News release

Our winter e-newsletter is hitting inboxes today!

December 04, 2019
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
SMS
Email
Copy

As the fall semester is drawing to a close at Simon Fraser University and the holidays are fast approaching, it’s time for the next edition of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies’ e-newsletter, and there is a lot of news to share.

Following a busy summer, that included another successful outing of our annual field school to Greece; a joint SFU / Rutgers University – Newark workshop on the island of Lesvos; and the launch of a special edition of the Journal of Modern Hellenism; the start of the new academic year brought a number of new faces to the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies.

We welcomed Dr. James Horncastle as the inaugural Edward McWhinney Professor in International Relations to the Hellenic Studies family, made possible through generous gifts from the Edward and Emily McWhinney Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Dr. Horncastle brings important expertise to the Centre: his current research connects the Greek Civil War and the role that conflict has played in population movements in the Balkans. We also welcomed Dr. Andreas Avgousti from Columbia University, as the 2019/2020 Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow, who will be working on his manuscript, entitled Recovering Reputation: Plato and Demotic Power. Welcome aboard!

The arrival of fall was also a time to pause and remember the passing of our friend and founding director of the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies, Dr. André Gerolymatos. We were pleased to be able honour his memory along with Ms. Beverly Gerolymatos, at the launch of the Between Worlds XR exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver; an important initiative of the Rebooting the Greek Language project, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and launched under the auspices of the Greek Ambassador to Canada. At the same time, we were honoured to announce the launch of the André Gerolymatos Memorial Fund as a first step towards creating a lasting legacy for our friend at SFU. If you are able, please take a moment to donate.

Lastly, please join us in welcoming the Centre’s new director: Dr. Dimitris Krallis, professor of Byzantine history, has officially taken on the leadership of the Centre beginning this past September. Dr. Krallis has been with Hellenic Studies since 2006 and has been serving as acting director for the past year. Congratulations on the new role!

Research notes

Members of the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies community have also been busy producing important research on Greece’s history, language and culture. Our newest faculty member, Dr. James Horncastle, welcomed the release of his first book: The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944-1949. Dr. Sabrina Higgins, the Hellenic Studies Professor in Aegean and Mediterranean Societies and Cultures, published a new article in the Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies. Our postdoc, Dr. Andreas Avgousti, also saw the publication of two book reviews published in Classical Philology and Review of Politics.

Lastly, we’re very pleased to present our newly-minted PhD: Dr. Alexandar Jovanović, who successfully defended his PhD dissertation, entitled “Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Nikaian Generation: Roman Political Culture in the Years of Exile.” Congratulations!

Keep an eye on our news feed for announcements in the new year. We’ll be announcing our line-up for the spring seminar series, as well as this year’s Edward and Emily McWhinney Memorial Lecturer, so stay tuned.

You can also follow us on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram so you don’t miss a thing!

News round-up

For more information about the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, please visit our Media page.