ONASSIS CLASSICS FELLOWSHIP. NOW IS CLASSIC.

In a time dominated by technology, the humanities are considered vital to our development and for achieving a deeper understanding of our societies. The Newnham College, Cambridge is launching the Onassis Classics Fellowship in order to secure a permanent position for the teaching of Classical Studies at Newnham College, the renowned women’s college at the heart of the University of Cambridge. With this fellowship, the Onassis Foundation is assisting Newnham to preserve and expand Classics teaching and research around the world. Since diversity, equality, and inclusivity are among its prime concerns, the Foundation is also investing in this partnership as a means of bolstering and highlighting the value of women’s ongoing contributions to the academic sector.

“We are happy to be supporting the exceptional, internationally-acclaimed, and long-standing work being done in Classical Studies at the University of Cambridge, an institution that has sustained such distinguished professors as Mary Beard and Pat Easterling,” noted the President of the Onassis Foundation, Anthony S. Papadimitriou. Cambridge has a long history of pioneering research in the Classics and has had a huge influence on their reception by the general public that can be traced back to the 19th century and the revolutionary work done by the classicist Jane Harrison, a luminary of her time. This new position will increase the number of Classical Studies teaching staff at the university for the first time in many years and comes at a time when the number of postgraduate philology students at the University of Cambridge have more than doubled over the last four years – from around 30 to over 70 – severely straining the existing teaching team. As noted by Robin Osborne, Chair of the Classics Faculty Board: “By adding their generous donation to those of many others, the Onassis Foundation has ensured that the great tradition in this field at Newnham will continue.”