The James M. May Lecture in Classics was endowed in 2015 to ensure that the study of Latin, ancient Greek, and the classical world continues to thrive at St. Olaf College. Every year the Department of Classics invites a prominent American or international scholar to come to the campus as a guest lecturer. The scholar delivers a public address, visits classes, and meets with students, faculty, and other members of the community.
Funded by generous contributions from alumni and friends, the lecture series is named in honor of James M. May, Professor of Classics, who retired from St. Olaf in 2017 after a distinguished 40-year career as teacher, scholar, administrator, and mentor for generations of students.
The inaugural lecture, “Isocrates and Cicero: Ancient Orators in the Modern Classroom,” was delivered by Dr. Terry L. Papillon ’80, Dean of the College and Professor of Classics at the University of the South, on Monday, March 27, 2017, in Viking Theater. An archived stream of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2018 May Lecture, “Philology and the Future of Work,” was delivered by Dr. Gregory R. Crane, Professor of Classics and Winnick Family Chair of Technology and Entrepreneurship at Tufts University, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Library 525. A recording of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2019 May Lecture, “Foundling Plots in Greek Drama,” was delivered by Dr. Gwendolyn Compton-Engle ’92, Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures at John Carroll University, on Thursday, April 25, 2019, at 7:00 p.m in Viking Theater. An archived stream of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2021 May Lecture, “Contesting Muses,” which had to be postponed from 2020, was delivered virtually by Dr. John F. Miller, Arthur F. and Marian W. Stocker Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia, on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. An archived stream of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2022 May Lecture, “Imagining Communities in and with ‘The Classical World’,” was delivered by Dr. Joy Connolly, President of the American Council of Learned Societies and former Professor of Classics at New York University, on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in Viking Theater. An archived stream of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2023 May Lecture, “The Power of Personal Names: From Homer to the New Testament,” was delivered by Dr. Steve Reece, Professor of Classics at St. Olaf College, on Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in Viking Theater, followed in the afternoon by a “Reece’s Pieces” alumni symposium (classical studies panel: Andrea F. Gatzke ’05, Hilary J. Bouxsein ’09, Collin J. Moat ’13; theological studies panel: Jon S. Bruss ’89, Julia Kelto Lillis ’04, Kristofer Phan Coffman ’13). An archived stream of the lecture is accessible here. Click here for the program.
The 2024 May Lecture, “‘Not in that imaginary Republic of Plato’s’: Rhetoric, Lies, and Morality in Cicero (and why he is not Donald Trump),” will be delivered by Dr. Jakob Wisse, Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Newcastle University, U.K., on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in Viking Theater. The lecture is free and open to the public; it will be streamed live here and then archived. Click here for the program.
The 2025 May Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Jon Solomon, Robert T. Novak Chair and Professor of Classics, Medieval Studies, and Media and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in Viking Theater. The lecture is free and open to the public; it will be streamed live here and then archived.
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