Friday and Saturday, Ohio University will be hosting the annual Ohio Classical Conference (OCC) in Baker University Center for classical professors and teachers from all around the state.
Every year, the OCC is held at a different university in Ohio. This year, OU has the opportunity to host the conference.
The conference this year will be featuring Professor Garth Tissol from Emory University in Georgia. Along with Professor Tissol, selected members will be giving presentations, including Timothy Wutrich of Case Western Reserve University and K.C. Kless from Indian Hill Middle School in Cincinnati.
There will also be three undergraduate students — Sarah Johnson from Oberlin College, Rachel Thomas from OU and Sophia Taborski from The University of Pittsburgh — who will be presenting speeches on classical topics.
Thomas, a senior studying classical languages and literature in the Honors Tutorial College, has been working with the OCC for the past few months. She will be giving a speech on amicitia, a Latin term meaning friendship.
“Working with the OCC has provided me with the opportunity to enhance my own research and professional skills,” Thomas said.
Within the speakers and members, new state guidelines for learning objectives will be discussed, as well as a general theme for the conference. This year, the theme is the Roman poet Ovid, who is a favorite among the participants for his poem Metamorphoses. It is also a time for high school teachers and college professors to collaborate on teaching methods and see the improvement of excellence among high school students.
“This is the prime opportunity for professors to network with the K-12 teachers,” said Classics Professor Jim Andrews.
The conference is more focused on connecting the different level of teachers than actually improving one’s own Latin or classical skills. Andrews, who has attended past conferences and helped organize and set up this year’s conference, said he feels through the conference they can support the Latin activity in high schools.
“We’re more interested in bringing together the high school teachers and college professors,” said Classics Professor Robert S. Hays. “It’s great to see how dedicated and smart the high schools teachers are,”
As the poet Ovid is a focus for this year’s conference, it is convenient that the play, Metamorphoses is being put on by the theater department during the days of the conference. After a day of speeches, the participants will have the opportunity to view the play at night.
“When we heard about the play, we decided to have the conference at the same time because Ovid is always a favorite poet,” Andrews said.
The OCC is a big event for the department each year from the opportunities it presents to professors, teachers and aspiring students.
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