Shelley Haley, the Edward North Chair of Classics and professor of Classics and Africana Studies, recently began her term as president-elect of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS). Elected to the position in September, she will serve as president in 2021 and then as immediate past-president in 2022. Haley noted that she is part of a leadership team that — for the first time in the 151-year existence of the SCS — is comprised entirely of women.
In honor of being the first woman of African descent to be elected to SCS leadership, Haley was interviewed for the organization’s series “Women in Classics.” The two-part interview by Claire Catenaccio of Georgetown University is posted in two parts on the SCS blog.
During the fall semester, Haley presented several talks and participated in the Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS).
In invited lectures, she presented “‘Race-ing’ the Romans: Uncovering the Racial Constructs of Ancient Rome” at Wellesley College and “‘It’s What He Intended’: Translation, Authorial Intent and Racism in Classics” at the University of Oregon.
Haley was a member of a panel on “Antiracism and Action in Classics” at the CAAS meeting in Silver Spring, Md., where she presented a paper titled “Disrupting White Supremacist Discourse in the Classics Classroom.” She also was a member of the Presidential Plenary Panel, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Exclusion: a Frank Discussion on the Past and Future of Classics in the Academy.”