HIGHLIGHTS of the 2020 CAMWS meeting
The meeting includes 77 paper sections in 11 sessions running from Wednesday evening, March 25, through Saturday afternoon, March 28, 2020 in Birmingham, Alabama. There are fourteen organized panels on topics like Wedgwood and the Classical Tradition from Herculaneum to Wiltshire and Sex and Revolution in the Ancient World and eight pedagogical workshops, including Reproductive Justice in the Classics Classroom and Cultivating Translation Skills in Intermediate and Advanced Latin Classes, as well as the Presidential Workshop entitled Salvete, spectatores! Student Productions of Plautus. Topics of the fifteen round-table discussions include The Interdisciplinary Latin Classroom and The “Limits” of Classics: What Expanding the Field Looks Like. The Graduate Student Issues Committee is offering a panel (Being a Classicist in the Digital World: Public Scholarship in the Age of Twitter), a workshop (Interrogating the Hidden Curriculum: First Steps for Designing Inclusive and Accessible Courses), and a round-table discussion.
A highlight of the meeting will be an exhibit, “Fourteen Black Classicists,” created by Professor Michele Ronnick of Wayne State University. The exhibit, initially funded by two grants from the James Loeb Classical Library Foundation, features photographs of distinguished Black educators such as William Sanders Scarborough, the first Black member of the Modern Language Association and author of a Greek textbook (1881); Wiley Lane, the first Black professor of Greek at Howard University; John Wesley Gilbert, the first Black to attend the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece; Lewis Baxter Moore, who earned the first doctorate awarded by the University of Pennsylvania to an African American for his work on the Greek tragedian Sophocles; and Helen Chesnutt, who taught Latin at Central High School in Cleveland and published a Latin textbook (1932). The exhibit will be on display at the Hyatt Regency throughout the meeting.
The program begins on Wednesday evening, March 25, 2020, with an open reception hosted by CAMWS Consulares. Honored guests at this reception are first-time attendees at CAMWS and Lifetime CAMWS members. This is followed by a plenary panel entitled E PLURIBUS UNUM: The Challenge and Opportunities of “Diversity” for Classics and for CAMWS, organized by the CAMWS Ad-hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. Both the panel and the reception which follows are sponsored by the Women’s Classical Caucus.
On Thursday evening, March 26, special events include receptions hosted by several universities and Eta Sigma Phi. CAMWS members are also welcome to participate in a game called The Lost Argonauts and a table-reading of Sophocles' Trachiniae organized by members of CAMP (SCS Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance).
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the program, as usual, includes a workshop entitled "Let's Learn Latin" run by Ascanius: the Youth Classics Institute and designed to introduce non-Latin teachers in elementary and middle school to the world of Latin and the ancient Romans. Also on Friday morning there will be something new for CAMWS—a poster session at which fifteen undergraduates from around CAMWSland will use posters to present their academic research. All the Friday-afternoon sessions will be held at Samford University, where our Classics colleagues promise to treat us to a special dessert break. The evening events at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham—The Wynfrey are highlighted by the Special Service Awards, Ovationes, and the Presidential address.
The meeting concludes on Saturday, March 28, 2020. Events include the annual Business meeting, a workshop entitled “Visibility and Advocacy: Specific Steps You Can Take” and sponsored by the National Committee on Latin and Greek, and a panel entitled “It’s Coming: Are You Ready? College-Level Methods to Accommodate Students Instructed in Active Latin.” Also on Saturday is an important meeting of CAMWS Southern Section at almost the crack of dawn (7:30 a.m.!), followed later in the day by a lunch for Deep South Classicists.
A number of publishers and classical organizations are planning exhibits for the meeting. Once again there will be a display of recent books by CAMWS authors. Continuing Education Units (CEU's) will be available for teachers who attend the meeting.
We hope to see you in Birmingham!