Annual Report: Department of Classics,
Ancient Studies & Medieval Studies Programs
June 6, 2008 - submitted by Anne H. Groton, Chair
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Enrollment (after the drop deadline) in Latin & Greek course:
Level I: Beginning Latin: 54 (Sem. I). 43 (Sem. II) Beginning Greek: 24 (Sem. I), 15 (Sem. II) Level II: Intermediate Latin: 44 Intermediate Greek: 11 Medieval Latin: 20 New Testament Greek: 8 Level III: Topics: Augustan Elegey 9 Greek Historians: 5 Latin Drama: 10 Topics: Old Comedy 4
Enrollment (after the drop deadline) in Classics courses:
Level I: Fall of the Roman Empire: 34 (Interim) Level II: Greek & Roman Myth: 46 Golden Age of Greece: 42 Classical Studies in Greece 30 (Interim) IR in Classics Tombs of Ancient Egypt - Sem. II 1 Education 349 Latin Teaching Methods - Sem. II - (for alumna of Lat. Ed.) 1 Medieval Latin Summer I - special offering for student who failed course 1
Total number of students taught: 402 [cf. 352 in 2006-07, 414 in 2005-06, 421 in 2004-05, 400 in 2003-04]
Christopher Brunelle (4 courses [plug 2 courses in Great Con]): 107 Anne Groton (4 courses, 1 course off [dept. chair, Sem I,
1 course off (CAMWS, Sem. II,], 1 IR, 2 special offerings):78 Mark Gustafson (6 courses): 82 Stephanie McCarter (6 courses): 94 Provost James May (1 courses, Sem. I, overload): 11 Tim Howe (Classics interim to Greece, using History FTE: 30 Steve Reece on sabbatical in 2007-08 Total number of courses taught: 22 (=20 [3.33 FTE] paid, 1 overload, 1 from History
- Graduates in 2008 included eight majors in Classics -
Alaina Burkard [+Biology],
Michael Dow [+French, Linguistic Studies concentration],
Michael Gulden [+History],
Kevin Moore,
Kayla Rassmussen [+History],
Alexandra Sprano [+Middle East Studies concentration; Phi Beta Kappa; Fulbright to Turkey],
Ann Stanton [+ Women's Studies concentration],
Erin VanBurkleo [+History]);
and two majors in Ancient Studies
Steve Alexander [+ Management Studies concentration]
Emily Holm [+History, Linguistic Studies concentration].
Kayla Rasmussen was accepted into Penn States' graduate program in ancient history and received an Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies from the Classical Association of the Middle Wast and South (CAMWS).
- On March 11, we initiated 21 students into Eta Sigma Phi, the national Classics honor society. In the Eta Sigma Phi Contests for 2008, St. Olaf tied with Hillsdale College for the most prizes: 1st in Advanced Latin and 1st in Latin Prose Composition for Thomas Halvorsen '10, 2nd in Latin Prose Composition for Lisa York '11, 2nd in Intermediate Latin for Martin Shedd '11, and honorable mention in Intermediate Classical Greek for Kevin Moore '08. Shedd attended the national convention of Eta Sigma Phi at the University of Massachusetts - Amhurst, March 28-30.
- The 8th annual Loomis Latin Contest and 7th annual Groton Greek Contest were held on April 30. Six students took the Latin exam (translating one of Pliny's letters): five students took the Greek exam (translating a passage from Aristotle's Nicomanchean Ethics). In the Latin contest 1st prize ($300) went to Thomas Halvorsen '10, 2nd prize ($200) to Sarah Adamson '09, 3rd prize ($100) to Hilary Bouxsein '09, and honorable mention to Alaina Burkard '09. In the Greek contest 1st prize ($300) went to Michael Gulden '08, 2nd prize ($200) to Hilary Bouxsein '09, and 3rd prize ($100) to Kevin Moore '08.
- This year we received only one application for a summer Groomis Grant ($500), but it was an excellent one: Adrienne Rowell '10, a history major considering a career in archaeology, will participate in a three-week dig sponsored by the Ecomuseum of the Cape of Cavelleria in Menorca, Spain. On weekdays she will help excavate an ancient Roman town (Saninsera) and attend classes; on weekends she will visit other sites and museums. This summer we also have three Classics majors employed here on campus, working with history professors Bob Entenmann and Laurel Carrington on Latin translation projects.
