When the Classical Association of the Atlantic States meets 9-11 October in Princeton’s Westin Hotel for its 2008 Annual Meeting, Rutgers will be fully in the house.
Postcard ‘Jersey’ features Princeton in the R and Rutgers in the final E
Two highlights for Rutgers Classics on the conference program:
Jason Albaugh, a Rutgers Classics MAT candidate and teacher at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School (NJ), presents on West African mythology and much more besides with his talk “Anansi Tigridem Ligavit: Using Folk Tales in the Latin Classroom”.
And Jeffrey Ulrich, Rutgers ’08 and now a Math teacher at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, speaks on “The Polymorphous Herodotus: An Interpretation of Nomos in the Histories”.
This talk is based on Ulrich’s senior thesis, directed by Emily M. Allen. “I’m presenting on cultural relativism as displayed in Herodotus,” explains Jeff. “My argument focuses on the Darius experiment in Histories 3.38 and the greater function of nomos in the surrounding narratives.” The conclusion? “That Herodotus cannot resist making moral and ethical distinctions that preclude him from being a relativist.”
Above: Jason Albaugh, Persian Daric ca. 400-350 BC, Jeffrey Ulrich
There’s more after the jump…
Also on the program is Frederick J. Booth (Seton Hall University), a 1983 Rutgers PhD, who presents on “Catullan Echoes in Renaissance Polish Latin Poetry”.
Plus Deborah Lemieur (Saint Joseph’s University), MA 2006; Prudence Jones (Montclair State University), who taught as a visiting assistant professor for Rutgers Classics 2001-2004; Raymond Pietrucha (South Brunswick High School), MA 1990; Anthony Stromoski (The Brooklyn Latin School), a former graduate student in the RU Classics program; and Sarolta Takács, Dean of the SAS Honors Program and Professor of History at Rutgers, who is CAAS Regional Representative for Central New Jersey.
And lest we forget, papers by Jennifer L. Muslin (University at Buffalo, SUNY) and Daniel Tompkins (Temple University) on ancient historian Moses I. Finley. Finley taught at Rutgers—Newark from 1948 through 1952, only to have the university during the “Red Scare” terminate his contract on 1 January 1953. In 1954, the US Senate Internal Security Subcommittee questioned Finley on whether he had been a Communist Party USA member; he subsequently relocated to England, and the rest is history.
Oh, and by the way. On October 23-26 2008 the focus shifts 15 miles north of Princeton, when the Byzantine Studies Association of North America meets at Rutgers, with the 34th annual Byzantine Studies Conference. More news on that soon to follow!
Excerpt from Finley’s 1954 Senate hearing
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