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Expert on ancient Rome and the Janiculum isPhi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar at St. Olaf College

CLE
November 8, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? An expert on ancient Rome is this year?s Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar at St. Olaf College. Katherine A. Geffcken, professor emerita of Latin and Greek at Wellesley College, will deliver two talks, both free and open to the public, during her two-day visit to the campus on Nov. 12?13.

Geffcken?s first presentation, "The Janiculum Hill, Rome: Aqueducts, Villas, and Battlefield," will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, in Room 305 of the Dittmann Center. It will be followed by a reception on the main floor, opposite the student art gallery. In a talk illustrated with slides, she will examine the history and topography of the hill that has been called "the balcony of Rome."

On Tuesday, Nov. 13, 3:30 p.m., in Rĝlvaag Library 515, Geffcken will discuss "Female Figures on Ancient Roman Coins," examining coins that depict goddesses, abstractions (e.g., Peace and Liberty), and empresses. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the Departments of Classics and History at St. Olaf College.

Geffcken?s visit is supported by the national Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program and by the Delta of Minnesota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Every year 12 or more distinguished Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholars travel to approximately 100 colleges and universities nationwide. They spend two days on each campus, meeting with students, faculty and staff members, taking part in classroom discussions and delivering a public lecture.

A native of Atlanta, Geffcken received her B.A. from Agnes Scott College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. She taught at Wellesley College from 1963 to 1998. A past president of the Vergilian Society of America, she is a life member and former director of the American Philological Association and a member of the Archaeological Institute of America. She has been a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome and directed four of the academy?s summer sessions.

Classics students are familiar with Geffcken through her well-known monograph, Comedy in the Pro Caelio with an Appendix on the In Clodium et Curionem . She is also the author of 11 articles on Garibaldi?s defense of Rome and on the buildings of the Janiculum. She is a contributor to the Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists and to the exhibition catalogue Esther Van Deman: Images from the Archive of an American Archaeologist in Italy at the Turn of the Century. Among her special research interests are Roman comedy and Latin literature of the first century B.C.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty complement of approximately 300. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-786-3315 or leigh@stolaf.edu.