Acclaimed Author Jonathan Shay to Deliver Classics Lecture at UNH in Durham

Jonathan Shay
Durham and Portsmouth, NH—Officials of the University of New Hampshire and members of the Advisory Board for the Professor John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series are very pleased to announce that Jonathan Shay, a world renowned medical specialist, author, and Classicist, will deliver a lecture at 7:30 PM in Durham on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 at the Huddleston Hall of the Memorial Union Building (MUB). His lecture will address the trials of homecoming veterans based upon paradigms from Homeric epic.

The illustrious works of Dr. Shay have been recognized and honored by many medical and military groups, as well as by prominent programs in Classics. Currently a psychiatrist for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston, Shay treats combat veterans with severe psychological injuries. He is the author of the best-selling book Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character published by Simon & Schuster. For several years, his book has been part of the U.S. Marine Corps professional reading program for “all hands.” In addition to clinical work and visiting lectures on Homer’s epics, he speaks and writes frequently for active duty military audiences on prevention of psychological and moral injury in military service. He has delivered visiting lectures in ethics at the USMA and USNA. In February 2000, he delivered the Guest Lecture of the Secretary of the Navy, and in 2000 completed a study for the Commandant of the Marine Corps known as the Trust Study. In 2001, he was Visiting Scholar-at-Large at the Naval War College, Newport, RI. He describes himself as a missionary to the active duty force for the veterans he serves. His new work, Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, with foreward by Senators John McCain and Max Cleland, was published by Scriber on Veterans Day 2002.

The works of Dr. Shay are pioneering in the field of Classics, resulting in many honors and speaking engagements throughout the world: the Irvine F. Belser Memorial Lecture in Classics, University of South Carolina; Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Center Scholar, Bellagio, Italy; Costas Memorial Lecture in Classics, Brooklyn College; Harry Ransom Visiting Professor in Classics, University of Texas at Austin; Conklin Memorial Lecture in Classics, Wayne State University, Detroit; and the Presidential Plenary Address, Classics Association of the Middle West and South, Lexington, KY.
The Professor John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series at the University of New Hampshire was founded in 1997 by the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Charitable Foundations to promote and enhance awareness of the Classics in New England and beyond. The endowment for the lecture series sponsors public lectures by internationally noted experts, talks that are free and open to the public. Previous speakers for the series have been Drs. John Silber, Bernard Knox, Brunilde Ridgway, Anna Marguerite McCann, and Dr. Stanley Lombardo, Victor Hanson, and Lynn Sherr. The full texts of previous lectures appear on the official webpages of the series, hosted by Hellenic Communication Service at http://www.HellenicComServe.com under the Classics section. For more information about the series or forthcoming lecturers, contact Prof. Stephen Brunet of the Classics Program at UNH (603-862-2077; stephen.brunet@unh.edu).