A committee formed of faculty from the Departments of Classics, Philosophy, and Art History & Archaeology has awarded 11 Washington University faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students with awards from the Penelope Biggs Travel Award. The award was founded last year by John Biggs, a generous friend of Washington University and the study of ancient Greece and Rome, in memory of his wife Penelope Biggs, a classical scholar and teacher of Latin. Faculty in any department, and any students who have course work in Classics, Art History & Archaeology, or Philosophy, are eligible for the awards, which fund research and study in Greco-Roman antiquity.
Awards to Faculty Members
Nicola Aravecchia (Classics and Art History & Archaeology) received an award to support his research into potential sites for future excavations in Egypt.
An award to Elizabeth Hunter (Performing Arts) will fund her visit to sites at Rome and Pompeii, Italy where digital creators are “resurrecting” ancient Roman architecture with location-based virtual reality. This fieldwork will contribute to her book project on digital resurrection.
Lance Jenott (Classics and Religious Studies) received an award to support his participation in a workshop in Manchester, England with fellow authors in the series “Coptic Gospels and Associated Texts” from Cambridge University Press. Jenott is completing a volume for the series on the Gospel of Judas.
Cathy Keane (Classics) will use her award to present a paper entitled, “Rethinking ‘mock epic’: Vergilian visions in Juvenalian fictions,” at an international conference on “Virgil, the Virgilian Tradition, and the Question of Humor” in Cuma, Italy.
Casey O’Callaghan (Philosophy) will use his award to study Aristotle’s philosophy of the senses and perception at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London in the United Kingdom.
An award to Kathryn Wilson (Classics) will allow her to present a paper entitled “Autochthony and Empire: The Racial Logic of Lucan’s Snake Catalogue” at “Lucan’s Landscape and Lies,” an international conference in Durham, UK.
Awards to Graduate Students
Claire Lyman, a PhD student in Art History and Archaeology, received an award to support her participation in a course on “German for Classicists” at the University of Cologne in Germany. She also received, in support of the same course, an award from the Robert Lamberton and Susan Rotroff Funds, which funds summer study for students in the departments of Classics and Art History & Archaeology.
Claire Lyman and Mary Sulavik, PhD students in Art History and Archaeology, received awards that will allow them to participate in excavations led by Nicola Aravecchia (Classics and Art History & Archaeology) at the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt.
An award to Will Sieving, MA student in Classics, will allow him to attend the 2024 Papyrus Conservation Seminar at the University of Michigan. He also received an award from the Kevin Herbert Memorial Fund, which supports internships and similar opportunities for students in Classics. He will use the training he receives at the seminar to work on the conservation and study of papyri owned by Washington University.
Awards to Undergraduate Students
Classics major Hannah Helt will use her award to participate in an archaeological excavation at the ancient Roman town of Cosa in Italy.
An award to Classics major Nicole Spangler will allow her to join in excavations at Iklaina in Greece.
Additional applications for the Penelope Biggs Travel Award will be accepted on a rolling basis. Faculty and students who will be traveling for research or study in Greco-Roman antiquity are encouraged to write for information to Tim Moore, Chair of Classics (tmoore26@wustl.edu).
