APSU professor tells about classical language classes

As the professor of Greek and Latin at Austin Peay, I was pleased to see that there is an interest in Classical Languages and the ancient world at UTM.

For the last nine years, there has been a Classics program here at Austin Peay and the program continues to grow. We have majors in Greek, Latin, Classical languages (both together) and we have minors in Greek, Latin, and Classical Civilization.

In addition to the majors, we have a chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the national Classics Honors society. This group offers some scholarship money, and provides opportunities for undergraduates to present research at an annual national conference, as well as providing an outlet for social activities and community involvement.

Austin Peay is the only university besides Vanderbilt to offer an undergraduate major in Latin with a teaching certificate in that field. There is a critical need nationwide for high-school Latin teachers, and indeed all of the students who have taken this degree here have found teaching jobs before they graduated.

In addition to the classroom program, I also take students to Greece during the summer for a study abroad program.

Mr. Adkins is certainly correct that Classical languages attracts students from a broad range of academic disciplines. My students come from Physics, Biology, English, Philosophy and others. It is also true that they leave my courses with a much firmer grasp of English grammar than they had before studying Greek or Latin. Studies have shown that students who have Latin do better overall on standardized tests than any other group, and that includes students of other foreign languages.

The Tennessee higher education system is not well situated to duplicate programs. Your administration may well be interested in offering these programs, but the Tennessee Board of Regents may not be willing to support a second Classics program in this area. In any event, Classics is alive and well at Austin Peay. I invite all of you who are interested in Classics to come see what Austin Peay has to offer.

You can contact me at: winterst@apsu.edu

Timothy F. Winters Assoc. Prof. of Classics Austin Peay State Univ.