Monthly Archives: April 2021

Mark Pearsall – Barlow Beach Citation

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The 2021 winner of the Barlow Beach Award is Mark Pearsall. Mark was born and raised in Massachusetts, and pursued degrees in Classics at UMass Amherst and Boston University. He has taught Latin and Ancient Greek for more than twenty years at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, CT. In 2016, Mark earned his PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of Connecticut.

In 2000, an article in the Hartford Courant quoted his superintendent at Glastonbury High School saying that Mark “has a wonderful way with kids, you see the students applying Latin to their other classes, … He’s managed to engage all of us.” The principal at GHS added that he earns much of the credit for the growth of the school’s Latin program. “He’s magnificent” was the final summation.

Indeed, his consistent engagement with emerging and effective pedagogies in the discipline surely accounts for the many awards and honors bestowed: such as the Phinney Award for Greek teaching, commendations for teaching and service from ClassConn, and CANE’s Matthew Wiencke Award for excellence in teaching.

Since 2005, Mark has contributed nearly twenty presentations and workshops at conferences at many places such as CANE, ACL, the International Congress for Medieval Studies, and at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. He has accepted significant roles of leadership as well, serving in many capacities for CANE, including president, for the Classical Association of Connecticut, and currently sits on the Board of Governors for the American Classical League.

The inscription that appears on the traditional silver bowl he will receive is from Vergil’s Georgics (Book 3), and is as relevant to a teacher as it is to someone who raises goats, as Mark has also done for many years: Caprae quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae … atque memores redeunt in tecta suosque ducunt. “The kids must be guarded by us with tender care, and, mindful of our concern, they lead their own to our protection.”

Mark Pearsall, on behalf of CANE, thank you for your distinguished service to our discipline and to our organization.

Letter in Support of Howard University Classics

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The Classical Association of New England (CANE), a disciplinary organization with more than 300 members who teach and study Classics throughout the region, and the Officers and State Representatives thereof, stand united in our opposition to the decision by Howard University to eliminate its Classics program and to terminate the employment of all non-tenured or non-contracted faculty and associated staff. We likewise stand together in solidarity with those same faculty and staff, and the students, past and present, of Howard University who have written persuasively in support of preserving the Classics Department in light of the profound impact it has had not only on its own faculty and students, but on the larger community of scholars throughout the country and the world, since the University’s founding over 150 years ago.

As a regional organization dedicated to “to embracing not only the traditional understanding of Classics as encompassing the Greek- and Roman-centered narratives of antiquity, but also the perspectives of scholars and cultures previously under-represented and under-explored in the past several centuries of classical scholarship” CANE recognizes and affirms how important Classics departments at institutions such as Howard, the only Historically Black College or University that still has one, are to the study and understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world. The elimination of this department and the concomitant loss of present and future Classicists at Howard would further deprive the academic community of invaluable perspectives of Black and other underrepresented scholars, precisely at a time when the field of Classics is finally awakening to the enormous value of their contributions. 

More importantly, it would be a terrible disservice to current and future Howard students, denying them the opportunity to freely explore the languages, history, art, literature, philosophies, and material culture of the ancient Mediterranean world. Courses in Classics are opportunities for students to gain new perspectives on the hegemonic cultural, philosophical, religious, and political ideas of the ancient civilizations which, for better or worse, have had a profound influence on the present world we inhabit. Students in Classics have the opportunity to reconsider and analyze these influences and critically engage with the past and present as we work to construct a better future.

Classics was integral to Howard University at its founding and the outpouring of support from the students and the community demonstrates that it is just as relevant to the students of Howard University today as ever. Therefore, we hope that you, the governing entities of Howard University, will preserve your Classics department, and keep true to the institution’s stated educational mission (not coincidentally written in Latin) of “Veritas et Utilitas.”

Sincerely,

The Officers and State Representatives of the Classical Association of New England