Salvete omnes qui antiquitatem ament!

The topic I’ve chosen for this year’s writing contest is “Living Antiquity: Classics in the Modern World,” and I’d like to say in this my first presidential message that I’ll also be thinking of that same theme as the guiding principle for my leadership (such as it may be) of CANE’s 2008-2009 year. As many of you know already, studying the intersection of our ancient and honorable discipline with the vibrant, unexpected things people are doing today is my passion, whether I’m finding that intersection in a comparison between video games and the Homeric tradition or in the student/teacher collaborations of the Latin classrooms I have the privilege to visit as the coordinator of UConn’s Early College Experience concurrent enrollment program.

Classics has already faced down the challenge to our relevance in education. The rapid development of educational and scholarly technology presents us now with another challenge, and an even greater opportunity.

I’m extraordinarily happy to say that CANE has already begun to meet this challenge head-on. Through the forward-thinking above all of Ruth Breindel, CANE members now enjoy access to the amazing online resources of JSTOR. I’m strongly of the opinion that we are only beginning to grasp how much JSTOR and resources like it will transform and democratize scholarly discourse; for CANE to be on the cutting edge of this revolution bodes very well for our old field’s ability to change and grow.

Along with the changes wrought by technology have come those wrought by the victorious struggle to keep Latin alive, in which I, who am too young to have participated except as a student myself, see reflected the glory of my disciplinary elders. It is equally a challenge of classics in the modern world to make sure that the amazing gains made by the cohort now approaching retirement be extended rather than given up.

Ken Kitchell’s provocative talk in March about reinvigoratingt upper-level Latin called us to a new task along that line. Indeed, I think Ken called us to do what Ken himself entitled the other day, in a conversation with Richard Davis of Hotchkiss School and me, “Completing the Revolution.” I want to close this message by announcing that I will convene a plenary session bearing this title at the Annual Meeting 2009, and by inviting you to submit five to ten minute contributions of curricular ideas for advanced Latin classes in this new era following the demise of the Latin Literature Advanced Placement exam, an event I see much more as an opportunity—albeit one that will make us all nervous—than as a catastrophe. I will formalize this call in my next message, but I want to say right now that I am eager to discuss the matter any time, via e-mail (roger.travis@uconn.edu).