Because the Groton and Loomis endowments now generate more spendable income that we need for our contests and summer grants, we were able to give a new sort of Groomis grant this year: $500 to each of the four Classics majors (Hilary Bouxsein, David Estle, Kevin Moore, and Jeff Schneider) who took the Classical Studies in Greece course during January. Technically, the money is a "funded financial aid discount" rather than a grant, since there is no competition for it, but that did not seem to matter to our students; they were thrilled! We plan to distribute the extra earnings in a similar way next year.
- Kayla Rasmussen '08 presented a paper, "Restoring the Wall: Death, Ritual, and Community in Book 23 of the Iliad," at a symposium for senior Classics majors at Carleton College (February 9) and at the 6th Annual Sunoikisis Undergraduate Research Symposium at Davidson College, April 4-5, 2008. Stephanie McCarter accompanied her to Davidson as a faculty mentor. We used Classics Department funds to cover their transportation and hotel costs.
- Classics Conversation Tables (Mondays, 6-7 p.m., Buntrock 221) continued this year with three alumni speakers (Amy Roos '94, Holly Browskowski '07, Scott Teece '02), each of whom received a $50 honorarium, mileage reimbursement, and a free dinner. The money for this comes from our small Eta Sigma Phi account, which consists entirely of funds donated by friends and alumni for the support of activities sponsored by the department and Eta Sigma Phi.
- Although it was supposed to our off year for the Latin play, popular demand led to St. Olaf's 16th production of an ancient Roman comedy, this time Plautus' Mostellaria, March 6-8. Anne Groton and a 23-member student cast had fun crisscrossing Minnesota to perform at Liberty Classical Academy (Maplewood), the College of St. Catherine, the University of Minnesota, Gustavus Adolphus College, Mayo High School, and Edina High School, then twice at St. Olaf.
- Eta Sigma Phi and the Society of Ancient History (SAH) co-sponsored the 2nd Annual St. Olaf Olympics on the Skoglund athletic fields on October 20. We had our annual Latin, Greek, and German Christmas caroling in December, with a party afterwards at Anne Groton's house, and our annual spring picnic in May at the Reece's home. The department also helped Tim Howe host Carol Thomas, Professor History, Universityof Washington, who gave a SAH-sponsored guest lecture ("Globalism: From a Macedonian Perspective") on April 24.
- Two potential Latin teachers, Cory Holec '09 and Kevin Moore '08, accompanied all the Classics faculty to the annual meeting of the Classical Association of Minnesota (CAM) at the Univeristy of St. Thomas on Nov. 10. Chris Brunelle was elected CAM Treasurer for 2008-10,
During the annual meeting of the American Philological Association in Chicago, Jan. 3-6, Anne Groton and Jim May interviewed job candidates while Stephanie McCarter herself was interviewed by other schools. Sewanee eventually hired both her and her financé Daniel Holmes for tenure-track positions, and we eventually hired Mary McMenomy for our one-year job.
At the CAMWS annual meeting in Tucson, April 16-19, Tim How gave a paper ("Athen, Alexander and the Adriatic: Insurgence in the Age of Empire"), Groton and May chaired sessions and May sang the Arizona Wildcat fight song in Latin at the banquet. This was the fourth CAMWS meeting that Groton has run with the help of her administrative sidekick, Sue Newland.
Reflections on 2007-08 and on the Future
2007-08 has been a rebuilding year after the graduation in 2007 of an extraordinary group of Classics majors. Our seniors this year, while lively and colorful and devoted to our department, were generally less talented in the languages and less "imbued" with Latin and Greek than last year's seniors; several (as you can see from the list on page 1) were double majors or had a concentratoin in another area, which led to their taking only the minimal number of courses required for a Classics major; this, of course, decreased the size of our advanced courses and left the younger students with fewer role models. It was odd to have no senior majors in Latin, Greek or Medieval Studies, but next year's senior class will have several of them.
In last year's report I lamented the weakness of our Beginning Latin students; that situation seems to have improved, or perhaps we are just doing better at helping our struggling students survive. The number of requests for tutors nearly doubled this year; at one point we had 20 students being tutored! Most of them made it all the way through Latin 112. Having the students spread out over four, instead of three, sections of Latin 111 may have been a factor. (Last year's attrition from Latin 111 to 112 was 64 to 44; this year it was 54 to 43.) Seven of the eight first-year students who jumped right into Latin 231 chose to continue into fourth semester. This year's beginning Greek students, on the other hand, were weaker than their counterparts in previous years; one fears that the amount of time and effort we expect from students in Beginning Greek may be more than today's students are willing to invest, especially if they come to St. Olaf with poor study habits and little, if any, understanding of English grammar. To make matters worse, we have very few students in advanced Greek next year. (We had hoped that under-enrollment in our Level III language courses was a thing of the past, but the problem has returned.) Still, we already have 20 students, twice as many as usual at this point in the year, signed up to take Beginning Greek next fall, so perhaps the pendulum is about to swing in the other direction.
