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Renowned St. Olaf Classics Department to host national convention in April

By Elizabeth Child
March 31, 2005

A resurgence of enthusiasm for the classics in higher education will be palpable at St. Olaf College as it hosts the national convention of the classics honor society Eta Sigma Phi the weekend of April 15 to 17.

ClassicsPlay
The annual play presented by the Classics Department, including this year's "Curculio" (above), is a popular spring event at St. Olaf. The play will be presented again during the national Eta Sigma Phi conference on campus.
Leading the bid for the national convention was St. Olaf senior Stephanie Walker, national president of Eta Sigma Phi, along with fellow St. Olaf honor society students. Walker will coordinate the event.

More than 100 students from around the country are expected to attend the national convention.

Events for the weekend include a Friday night reception and classics quiz bowl competition, Olympic Games in Skoglund Center, a talk by Provost and Dean of the College Jim May, who also is a professor of classics, on the ancient Greek Trireme (warship), a concert by the Early Music Singers conducted by Professor of Music Gerald Hoekstra and a costume contest at the Saturday night Roman banquet.

A free performance of Plautus' Curculio ("The Weevil"), an ancient Roman musical comedy, is open to the public. It will be performed in Room 233 of Christiansen Hall of Music at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 16.

About Eta Sigma Phi
Eta Sigma Phi is the national honor society for students of Latin and/or ancient Greek. Students are eligible to be elected to membership if their college or university has an active, officially chartered chapter.

The purposes of the society, in the words of its constitution, are "to develop and promote interest in classical study among the students of colleges and universities; to promote closer fraternal relationship among students who are interested in classical study, including inter-campus relationship; to engage generally in an effort to stimulate interest in classical study, and in the history, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome."

St. Olaf College has had an Eta Sigma Phi chapter since 1971 and is currently the home of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS).

St. Olaf last hosted the national convention 20 years ago. With some 50 student majors, the Classics Department at St. Olaf is among the largest of any liberal arts college in the country. Its students have won national prizes in Greek and Latin translation through the society every year since 1980.

St. Olaf professors Anne Groton and Jim May are nationally recognized among classicists, each having received the American Philological Association's Award for Excellence in the Teaching of the Classics.

Contact Elizabeth Child at 507-645-0119 or ec@elizabethchild.com.