ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION

ANNUAL REPORT

1999-2000

Because some information was not included in last year's CPL report John Gibert provided information Colorado for 1998 to the present.

In addition to Peter Knox having become Editor of CJ two of his Colorado colleagues, Christopher Shields and John Gibert, join him on the editorial board. The Classics Department at University of Colorado at Boulder welcomed two new Assistant Professors in Fall 98: Susan Prince and Diane Conlin, whose appointment is shared with the Fine Arts Department. In 1999, they hired another new Assistant Professor, Peter Hunt who will arrive in Fall, 2000 after completing a year as a Junior Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. Ernst Fredricksmeyer, a beloved colleague and long an active CAMWS member (and past President) retired at the end of the Spring 1999 semester. Jane Woods, an M.A. candidate in Boulder and CAMWS member, received the Mary Semple Grant Award and studied at the American Academy in Rome in summer 1998. An M.A.T. candidate in Boulder, Josh Watson, also spent summer of 1998 in Rome speaking and studying Latin at the Ludus Aestivus of Reginald Foster, Latin secretary for the Pope. Member Carol Murphy received a 1999 Boettcher Foundation Teaching Award. (Each year forty Colorado high school seniors win Boettcher Scholarships for college, and each scholarship winner designates the teacher whom he or she deems most inspirational.) The UC Classics Department has a site: http://www.Colorado.EDU/Classics.

The Colorado Classics Association hosted a presentation/workshop on VRoma on Saturday, February 5, 2000, in the Resource Center of the Cherry Creek School District near Denver. Presenter Tatiana Tsakiropoulou-Summers of the University of Alabama demonstrated the features of the Virtual Roma website. Professor Summers, a member of the task force which developed the site, showed workshop participants how to access it and visit various buildings in any of the fourteen districts of historical Rome. She also discussed VRoma-based projects that can be completed by students. Seventeen Latin teachers from across the state attended this presentation. The Colorado Classics Association (CCA) also has a website:

http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu/Dept/CL/CCA/

Classics Departments are thriving in Boulder and at Colorado College. In Boulder, the department moved into a glorious new Humanities Building in November 1999. Latin offerings are expanding at Regis University and the University of Colorado at Denver. In the latter place, Marie Gingras is offering an innovative program of online instruction at the Beginning and Intermediate levels. There are also encouraging happenings at the K-12. Independent schools, charter schools, and even some neighborhood schools are adding Latin to their curricula or expanding their offerings. The UC Boulder Classics department often hosts visitors from these schools when visiting scholars come to town.

From New Mexico Monica Cyrino reports that Latin has been growing in the community, especially in the new prep schools in Albuquerque; Bosque Preparatory School, a new middle/high school, has instituted a 2-yr Latin requirement, and they have employed UNM graduate students as instructors. Tom Siegel, a past CAMWS Good Teacher Award winner, a popular Latin teacher and administrator at Highland High School in Albuquerque, is starting a new charter school this fall, still to be named, which will incorporate Latin language and classical studies as a major curricular component.

There is further good news from the University of New Mexico, where the classics program is growing by leaps and bounds. Monica Cyrino reports especially strong enrollments in classical culture courses: this spring, her brand-new course "Big-Screen Rome" has enrolled over 100 students, in a course which looks at the representation of the myth of ancient Rome in films from Quo Vadis to Fellini's Roma. This term also her course in Roman Civilization attracted 320 students, and in recognition of the importance of classical studies to a well-rounded education, this course is now an official part of UNM's new core curriculum. Cyrino, who was tenured last summer, has just been elected chair of the department. The demand for Latin at the college level is also growing, necessitating the addition of new sections of Latin 101-102.

