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Thomas J. Sienkewicz
Tom Sienkewicz was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He attended St.
Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he studied
Latin for four years and ancient Greek for three. He was a Classics
major at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he read the works of Aeschylus, Thucydides and Sophocles in the
annual Hellenic Traditions Seminar. He was an enthusiastic member of the
trombone section of the marching band in both high school and college.
After earning a B.A. in Classics
summa cum laude from Holy
Cross, he entered graduate school at The Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued his study of Classics and met
his future wife Anne Waterman. He spent the academic year 1973-74 in
Paris, France, where he attended a seminar led by Jacqueline de Romilly
at the Ecole Normale Superieure, studied medieval and Renaissance
manuscripts at the Bibliotheque Nationale and worked on a project on
Greek bronzes at the Louvre. He earned his doctorate in 1975 with a
dissertation on Euripides’ Trojan
Women. He was inducted into the Hopkins chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in
1976.
Sienkewicz taught Classics at Howard University from 1975 until
1984. In 1982 he spent a sabbatical semester as a fellow at the
Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities at the University of
Edinburgh.
In 1984 Sienkewicz joined the faculty at Monmouth College. He
served as Minnie Billings Capron Professor of Classics until his
retirement in 2017. From 1984 through 2007 he offered a full Classics
program essentially single-handedly and designed a unique, award-winning
Triad curriculum which enabled him to teach a wide variety of language
courses and courses in translation. He led student study trips to Rome,
Naples, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain and Britain. He also was twice a
visiting professor for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Florence
Program.
He is the author of a wide variety of books and articles on the
Classical world, including, with Kenneth Kitchell,
DISCE! An Elementary Latin Course,
and, with LeaAnn Osburn (MC’72)
Vergil: A LEGAMUS Transitional Reader.
Sienkewicz has devoted much of his time to professional
service. He has served as president of the Illinois Classical
Conference, vice president of the American Classical League, and
Executive Secretary of Eta Sigma Phi, and, is currently
Secretary-Treasurer of the Classical Association of the Middle West and
South and Business Manager of The
Classical Journal. In 2018 he was appointed an affiliate faculty
member at the Guangqi International Center for Scholars.of Shanghai
Normal University.
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a CAMWS
Ovatio, a Meritus Award from
the American Classical League, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both
the Illinois Classical Conference and Eta Sigma Phi. |