University of Winnipeg Classics Alumni
Χαίρετε! Salvete! Welcome to the Alumni page of the Department of Classics at the University of Winnipeg! Here we aim to let our Alumni know what's going on in the department and to provide a snapshot of the accomplishments of our students and faculty. We also highlight events that have occurred in the past year. To download the newsletter, please click here or read on! The most recent news, please check the News page on this website, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Please direct any questions about this newsletter to Peter J. Miller.
Classics Students' Association Report
The University of Winnipeg Classics Students Association is a non-profit student group that organizes and hosts multiple events, ranging from bake sales and movie nights to an annual trivia night to raise money for charitable organization(s) each year. The group’s members includes those studying Classics, as well as a range of members from other Departments on campus. During the current school year, the UWCSA has been raising money for Mental Health Canada (Manitoba branch) and the Winnipeg Humane Society through their various events. In January, the club went to watch the National Theatre rendition of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Very recently, the club held a book sale to raise money for new books for the Classics Department Common Room library. In February, they are holding a Pie-in-the-Face Day in the club to raise money for their chosen charities. In addition, the UWCSA Scholarship was awarded for the first time, this year, to one of their members, Ari Haalboom. This group has been expanding every year and welcomes anyone from the student body to join the club to spread passion for Classics, make new friends, and enjoy their time at the University of Winnipeg
UPCOMING EVENT! Classics Alumni Night: March 18, 2019, 7:00PM
The Department of Classics will hold its third Alumni Night on March 18th at Barn Hammer Brewing. While there may be some of Dr. Gibbs' and Barn Hammer’s ancient Romano-Egyptian beer remaining, and Winnipeg’s Loaf & Honey may have a Roman-themed buffet, our focus this year is the future, not the past. You’re invited to this free event for Classics alumni and we hope you can make it and help us fundraise for our ground-breaking public lecture series, New Directions in Classics. Please email Dr. Gibbs to be added to the guest list since the taproom is provincially regulated and there is a maximum capacity.
UPCOMING EVENT! The Bonnycastle Lecture: "Calling the Muses to Oklahoma": March 29, 2019, 3:30PM
Prof. Craig Williams (University of Illinois) comes to Winnipeg to share incredible new research that enriches Classical Studies and Indigenous Studies. How did Indigenous North Americans understand, adapt, and interpret the ancient Greek and Roman world?
Student Accomplishments
Kylee Bailey: SSHRC Graduate Scholarship (now in UToronto’s MA program in Classics)
Jason Gren: Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship
Daniel Russell: Valedictorian for the graduating class of Fall 2018 at the University of Winnipeg
Ari Haalboom: University of Winnipeg Classics Students Association Scholarship
Student Focus: Jazz Demetrioff
Jazz Demetrioff (a honours major in Classical Civilization) traveled to Italy last summer to participate in several archaeological projects. Jazz was nice enough to answer some questions about her summer adventures and their impact on her education at UWinnipeg. Jazz’s travels were supported by the UWinnipeg Undergraduate Student Travel Grant and the Dr. Douglas Leatherdale Global Citizen Internship.
What projects did you participate in during summer 2018? I participated at two archaeological sites: the first was with the Apolline Project in Aeclanum, Hirpinia; the second was the Sanisera Field School working on underwater surveying of the Portus Iulius (Arco Felice, Naples).
How did your UWinnipeg education prepare you for this academic and personal adventure? I have prepared myself for success in my field of study through various Classics courses, such as environmental archaeology, classical archaeology, health in antiquity, and those based on the Roman Republic and Empire.
How do you see these opportunities helping you moving forward? Moving forward, these opportunities will help me prepare for my future career focused on archaeology, as they will guide me through experiences, methods and techniques used daily in the archaeological field. Further, this experience in the field gives me an opportunity to figure out my specialty and what interests I have.
New Directions in Classics: Lectures in 2018-19
Our Public Lecture Series, New Directions in Classics, expanded in scope this year and continues to draw a crowd of students, faculty, staff, and members of the downtown community. Recently, we saw Dr. Melissa Funke and Simone Obendoerfer’s (BAH Classical Civilization, 2017; MA, Cultural Studies, 2019) talk on The Lux Project, a digitization initiative designed to bring the University’s Hetherington Collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts into the public eye – and online. We welcomed Prof. Andrea Rotstein from Tel Aviv University in the Fall for a talk on repetition in one of the most influential of poems, Virgil’s Aeneid. One highlight of the Fall was a historic first, a collaborative seminar between the Department of Economics and the Department of Classics. The two Departments welcomed University of Toronto historian Ben Akrigg, who presented a stimulating talk entitled, “Wealth and Inequality in Ancient Greece.” As Dr. Akrigg’s talk demonstrated, Classics and other disciplines have much in common, and we look forward to further collaborations in the years to come.
