Past Events
Worldwide Week at Harvard
The Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs organized the first Worldwide Week at Harvard from October 22 to 28, 2017. Harvard Schools, departments, research centers, offices, and student organizations hosted academic and cultural events with global or international themes, highlighting the remarkable breadth of Harvard’s global engagement. On this occasion the Center for Hellenic Studies hosted an event on “The Role of an International Center in Supporting the University’s Global Presence: Programs and Collaborations in Greece.” Faculty and students of the programs organized in Greece, as well as partners from other Harvard offices, participated in the event, which was held on Tuesday, October 24 in Cambridge. Gregory Nagy, CHS Director and Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard, attended the event along with program coordinators and CHS staff from Greece and Washington, D.C.
In October 2018, the Worldwide Week at Harvard was organized by the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs for a second consecutive year. CHS, in cooperation with the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, organized the event “Harvard beyond Harvard: Learn, teach, and engage abroad!” on Tuesday, October 23. The event offered the opportunity to the Harvard community to listen to students talking about innovative study abroad experiences which connect various phases of their educational lives: learning on campus, teaching abroad, and engaging with a different educational and cultural environment.
A Transatlantic Research Colloquium – CorHaLi
The 23rd CorHaLi colloquium was organized by the Harvard Department of the Classics and held at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Nafplio, Greece (June 15-18, 2017); the topic was “Soundscapes of the Ancient Greek World.” The conveners were David Elmer and Naomi Weiss, both of Harvard Classics. The participants were for the most part young specialists, including two 4th-year undergraduates from the University of Lausanne. CHS-GR co-coordinated this year’s meeting, hosting in its facilities in Nafplio more than 40 faculty members and students from the participating universities.
The CorHaLi colloquium began as a conversation across the discipline of classical philology. Founded in 1989 as a collaboration between Cornell University, Harvard University, and Université Lille III (hence the acronym “CorHaLi”), the biennial colloquium now involves participants from Princeton University, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), the Université de Lausanne, Cambridge University, and for the first time CHS-GR (through the participation of Ioannis Petropoulos).
Medical Conference with focus on diabetes, obesity and metabolic diseases
Two medical courses/conferences were held in 2015 and 2016 on the CHS GR premises for five days each, under the direction of the Harvard Professor of Medicine Christos Mantzoros. These conferences featured lectures from members of Harvard University, in collaboration with professors from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & other Greek universities and researchers from the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. The participants–Greek medical students and junior doctors–had the opportunity to attend lectures by researchers and seasoned teachers about how to conduct clinical research in an ever-changing environment, from the initial selection of the research idea to the evaluation and presentation of the research results in the medical world.
Oxford Society of Greece
CHS GR has cooperated with the Oxford University Alumni Society of Greece, in the planning and implementation of their annual literary event, in 2011 and 2012. The literary events were hosted in the Center’s Lecture Hall in Nafplio. During the events, a series of readings were conducted by Oxford graduates, who are also practicing poets and creative prose-writers in Greek and English or both. In November 2013, the Oxford University Alumni Society of Greece held its reshaped third annual literary event at the Association of Greek Archaeologists premises in Athens. Members and guests, including known and lesser-known poets and novelists read excerpts from their work. The event was co-organized by the Oxford University Alumni Society of Greece, CHS GR, and the co-organizers of the annual poetry symposium ‘Paros Symposium,’ S. Gevirtz and S. Kouka.
Paros Poetry and Translation Symposium
CHS has supported the annual “Poetry and Translation Symposium of Greek and American poets,” by cooperating with the symposium’s organizers, Professor Susan Gevirtz, Poet and Professor at the ΜΑ program in Visual and Critical Studies program, and the ΜFA program art Visual art, California College of the Arts, and Ms. Siarita Kouka, Antiquities Conservator and Poet, and contributed in the organization of the 8th annual symposium in July 2013. The symposium was organized in Athens, at the Association of Greek Archaeologists premises, with the closing event of the symposium, taking place at the CHS GR “Nikos Mazarakis Family” Lecture Hall. American and Greek poets and translators travelled in Nafplio and they presented the outcomes of their work during workshops. In 2014 the Symposium was again held in July at the SEA premises in Athens. Poets from Greece, U.K., and the U.S.A. participated in workshops, doing translations and reading poetry. The event was enriched with cultural activities during the evenings and became a focus of fruitful exchanges among poets and translators. CHS GR continued supporting the Symposium, and became the connecting point between the Symposium’s organizers and the British awarded poets Poets in Residence Program, supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. The British awarded poets have participated in the workshop in the past and expanded their network in Greece and the U.S.A.
Cultural Association of Music Professors (Peloponnese)
Cooperation took place in 2011 between the CHS and the Cultural Association of Music Professors of the Peloponnese. The event focused on themes related to Music, and hosted distinguished Professors who shared their knowledge and expertise with the wider public. In the past, the Association has offered an annual concert during the closing event of the High School Summer Program.