Classical Studies Home Classics Faculty Major and Minor Requirements Student Research Study Abroad Classics VIPs Why Study Classics? FAQ   updated: 11/26/05			News from Students and Alumni Rositsa Atanasova ('07) Andrew Bernhard ('98) Cynthia Holt ('02) Travis Larsen ('03) Joseph "Joey" Lillywhite ('98) Kate McClendon ('05) Matthew Schrumpf ('01) Julie (Ford) Sparks ('01) Mariah Smith ('05) Astrid van Giffin ('02)     Rositsa Atanasova, a native of Bulgaria, was one of two Classics majors who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Willamette University in 2007. She spend her year abroad in Paris, France, studying French and Arabic and creating a video documentary on the experience of Muslim women in France that was sponsored by a grant from the Lilly project here at Willamette University. Most recently, Rositsa has been accepted to pursue her interests in Arabic and Islam as a graduate student at Harvard University on a full scholarship (3/27/08). Andrew Bernhard graduated magna cum laude from Willamette University in 1998, one year after the major in Classics was established. As a Religious Studies major focusing on early Christianity, he studied classical Greek (Koine and Attic) for four years. He was awarded Willamette's Dr. Norman A. Huffman Religious Studies Scholarship award for both the 1996-97 and 1997-98 school years and was inducted into the University's Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 1998. He established and maintains gospels.net, an award-winning, online resource featuring introductions, fresh translations, annotated bibliography and links for canonical, non-canonical and hypothetical gospels from the first two centuries. After completing a second bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology at Portland State University, Andrew is now a student of Wolfson College at Oxford University, England, and pursuing a Master of Studies in Greek and Roman History. (3/22/02) Cynthia Holt (B.A. Religious Studies with a minor in Classics, 2002) went to Columbia University in New York City to pursue an M.A. in Religion. From there, she transferred to Union Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with Columbia, before the end of the first term. She writes, "After my education at Willamette University, Columbia's program was far too remedial and didn't allow me to work on my Greek. The program here (at Union) is two years, as opposed to Columbia's one year. My focus is still on early Christianity and the ancient world. ... The program at Willamette is quite remarkable. More than one person has assumed I already have a masters, students, tutors, and professors. Several have said: 'Where did you go to undergraduate?!?' My education has stuck out both here at the Seminary and at Columbia. If nothing else, my presence here is giving Willamette a reputation as a good place to get your undergraduate degree." As part of her Classics minor, Cynthia studied Hebrew for one and Greek for two years. In her last semester before graduation, she read Homer's Iliad with Professor McGaughy and explored the daily lives of Roman women in Professor Knorr's class on Women in Roman Literature and Life. About the latter class she comments, "I should tell you, that class on women I took with you has turned out to be invaluable. It has been quite useful when writing term papers. I hope you continue to offer it." Now Cynthia is a successful real estate agent in the San Fernando Valley in California. (04/08/08) Travis Larsen (B.A. Classics and Religious Studies, 2003) is pursuing graduate studies at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, part of the well-known Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. In 2007, he was temporarily back in Oregon, serving as a pastoral intern at Atonement Lutheran Church in Newport.(4/8/08) Joey Lillywhite (B.A. Classics, 1998), came to Willamette on a football scholarship. Inspired by Professor McCreery, he developed an interest in archaeology. In 1997, he worked for several weeks on an archaeological survey in Erice, Sicily. Funded by a Carson Grant, he studied what kind of information is potentially lost in an excavation.       In the summer after graduation, Joey participated in the Agora Excavations of the American School for Classical Studies in Athens. Since then, he has returned to the Agora, his "love", a total of six times. In 1999, Ann Nicgorski also arranged for Joey to go on to her excavation of a Minoan palace in Mochlos, Crete, for a few weeks.       After Willamette, Joey entered the Post-Baccalaureate Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, he finished his M.A. in Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. Now a Ph.D. candidate in Archaeology at the University of Cincinnati, Joey won a 2007-2008 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. In 2007, he also served on the staff of excavations in Sikyon, Greece (see photo). (4/8/08)     Kate McClendon (B.A. Classics and Religious Studies, 2005) won a Lilly Grant to investigate traces of Shamanism in ancient Greek religion and in the course of her research visited libraries and museums all over the United States. Currently, she is a graduate student at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, pursuing an MA in Greek Philology with an interest in Greek religion and cross-cultural exchange (see her homepage). (2/7/06) Matt Schrumpf (B.A. Classics and Religious Studies, magna cum laude, 2001), returned to Athens, Greece, for a second round of archaeological fieldwork. After spending the summer of 2000 excavating in the Athenian Agora, he accepted the invitation to come back for the 2001 season. Matt’s work at Willamette coupled Near Eastern religion, ancient language study, and hands-on archaeological experience. His senior thesis in Classics discussed the process of translation and included his own translation and comparison of the three versions of Isaiah Chap. 7. Matt used a photo-reproduction of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls (this copy of Isaiah was written in ancient Hebrew around 150 BCE) and a photo-reproduction of the 896 CE Cairo Codex of Moshe ben Asher, also written in ancient Hebrew, as well as the compiled scholarly text of the Greek Septuagint. After graduating from Willamette, Matt lived in Japan. Through the Kawagoe Exchange and Teaching (KET) Program, a program for Willamette graduates and Salem residents, he taught English at junior high and elementary schools in Salem’s sister-city, Kawagoe (click here for Willamette’s KET website). Starting August 2004, Matt will attend New York University's Law School. He is looking forward to studying International Law at one of the top programs in the country (8/4/04).                     Julie C. (Ford) Sparks (B.A. Classics and English) graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2001. Both she and husband Jeremy decided to stay at Willamette (with brief interruptions), and she now works at Willamette's Hatfield Library. Julie's long-term goal is to become an Art Conservator. She continues to take the required chemistry classes with Willamette's Department of Chemistry after work. Julie discovered her love for art conservation in the summer after her junior year. Funded by a Carson Undergraduate Research Grant, she spent this summer researching and recreating the medieval techniques for illuminating manuscripts. The results of her project, "The Painted Word", are exhibited in a display case on the second floor of Eaton Hall and on her impressive web site, http://www.jcsparks.com. As part of the Digital Mimesis Project of the Hatfield Library, Julie has transcribed and photographed, among other things, a medieval manuscript from the library's collections, a Book of Hours, written in Latin and medieval French, from the middle of the fifteenth century. Mariah Smith (B.A. Classics, 2005), long-time president of the Classics Club at Willamette University, studied abroad in Vienna, where she developed an interest in Ancient Medicine. After writing her senior thesis on tree and plant medicine in Pliny the Elder's Natural History, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Classics with a full scholarship at the University of Kansas (3/27/08). Astrid van Giffin (B.A. Classics, Minor in Art History, 2002) has been accepted into the very prestigious professional training program for the conservation and restauration of glass and ceramics at the Instituut Collectie Nederland in Amsterdam. (7/2/03) For corrections or additions, please contact oknorr@willamette.edu.