Modern Greek Program Updates & News

Events

Peter Jeffreys of Suffolk University delivered the 33^rd annual Thomas E and Anna P Leontis Lecture on the brothers of the poet, C. P. Cavafy. The following day, Michael Mungiello, a literary agent with Inkwell Management, one of the largest agencies in the country, spoke about the differences between academic and commercial publishing.
At the end of the academic year, the Program organized its annual graduation ceremony on the fourth floor of the University Hall. Each student was recognized and received a book as a memento of the Program, thanks to The Nicholas D. Diamantides Modern Greek Studies Award. Students, parents, guests, and faculty then mingled over Greek refreshments.

Commemorative performance of A Short History of Anger: A Hybrid Work of Poetry & Theatre (October 5, 2023)
- Poet and performer Joy Manesiotis will perform a lamentation-commemoration of the 1922 destruction of Smyrna in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The event is a collaboration between the Modern Greek Program and the local Greek American community.
The 34th Annual Thomas E. Leontis and Anna P. Leontis Memorial Lecture in Modern Greek Studies (April 11, 2024).
- Neovi Karakatsanis (Indiana University) will be the speaker. The topic will be the reception and experiences of the refugees in the Aegean island of Chios in the broader context of the "European refugee crisis."
- What leads a people nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because of their compassion and hospitality to refugees to suddenly turn hostile towards the very people they rescued at sea? By focusing on one of the Greek islands on the frontlines of the “European refugee crisis,” this presentation will illumine the compassion fatigue that led Greek islanders who had welcomed refugees to grow tired of helping them and to treat them with hostility. The presentation will illuminate a number of factors that contributed to this transformation in the attitude and behavior of the local population.

On March 25, OSU Modern Greek faculty visited the Campbell Greek community, and our student, George Sdregas, presented his Honors Thesis with Research Distinction on the history of the Campbell community. The next day, the faculty of the Modern Greek Program visited the Steubenville community, presenting its own work.

For fifteen years now Ohio State students have attended the THYESPA program of the University of Athens, a six-week immersion course in Modern Greek language. In the summer of 2022 two students attended, classics graduate student Sergio Carlos Tamez and Modern Greek studies major Alexander Wheelhouse. This summer five students are participating with generous support from the Phaedon John Kozyris and Litsa Kozyris Award and other benefactors.