UC joins historic U.S. academic outreach to Greece

UC has the longest relationship with Greece of any American university. Since the 1960s, UC has worked with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. More recently, students in UC Classics and philosophy have studied in Greece.

UC Provost Valerio Ferme will lead UC’s delegation to formalize new partnerships and expand existing ones by meeting with Greece’s public universities.

“We’d like to find strategic partners where multiple UC departments can conduct joint research, work with faculty, submit grants and offer students educational opportunities,” said Ferme, UC's vice president for academic affairs.

UC will join 29 other U.S. universities in the academic delegation, the largest ever to conduct this kind of educational summit abroad, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

“It is a really historic visit. It will be the largest delegation of U.S. universities to another country,” U.S. Embassy cultural attache Shanna Dietz Surendra told the news service.

UC Classics has conducted archaeological work in Greece dating back to the 1920s.  Years later, in 1939, Department Head Carl Blegen, a former fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, discovered the Palace of Nestor with Greek archaeologist Konstantinos Kourouniotis.

More recently, UC Classics Department Head Jack Davis and Senior Research Associate Sharon Stocker have been making astounding discoveries about ancient Greece such as the tomb of the Griffin Warrior shared around the world. Davis also served on the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for three years.

Davis said UC professor Peter Topping is credited with establishing UC’s academic relationship with Greece in the 1960s. Topping, who died in 2003, left his post as director at the Gennadius Library at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens to teach as a professor of history and later Greek studies.

“UC hired him to build a program in modern Greek studies,” Davis said. “He helped establish a special relationship between UC and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.”

Davis said he has collaborated with many Greek scholars and scientists over the years in his investigations of ancient Pylos. Many UC graduate students have come from Greece.

“A paleobotanist from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki coordinates a group of students who are studying seeds from our excavations,” Davis said.

UC has similar academic partnerships with universities in many other countries.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic made international travel impossible, as many as 1,800 UC students took part in study abroad. Likewise, UC is home to students from countries on six continents. UC enrolled more than 4,500 students from other countries this year.

Vice Provost Raj Mehta, director of UC's Honors Program, said students who travel abroad often find they have a better understanding of how the world is connected.

“Many of the challenges we face are global, such as climate change, food insecurity, dwindling water resources and pandemics. We call them ‘wicked problems,’” Mehta said. “Students will inherit these challenges, so it’s important we show them the world beyond our doorstep.”

Featured image at top: Greece's Parthenon. UC will join a delegation of U.S. academic institutions to meet with Greek universities to expand opportunities for students in both countries. Photo/Patrick/Unsplash