The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Conference on the Ancient World will take place November 9-11 at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. Nine Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows from around the country will present their work to both colleagues and a broader Tri-College audience. This showcase of undergraduate research seeks to bolster interest in studies of the ancient world and aims to create a community of support for scholars of color to consider careers in academia from which they have been historically excluded.
Being a Mellon Mays fellow allows aspiring academics with minority backgrounds to engage passionately in undergraduate and graduate research and work towards becoming professors and researchers who will foster and inspire future scholars. This conference will give a voice, a focus, and a community to Mellon Mays fellows who have not had the opportunity to present research to an audience knowledgeable in their specific subject matter.
This conference will primarily be a celebration of the research that the Mellon Mays students are conducting, but it will also have activities specifically tailored to our experiences and our aspirations of continuing in academia. The conference will include a graduate school panel specifically focusing on fields studying the ancient world, and a discussion on the systems of support we can create within our communities. In all these ways, the MMUF Conference on the Ancient World will inspire further research on the topics being presented, help create a network of fellows based on solidarity and friendship, and provide skills and information needed to successfully navigate applying to and engaging in graduate study.
The conference will commence with a keynote address from Professor of Classics and an inspiring activist and writer, Dan-El Padilla Peralta of Princeton University.
We warmly invite all community members to attend this conference as audience members. This is a rare opportunity for undergraduate scholars to present their research in a public forum and we hope this experience will bolster their ongoing work and foster greater diversity in the field of ancient world scholarship. We look forward to seeing you in the audience!
Conference on the Ancient World Program
Nov. 9-11, 2018
Friday, Nov. 9
Classics Colloquium Tea
4-3:30 p.m., Quita Woodward Room, Old Library, Bryn Mawr College
Conference Keynote Lecture: "Classics as a Form of Racial Knowledge"
Classics Colloquium
Dan-El Padilla Peralta, Assistant Professor of Classics, Princeton University
4:30-6 p.m., Carpenter B21, Bryn Mawr College
Saturday, Nov. 10
Session 1: Ancient Greek Philosophy and Modern Life
Taylor S. McClain
John Abughattas
10-11:30 a.m., Bryn Mawr Room, Haverford Dining Center, Haverford College
Break for Lunch
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Session 2: Ancient Material Culture as Evidence
Eric Mazariegos Jr.
Ana Alvarez Guzman
1:15-3:15 p.m., Bryn Mawr Room, Haverford Dining Center, Haverford College
Blue Bus to Bryn Mawr
3:35 p.m., departing Haverford College
Session 3: Education and Literacy in Ancient Rome
Camila Reed-Guevara
Wynter Pohlenz Telles Douglas
4-5:30 p.m., Old Library 224, Bryn Mawr College
Graduate School Q&A Panel
5:40-6:40 p.m., Ely Room, Wyndham Alumnae House, Bryn Mawr College
Sunday, Nov. 11
Session 4: The Idea of Foreignness in the Ancient World
Samuel Powell
Demorick Z. Green Sr.
Ronald T. Kelly, III
10 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Old Library 224, Bryn Mawr College
