Since the school year come and gone, the Department of Classics and Religious Studies looks back at all we have accomplished. We are proud to serve our students with a quality educational experience and our lineup of celebrated faculty and events show that.
Events
2018-2019 was full of events for Classics and Religious Studies. We welcomed speakers and hosted undergraduate organized events.
For the annual Halloween battle re-enactment, the department acted out the Battle of Zama from the second Punic War.
Collaborating with Angels Theater Company, we hosted a staged reading of Marina Carr’s Hecuba on December 5. Two students and Prof. Lippman acted in this production.
Our department also hosted the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Midwest and South during the first week of April. We welcomed over 400 classics scholars and students to Lincoln for the four-day event.
We hosted our 2nd annual Homerathon. Using knowledge gained from 2018, undergraduate students planned the event and garnered close to 500 attendees. We also invited Achilles in Vietnam author Jonathan Shay to lecture as part of the celebration and hosted his writing partner Michael Shiner as well.
We welcomed several lecturers in the AIA Lecture series.
- “Seeing Roman Slaves” - Jennifer Trimble, Stanford University
- “The Mysteries of the Delphic Oracle” - John Hale, University of Louisville
- “Emperors, Gods, and Gladiators: Emperor Worship in the Colosseum” - Nathan Elkins, Baylor University
- “Between Elite Style and Mass Appeal: the Nondescript Imperial Women of the Roman High Empire” - Eve D’Ambra, Vassar College
- “From Dinner Theater to Domestic Church: Transforming the Triclinium in Late Antique Antioch” - Dana Robinson, Creighton University
Awards
Gil Renberg received one of the 2018 Charles J. Goodwin Awards for his book Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World. The award recognizes outstanding contribution to classical scholarship published by a member of the Society within the last three years.
Research
Many in our community researched, published, and presented their work in the past year. A selection of that research is presented below.
Faculty
Anne Duncan and co-author Vayos Liapas’ article “Theatre Performance after the Fifth Century” was published in A Twilight World? Greek Tragedy after the Fifth Century in January 2019.
Emirata professor Sidnie White Crawford’s book Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran was published by Eerdmans Publishing Company on July 3, 2019.
As editor in chief, Mike Lippman published his first issue of Didaskalia, an online academic journal dedicated to ancient Greek and Roman drama, at Nebraska in October 2018.
Students
Several undergraduate students participated in UCARE projects during the school year.
Homerathon - Brooke Mott and Nichole Brady
Analyzing and Researching an Ancient Greek Drama and Transforming it Into an Electronic Resource - Douglas DeBose, Ian McGovern, Jacob Scheele, Paige McCoy, Vanessa Larsen, Lexi Robertson, and Ethan Ostedik
Campus Archaeology: Advertising Wellness and Digital Curations - Riley Evers
Mapping the Correspondence Network of Prominent Swiss Reformers - Brooke Adam
Alex Rousseau organized a symposium and panel discussion on faith and environmentalism called "Our Sacred Earth" for his senior capstone. Four professionals who work with religion, environmental science or both made up the panel: Courtney Bruntz, assistant professor of Asian religions at Doane University; Richard Miller, professor of systematic and philosophical theology and sustainability studies at Creighton University; Rev. Kim Morrow, senior associate of Verdis Group and Martha Shulski, director of the Nebraska State Climate Office.
Our 2018-2019 school year was filled with activities and learning for the Department of Classics and Religious Studies. Thank you to all who participated in our work and activities. We look forward to continuing to provide our students a quality educational experience in the coming year.