Because the Classics interim course in Greece was taught by Tim Howe this year, the FTE for it came from History instead of Classics, giving us the luxury of being able to offer an on-campus Classics interim course as well as a fourth section of Latin 111. Since that will not be the case next year, we plan to go back to three sections of Beginning Latin, two of them capped at 19. (There is also the possibility of adding an 8:00 section of Latin 111, taught by Anne Groton, if the large size of the incoming class makes that necessary.) We are having no trouble filling Classics courses. This year we let the caps on Greek & Roman Myth and Golden Age of Greece go up to 49, and Mark Gustafson agreed to raise the maximum for the on-campus interim course from 30 to 35. Teaching those courses with large enrollments does pose some problems and some challenges for us, but, at least for the time being, the pros outweigh the cons.
Although we were dreading the prospect of having to prove to the Board of Teaching that every single one of our course meets the Minnesota standards for licensure, we managed to get through the process relatively painlessly by focusing on Latin 231 and Education 349 and showing that all the standards can be met with just those two courses. Cory Holec '09 will be doing his student teaching at Mayo High School next fall. Jessica Bergeron '05 has completed her Latin Teaching Methods course and should be certified by the end of this summer. We have no other Latin Education students in the pipeline right now, but this is likely to change since the demand for licensed Latin teachers, particularly in charter and private schools, is growing.
The Interim to Greece went smoothly this year in TOm Howe's care. We continue to have plenty of applicants (41 this spring) even though the price has soared to $5100. To keep the cost close to $5000, we decided to shorten the program by two days, cutting out Crete; we hope this will be only temporary. We have now made the transition from Dora Spachi to Stella Galani as our guide in January. In recognition of Dora's 30 years of guiding for St. Olaf, the department sent her a framed certificate and engraved clock. Jim and Donna May will be leding their 10th Study Travel program to Greece (and Turkey), June 13-29, with Stella as their guide.
Steve Reece has been enjoying his sabbatical year; in the middle of it he was promoted to full professor -- congratulations! He will be participating in an NEH Summer Seminar on "Homer's Readers, Ancient and Modern" at the University of Michigan in June and July. Chris Brunelle finished up his first cycle of Great Con with a flourish and is looking forward to working with TrishBeckman and Charles Wilson over the next two years. The new Practice and Review sentences that he cmnposed with his curriculum development grant were tested in Latin !!! and !!@ this year; they greatly enhance the pedagogical value of Wheelock's Latin.
Stephanie McCerter, Mark Gustafson, and Jim May all contributed to the success of the department in 2007-08. McCarter's youthful enthusiasm as a recent Ph.D. was inspiring to our advanced students and got them excited about doing research and attending graduate school. She also gave a presentation to St. Olaf's Language and Literature Group (as did Tim Howe). Gustafson put students at ease with his avuncular manner. We wish him well as he begina a sabbatical-leave replacement job at the University of Minnesota, located just a bike ride away from his home in Minneapolis. Jim May kindly took on a section of Latin 111 in addition to his Provost duties; in his spare time he flew to Olso and Athens to give invited lectures on Cicero.
Anne Groton's five-year term as CAMWS Secretary-Treasurer is supposed to end on Jun 30, 2009; if a successor cannot be found, she may be forced to keep at it for another year. Last fall she gave a Chapel talk and served as an outside evaluator for Connecticut College's Classics Department. Now she is meeting with the design team for the "New Main" and wondering where Classics will end up being housed; theoretically we could fit either with the languagee departments in Ol Science or with "old department" in Old Main or with ancient history in Holland Hall.
A concern for the future: this year the only faculty who were teaching full-time (6 courses) in the Classics Department were our two "fill-in" hires, Gustafson and McCarter. Brunelle, who was teaching just four courses for us, taught the most students. One might object that this year was simply an anomaly, with Reece on Sabbatical, May still Provost, and Groton released from two courses, but the last time all three tenured members taught full-time in the department was 1995-96, and the person now saddled with the heaviest teaching load, Brunelle, is not even on a tenure-track line. That our department has continued to thrive under these circumstances is a credit to all who have taught here on a temporary basis, but the situation is not ideal; it needs to be addressed soon if we are to ensure the quality and stability of our program in the years ahead.
