It's been a busy year (or two) for Corax! In April 2002, Professor Kirby won the AWARD FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Purdue. In November 2002, he was named INDIANA CLASSICS TEACHER OF THE YEAR at the annual meeting of the Indiana Classical Conference (held in conjunction with the IFLTA convention in Indianapolis). In April 2003, he received Purdue's Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award In Memory Of Charles B. Murphy -- the highest undergraduate teaching honor granted by the University. In August 2003, he was inducted into the Book of Great Teachers, actually a bronze placque in the Purdue Memorial Union that lists -- so far -- the 267 members of Purdue's faculty identified as its 'finest educators' (at both the undergraduate and graduate levels) since the University's inception. And, at a ceremony in October 2003, he was named a Fellow of Purdue's Teaching Academy, a group of -- so far -- 110 "dynamic scholar-teachers committed to the continual improvement of teaching and learning at Purdue University."
CLCS 336: The Ancient World Onscreen (new in Spring 2003; to be offered again in Fall 2003)
The ancient world is alive today -- above all in our movies, our television shows, and our computer games! How do we represent the ancient Greeks and Romans on the big and small screens? Why are they figured as they are? What happens to the books they wrote when these are turned into modern films TV shows, or computer games? What aspects of ourselves do we see (or prefer not to see) in the people of ancient times? These are some of the questions that this course will ponder. The class meetings will consist of lecture/discussion on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and of film screenings, TV-program screenings, and game sessions on Wednesday evenings. All readings will be in English. No prerequisite. 3.0 credit hours.
CLCS 237: Sex and Gender in the Ancient World (new in Fall 2003)
What does it mean to be male, female, masculine, feminine, man, woman, boy, girl? What can we discover about you from the way(s) you have sex, and with whom? How are all these things related to life, love, power? These are just some of the questions that CLCS 237 will consider -- first with reference to the peoples of ancient Greece and Rome, but also (eventually) with reference to ourselves. We will look at a number of ancient texts in modern English translation, and perhaps some films too, for relevant cultural materials. Classes will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion; nightly assignments will focus principally on readings. No prerequisite. 3.0 credit hours.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RHETORIC: The Oxford University Press has released its new Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, a massive reference work in over 800 pages. Their commercial website advertises the book; from the actual book's webpage you can download one of the Encylopedia's entries, written by Corax! Just click on the box marked "Occasion" to download a .pdf file containing the text (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file; this can be downloaded for free from their website).