Support for Classics
We need your help: consider supporting New Directions in Classics, the Department of Classics’ free, publicly-accessible, engaging lecture series with a tax-deductible charitable donation. We believe that bringing in speakers from Canada and around the world is central to the University’s mission as a hub for knowledge mobilization, innovation, and accessibility in Downtown Winnipeg. Help by donating to us through the University of Winnipeg Foundation!
Faculty Updates
Across the Department, faculty members are pursuing new and interesting research, innovative teaching, and creative projects. Pauline Ripat is excited to be starting work on the third edition of As the Romans Did, a truly classic textbook, with Dr. Jo-Ann Shelton. Pauline’s new app Hoi Polloi Logoi is in development with Christina Vester. She continues to work as Treasurer for the Classical Association of Canada. Peter J. Miller submitted his book manuscript on ancient Greek poetry and athletics to Cambridge University Press and has published papers recently on “losers” in epinikian poetry and “drunks” in Greek lyric. Peter took on the position of Vice-President of the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association for a two-year term in May 2018. Matt Gibbs has worked tirelessly to advocate for the Department, its students, and his colleagues as Chair – he has our utmost gratitude. Beyond teaching the Julio-Claudians this year – they were the “Kardashians before the Kardashians” - he continues his work with Barn Hammer Brewing on a project to brew Roman beer and mead. Beyond beer (is there such a thing?) he and co-editor Milo Nikolic are producing a second edition of their widely-used textbook, Themes in Roman Society for Oxford University Press. Doctor Jason Brown defended his PhD dissertation, “St Antonin of Florence on Justice in Buying and Selling: Introduction, Critical Edition, and Translation,” in December of 2018 at the University of Toronto (Congratulations!). He is now preparing to publish his dissertation in the series Toronto Studies in Medieval Law. His teaching in 2018–19 includes Introductory Latin I and II as well as Greek and Latin in Today’s English. The Department welcomed Natalie Swain this year. Natalie, a UWinnipeg graduate and PhD Candidate at the University of Bristol is teaching an innovative new course on “Classics and Comics.” She recently presented on this topic in the Skywalk Lecture Series at the Millennium Public Library. Melissa Funke joined the Department as a full-time faculty member and has been tirelessly working on teaching an array of courses; her work on ancient Greek colours appeared in the fall. Michael MacKinnon continues his work in zooarchaeology publications and taught Advanced Classical Archaeology among other courses this year. Conor Whately is at work on a number of different research projects and taught courses on Hannibal, Classical Mythology and the Roman Army this year.
UWinnipeg Classics in the News This Year
Undergraduate Student Colloquium
The UWCSA put on a successful undergraduate research colloquium in January 2019. Aside from speakers from UWinnipeg, they also featured three visiting students from Grant MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB) and one from UManitoba. As a testament to the event’s success, and the broad interest in Classics research around campus, 2M70 – the Manitoba Hall Boardman – was packed, with over 60 audience members for most of the afternoon.
The speakers and their topics were: Leyla Seyidova (MacEwan), “The Rise of the Ottoman Empire”; Mackenzie Stewart (UWinnipeg), “Is the Image of the Vikings Accurate?”; Daniel Russel (UWinnipeg), “Desire in the Septuagint and Plato”; Allannah Harms (UWinnipeg), “The Art of Selling Sex”; Abby Riehl (MacEwan), “Roman Persecution of the Christian Population”; Harrison Grey (UManitoba), “Pompeiian Commercial Sex Work”; Heva Olfman (UWinnipeg), “Sisterhood in the Antigone”; Ryan Wark (UWinnipeg), “A Critical Examination of Various Diseases and the Plague of Athens”; Leanne Buttery (MacEwan), “Food and the Afterlife in Mesopotamian Mythology". Congratulations to all the presenters and to the UWCSA for an extremely well run colloquium!
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