David Sundman passed along this BBC News article about two scholarships in classics funded by historian Mary Beard.
-Editor
Historian Mary Beard is to fund scholarships for two disadvantaged students to study classics at Cambridge University, as a "retirement present".
The Cambridge professor is stepping down next year after almost 40 years of teaching and research.
She described the £80,000 donation as her "payback time".
"I am very conscious of what I've gained from classics, no-one from my family had a university degree," said Dame Mary.
The historian and television presenter wants to help widen the reach of classics as a subject, so it's not "just for posh people who've done Latin for ages".
Most people approaching retirement might expect the present to be heading in their direction, but Dame Mary - no stranger to doing things her own way - wants to mark her departure with her own donation.
Her BBC television series, such as Julius Caesar Revealed and Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit, have brought ancient history to a wider, modern audience.
Dame Mary said her own interest in classics was through an early enthusiasm for archaeology, and she remembers the excitement of finding a Roman coin and "holding the past".
One of her earliest memories, she said, was being taken by her mother to the British Museum as a small child, and an attendant being kind enough to open a display case to let her hold a piece of ancient Egyptian carbonised cake.
She now wants to help open up classics for another generation of young people.
To read the complete article, see:
Mary Beard's retirement present to fund students
(https://www.bbc.com/news/education-57102489)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor
at this address: whomren@gmail.com
To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
Copyright © 1998 - 2021 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.
NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
|