CANE Summer Institute
The Classical Association of New England Summer Institute (CSI) brings together students, educators, and lifelong learners for an intensive week of lectures, mini-courses, reading groups, professional development workshops, and special events. Each institute considers the literature, history, and arts of the ancient Mediterranean world, and how we engage with those cultures today.
CSI Returns in 2026--July 6-10 Virtually
CSI 2025 ended up as an all virtual offering. We are excited to announce that the 2026 edition will take place in-person at Boston College High School July 6-10, 2026. There will still be an online component as well.
The theme for 2026 is Xenia, Community, and Solidarity in the Ancient World. What makes up a polis or a res publica? Who gets included, who gets excluded? Can that boundary of inclusion and exclusion be crossed, and how? What other kinds of communities do we see in the ancient or late antique world, like churches, mystery cults, or patronage networks? How big is the gap between an ideal community and the nitty gritty every-day workings of it in practice? How does a community get created, and what is necessary for that to happen?
About CSI
The Institute was founded in 1983 by Edward Bradley, Phyllis Katz, and Matthew Wiencke of Dartmouth College and Gloria Duclos of the University of South Maine. After being based at Dartmouth from 1983 until 2011, the institute moved in 2013 to Brown University, under the leadership of Jeri DeBrohun, and continued to convene there through 2022 (save 2020 and 2021). In 2025 the Institute moved to Stonehill College, which we hope will be its next long term home.
Past CANE Summer Institutes
- July 7-11, 2025, Virtually via CANE Zoom
- “The Time of Monsters”: Discord, Collapse, and Renewal in the Ancient World
- July 10-15, 2023, RISD and CANE Zoom
- “Classical Antiquity”: A Global Phenomenon in Local Contexts
- July 11-16, 2022, Brown University and CANE Zoom
- Maiores a(n)d Posteriores: Imagining “Classical Antiquity” into the Future
- July 13-15 and 20-22, 2021, Virtually via Zoom
- Power and the Individual in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- July 8-13, 2019, Brown University
- E Pluribus Unum
- July 9-14, 2018, Brown University
- Empires Ancient and Modern: Reactions to Imperial Power from Athens to the Americas
- July 10-15, 2017, Brown University
- The View from a Distance: Perspectives on the Greeks & Romans from across Space and Time
- July 11-16, 2016, Brown University
- Quid Sub Sole Novum? Imitation, Innovation, and Creation in the Ancient World
- July 13-18, 2015, Brown University
- Exegi Monumentum. Creating the Everlasting in the Ancient World
- July 14-19, 2014, Brown University
- “On the Shoulders of Giants:” Greco-Roman Giants and their Modern Emulators
- July 15-20, 2013, Brown University
- America’s Founding Fathers and the Classics of Greece and Rome
- July 11-16, 2011, Dartmouth College
- Spectacles in and of the Ancient World. spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.
- July 12-17, 2010, Dartmouth College
- “Not Athens But the World.” Why America is Still Listening to Ancient Voices
- July 6-11, 2009, Dartmouth College
- Expanding the Map: Cultural Exchange and the Peripheries of the Classical World.
- July 7-12, 2008, Dartmouth College
- Revolution and Reaction: Radical Changes and Continuities in the Ancient World
- July 9-14, 2007, Dartmouth College (25th Annual)
- Beyond Antiquity: The Legacy of the Classical World
Please note that lectures and courses at the institute are given in English; participation in the institute does not require knowledge of the ancient languages. CANE welcomes interested individuals who are new to the study of the ancient Mediterranean world and its modern legacy to attend the Institute, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Participants may board on site or commute to campus for the week.
Questions? Please contact Mark Wright, the director of the CANE Summer Institute, at summerinst@caneweb.org.
Mark Thatcher, Boston College
Multiculturalism in the Roman Empire
How did the Romans incorporate the various peoples of their empire into one Roman community? Or did they? We’ll explore the various peoples and provinces of the empire, from Germany to Greece and from Britain to Egypt, with a particular eye towards Roman perceptions of them: both negative stereotypes and positive thinking. How did contrasts with “others” shape what it meant to be Roman, and how did the different cultures included within the empire transform who “the Romans” were? We’ll use a combination of written sources, archaeological evidence, and visual art to explore these questions and the ever-expanding melting pot of the Roman world.
Matthew Aumiller, Boston College High School
Latin Teacher Idea Exchange
“This mini-course will be a bit different from a normal CSI course. Aimed at teachers and Latin pedagogy, we will focus on exchanging best practices, teaching tips for teaching Latin from introductory to AP/IB level. Teachers of all levels are welcome and encouraged to give the course a try. Participants should come prepared with a few sample lessons or things they’d be interested in trying. “
Maureen Lamb, Miss Porter’s School–This workshop will be asynchronous
Jacqui Carlon, UMass Boston, Ret. This workshop will be in person.
Details Coming Soon
Lectures From
Hanne Eisenfeld Boston College
Thomas R. Martin College of the Holy Cross
Kathleen Coleman Harvard University
Caitlin Gillespie Brandeis University
Peter Machinist Harvard University
Kathleen Coleman, Harvard University
Registration Information
- All are welcome: Participation in the institute does not require knowledge of the ancient languages. CANE welcomes interested individuals who are new to the study of Classics to attend the Institute as well as graduate and undergraduate students. High school students are welcome, but we must ask that they enroll in the virtual option.
- Registration periods: The regular registration period runs until June 30th. The late registration fee will be waived!
- What tuition covers: one morning and one afternoon mini-course, plus optional participation in professional development workshops, and Greek & Latin reading groups. Virtual Tuition is $580 Lectures are free, open to the public, and will be available both in person and virtually via livestream.
- Workshops and reading groups: professional development workshops and Greek and Latin reading groups are offered to CSI students. Workshops run Tuesday-Friday. Reading groups run Tuesday-Friday.
- Deposit: A non-refundable $250 deposit is due at registration. The balance is due by June 30th for all registrants.
- Accommodation requests: All CSI facilities are handicapped accessible. Please indicate your need for special accommodations for mobility, auxiliary communication aids, dietary needs, or other forms of assistance in a note with the registration form, or in an e-mail to the CSI Director Mark Wright (summerinst@caneweb.org).
- Code of conduct: By registering for the CANE Summer Institute, participants promise to abide by the CANE Code of Conduct.