Classics to regroup after departure of two profs

Yale's classics department is struggling to regain a measure of stability after recent turmoil. Senior professors Heinrich Von Staden, SY '61, and Jerome Pollitt, BK '57, recently announced that they plan to depart at the end of the semester, leaving new classics chair, Professor John Matthews, to hold the department together.

COURTESY OPA/YH Jerome Pollitt, BK '57, and Heinrich Von Staden (not shown), SY '61, leave behind a legacy of scholarship and a dedication to teaching.

The department will remain in a state of flux for some time to come, as many of the faculty are close to or above retiring age. Matthews, who arrived at Yale just last year after leaving his chair in the Roman history department at Oxford University, took over as chair on Thurs., Jan. 1. He is faced with the challenge of replacing Pollitt and Von Staden, as well as planning for the future of the department.

Matthews is currently "halfway through" with the search for a professor to take over for Pollitt. Three of the five candidates have already visited Yale and given guest lectures. The departure of Von Staden, a scholar in an extremely wide variety of subjects, poses a more difficult problem.

"We are not going to try to get a second Heinrich," Matthews said. "We have to see how best we can replace [his] skills. We may get two people who can cover what he covered alone."

In the long term, the classics department is also hoping to hire senior faculty who specialize in Greek, Latin and archaeology.

The expanding of "repertoire" is indeed a priority for Matthews. In addition to diversifying the selection of courses in the department, Matthews hopes to coordinate more with related departments such as philosophy, art history, and comparative literature.

Matthews seeks a more diverse faculty to cover the wider range of subjects. He wants to "recruit the technical skills" necessary for reading inscriptions and hieroglyphics. He also plans to achieve a "proper balance of ages" between the faculty members.

Students within the classics department, and other affiliated departments such as art history and Latin, are generally confident that the classics department will remain strong. Classics major John Ready, SM '98, conceded that the departures of Von Staden and Pollitt represent a "huge loss" for Yale, but he added that the department has broadened its scope considerably and is "headed in the right direction."

"Since I've been here, they have done a much better job in expanding their repertoire. They [have also] hired great new junior faculty," Ready said.

Pollitt, who held a joint position with the classics and history of art departments, will retire after a long and illustrious teaching career that began in 1962. A renowned scholar in his field, Pollitt looks forward to having "more time, more freedom.... I have some invitations to do some guest spots...and [I plan] to do some writing," he said. Von Staden will be leaving for another prestigious academic setting: The Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, New Jersey. Von Staden's departure comes after a 30-year teaching career at Yale which included three years as the chair of the classics department. He is now eager to research the topics about which he is most passionate. At the Institute for Advanced Studies, Von Staden will have the unique opportunity to conduct research that encompasses many fields of study, including myth, philosophy, comparative literature, and ancient medicine.

Although Von Staden is excited to devote more time to personal research, he admitted that he will miss the Yale community. Von Staden said he feels "tremendously grateful," and "absolutely blessed," to have taught here for so long and to have interacted with such a diverse group of faculty and students.

"I will miss the teaching enormously...and the exchanges with so many of my colleagues in many departments," he said. However, he went on to remark that conducting research at the Institute for Advanced Study will be "an absolutely wonderful opportunity."

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