The Department of Classical Studies has had an exciting year in 2022-2023! This year we graduated four senior majors: Emma Driver (Classical Studies major; Latin and Music Performance (violin) minors); Emma Hughes (Classical Studies and English-Writing majors); Kaylah Lienkewicz (Classical Studies and Theatre majors); and Nathalie Richards (Classical Studies and Political Science majors). Emma Driver completed a year-long Senior Research project for academic distinction titled: “Presenting a New Female Narrative: Re-Contextualizing the Lives of Ancient Roman Women in Museums” and has also accepted a spot in University College London’s MA in Cultural Heritage Studies program.
We also inducted 11 new members into Eta Sigma Phi, the national Classics honor society: Gabrielle Bany, Alex DeSouza, Nolan Felker, Hollande Friborg, Ava Graham, Emma Hall, Emma Hughes, Anna Keller, Eliana Lazzaro, Nathalie Richards, and Madeline Young. To be inducted, students must be a Classical Studies major or, Greek or Latin minor, have an in-department GPA of 3.0 or higher and have completed their first semester of Greek or Latin with a B or better.
The department had two Department Fellows this year: Emma Driver and Nathalie Richards. Requirements for Department Fellows are: Fellows will be the two majors (or minors) with the highest in-major GPA at the end of their junior year (3.5 minimum), who have also completed their language requirements in Greek or Latin with at least a B or better.
The department also recognized 6 students for excellence in ancient Greek, Latin and for both language and Classical Studies courses. Winners of the Excellence in Ancient Greek awards were: Emily Gryllakis (Greek minor, 2025), Emma Hall (Classical Studies major, 2026), and Macie Harkovitch (Greek minor, 2025). Excellence in Latin was awarded to: Ava Graham (Classical Studies major, Latin minor, 2025) and Anna Keller (Latin minor, 2026). And the Excellence in Classical Studies award was given to Eliana Lazzaro (Classical Studies major, Greek and Latin minors, 2026).
Our final good news is the addition of Professor Craig Jendza to our department as a tenure Associate Professor of Classical Studies. Craig comes to us most recently from University of Kansas and will begin teaching in the fall. We are very excited to have him with us in the department!