Eric Huntsman reports from Utah that the annual CAMWS meeting will be held in 2001 Provo at the invitation of Brigham Young University. John Hall, a former CAMWS president and secretary-treasurer, and Roger Macfarlane will co-chair the local committee. CAMWS membership in Utah suffered a net drop of three in 1999, but in the coming months a concerted effort will be made to enroll all Classics college faculty and Latin high school teachers in advance of next year's convention. Of the active members of CAMWS in Utah, several currently hold positions in the organization. John Hall is on the Committee on Nominations, the Ad Hoc Committee on Long Term Planning, and the Committee on the CAMWS Centennial. Roger Macfarlane serves on the Steering Committee on Awards and Scholarships, the Subcommittee on the Manson A. Steward Education and Travel Awards, and as Vice President for the Rocky Mountain Region. Eric Huntsman serves on the Finance Committee and as the State Vice President for Utah. Cecilia Peek serves on the Committee on Resolutions. Mark Damen, who teaches at Utah State, serves on the Committee on Membership.

During the Fall Semester of 1999, BYU was pleased to have Herbert Benario as a senior Visiting Professor. In addition to teaching two seminars at BYU, Dr. Benario graciously gave presentations at both BYU and the University of Utah. His experience, collegiality, and reputation furthered the cause of Classics in our state.

A full range of Classics courses continue to be offered at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. A Classics minor with some language is offered at Utah State University. Sherri Latimer offers some courses in Classical history at the College of Eastern Utah in Price, but there is not any current demand for Latin at that institution. 1999 saw the inception of an intramural Latin competition, established with a donation by Mr. Nick Yengich and administered by Jim Svendsen at the University of Utah. Jim's annual role of dramaturg for the touring Greek drama found him touring even beyond the Great Basin with a production of Sophocles'

Electra.

Latin courses are currently offered at ten secondary schools in the state, of which only two are outside Salt Lake County. In addition to these on-site programs, Nancy Granducci from Ogden High School operates EDNET, a two-way interactive distance learning system that takes Latin courses to students in Sky View, Mountain Crest, North Sevier, and Ogden. Sky View and Ogden are in the EDNET Latin II program, and there is one student taking AP Latin IV - Vergil at Sky View.

The students in American Fork's Latin program participated in BYU's Spring Latin Fair. Events this year included examinations in Latin at three different levels, a Roman history exam, a Greek and Roman mythology exam and a traditional certamen. Ogden High had several awards in the National Latin Exams. In February (1999) the first year students from Sky View, Mountain Crest and Ogden High Schools met physically (i.e. not via television) at Sky View High in Smithfield for Certamen and pizza to mark the end of the Latin I course. In January (2000) the Latin EDNET classes gathered again for a Latin Banquet at Ogden High School. Many students tried recipes from Roman sources in books and the Internet. Second year students from Sky View presented an original playlet about Caesar. The Roland Hall-St. Mark's Latin contingent, under Sue Olsen's direction, claimed a 1st place in the NJCL Photography contest with a photo-journalism record of the group's service projects for the year.

Utah classicists share information on a webpage called Utah Classics Resource, maintained by Eric Huntsman: http://humanities.byu.edu/HCCL/ucr/index.html

The University of Arizona College of Humanities sponsored the Southern Arizona Language Fair in early March which drew Latin students from around the state. They participated in Latin recitations and drama performances, sampled Mediterranean foods, and listened to recordings of Ancient Music.

JCL Convention is upcoming, on April 15, at the University of Arizona. Sarah Knapp, an alumna of the UofA Classics Department with a Latin Teaching Certification from the College of Education, is the state Chair.

The University of Arizona Intensive Latin Summer Institute is now in its seventh year. Students earn 12 credits and complete four semesters of Latin in two intensive summer sessions. The courses are team-taught using the Moreland-Fleischer text for session I and readings in prose and poetry in session II.

The Arizona Placement Service continues to match applicants with positions throughout the state. This year two positions were filled in Arizona through the Service. Both candidates were graduates of the University of Arizona Classics Dept. with Latin high school teaching certification.

Philip Holt continues to hold down the cause of Classics at Laramie and reports that in Wyoming, enrollments have been growing in Classics: over 50 students started beginning Latin each of the last two years, and enrollments in Classical Civilization courses is creeping up.