Student initiative, energy allow Monmouth to host national classics conference

Thanks to a Monmouth College student, a national academic conference was held on campus.

While participating virtually in last year’s national conference for Eta Sigma Phi, a collegiate honor society for the study of classics, a question was raised about which school would host the 2023 event, which organizers planned to hold in person.

“One of our students, (then-freshman) Megan Dailey said, ‘We should do it,’” said classics professor Bob Simmons. “Monmouth has hosted the conference three times before, and this institution is a known commodity in the classics community.”

“I thought, ‘Why not Monmouth?’” said Dailey, a classics, art and educational studies major. “If no one else wants to, we can probably put this together.”

As a result of that “can-do” attitude, Monmouth served as host of Eta Sigma Phi’s national conference for the fourth time, which involved more than 40 Monmouth students and several of the College’s professors and staff members.

The event was held March 24-26 on campus and attracted more than 50 students from near- ly two dozen colleges and universities.

It was the first time the conference had been held in person since 2019.

In addition to talks and presentations about research, the conference featured a scaled- down version of the College’s award-winning Classics Day. The College’s next full Classics Day will be held Sept. 30, and it is expected to attract hundreds of high school students from the Midwest.