Classics starts the conversation of the Western world.... It is the basis of law, literature, language, engineering, and much more.
-- Michael Putnam, Campaign Co-Chair
Professor of Classics, Brown University
The APA seeks to raise $4 million that will enable it to continue to transform the field of Classics and to serve students, teachers, and scholars in the 21st century. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has endorsed this Campaign for Classics with an extraordinary Challenge Grant of $650,000, requiring a four-to-one match to secure the entire amount.
The campaign will develop an endowment to support a new American Center for Classics Research and Teaching. The aim of the Center is to make high quality information about the Classical World available in accessible formats to the largest possible audience by using technology in new and exciting ways. We will accelerate the transformation of our field from the "gatekeeper" of knowledge to the "gateway" to insight, offering all the rich and rewarding world of Classics. Your support will enable the American Center to:
- Create sophisticated and accessible research tools for Classics teachers and scholars
- Develop the next generation of inspired, diverse teachers of Classics and Classical Languages
- Support wider public understanding and appreciation of Classical Civilization
With the assistance of several colleagues, Prof. Ward Briggs, a member of the Campaign Steering Committee, has produced a demonstration of the kinds of information that the APA can provide when it serves as a Gateway to information about the Classics. We welcome comments on this demonstration, which can be views in either a Quicktime or Windows Media format.. Write to APA Executive Director, Adam Blistein (blistein@sas.upenn.edu)
The APA invites everyone who has ever been touched by the insights and artistic achievements of classical civilizations to join a distinguished Campaign Committee of both academic leaders and enthusiastic lay persons that is leading this effort for the APA Board of Directors. The Committee has prepared three documents of varying lengths that explain the Campaign's goals. The full case statement explains why the APA has embarked on this Campaign and describes in detail the programs the APA intends to support from the income generated by this new endowment. A briefer case statement and a one-page digest summarize the reasons for the campaign and the endowment's goals.
The APA is currently asking all its members, particularly those who have not yet contributed to the campaign, to consider a generous pledge to the campaign. You can use your credit card to make a campaign gift at a secure web site. To obtain the full $650,000 being offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the APA must obtain $2.6 million in gifts by July 2012. As of March 2012, more than 1,000 donors have already contributed over $2.2 million of this amount. Many of the initial donors to the campaign are current and former members of the APA Board, showing the commitment of the Association's leadership to this campaign. In fact, all current members of the Board have made pledges.
On the list of Campaign donors you will notice several references to “Friends” groups that have raised Campaign gifts in honor of revered teachers. Follow this link to see a list of these groups and the donors to each of them.
Visit this page regularly to see updates on the progress of the campaign.
