence Funds for Classics for the funding which makes these events possible!

Collegia Classica

Our Classics club Collegia Classica was up to most of their usual shenanigans this year, with weekly meetings, movie viewings, symposia, end of term dinners, and the annual Language Olympics event, designed to bring together representatives from different language programs and clubs for fun learning activities.

This year Laurence Pavlik and Allie Anderson served as co-consuls, with Allie doing secretary duties as well, and Jessica Zabala acting as treasurer. Our leadership board next year will consist of Jules Fielder, Iratze Aceves, Mari Hanson, and Liv Parker.

Classics banquet

Our annual Classics banquet was held on May 1st this year. In addition to our usual Mediterranean buffet, we inducted new Eta Sigma Phi and Glaux Aquila members; welcomed our newest majors and minors and acknowledged our graduating seniors; presented awards; and heard a presentation by Laurence Pavlik on his experiences excavating at the Poggio Civitate in Etruria in the summer of 2023. Many thanks once again to our donors who make events like this one possible!

Curricular fun!

Dr. Hooker's Greek Tragedy class took advantage of the lovely spring weather to stage their final performances of Greek tragic plays in Augustana's Anderson Pavilion.

Thanks to a Humanities Division Academic Initiatives Fund grant, Dr. Kirsten Day’s Women in Classical Antiquity students this year were able to supplement the unit on weaving in antiquity with some hands-on experience. This modest dip into one of the most important activities for women in antiquity drove home some of the lived realities well – students clearly had a renewed appreciation for the time and skills involved, as well as the amount of sheer physical labor!

When the sun came out this spring, the students were ready to get outside, and so Dr. Nick Dobson unleashed his Classical Epic students armed with chalk to decorate the campus thematically. Check out their sidewalk art!

Classics hits the road!

This academic year, Classics students were on the move, traveling around the region for various Classics-related events.

Classics Day at Monmouth College

In September, Dr. Kirsten Day and students Iratze Aceves, Paige Meyer, Liv Parker, Laurence Pavlik, and Jessica Zabala, along with alumnus Ezekiel Aurelius, attended the Classics Day celebration at Monmouth College, where they enjoyed a number of Classics-related events, performances, and activities.

Illinois Classical Conference

Then in October, Dr. Kirsten Day attended the annual meeting of the Illinois Classical Conference at University of Illinois at Chicago, where she presented a paper entitled "Classics and the Incarcerated: A Symbiotic Relationship." Thanks to Student Attendance at a Professional Conference grants, as well as the HSB Johnson and Terence Funds for Classics, three Classics students, Iratze Aceves, Laurence Pavlik, and Jessica Zabala, were able to attend as well. In addition to a number of excellent paper sessions, the students enjoyed a walking tour of Classical architecture in Chicago courtesy of Dr. Krishni Burns (with a special appearance by alumna Kira Banks!)

Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting

And this spring, four students – Iratze Aceves, Allie Anderson, Sam Baugous, and Laurence Pavlik – traveled to the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) annual meeting in St. Louis with Dr. Kirsten Day, who was an invited participant in a roundtable on the Epix/MGM+ series Domina in her role as past Chair of the Antiquity in Media Studies Publications committee. The students not only attended multiple paper sessions, they all participated in a workshop on ancient weaving; took advantage of the opportunity to see a live performance of Aristophanes’ comic play Ekklesiazusae; enjoyed a performance of compositions centered on ancient Greek poetry and choral odes by the St. Louis Chamber Chorus at Wash U.’s Graham Chapel; and attended the conference banquet with its keynote address. Laurence, in addition, presented his poster “Missing the Forest for the Trees: Identifying the Italian Sacred Grove,” for which he received an Honorable Mention at the Awards meeting, while Iratze was honored as the recipient of the Manson Stewart Award Undergraduate Award. 

Acknowledgments

As noted throughout this newsletter, it is the support of our donors which allows Classics at Augustana to be such a vibrant, active department. We are very grateful to all our donors, but acknowledge in particular the continuing support of the Harry S. B. Johnson Fund and the Terence Fund for Classics. Multas gratias vobis agimus!