The Eighth annual Platsis Symposium on the Greek Legacy: Honor & Shame, will feature guest lecturers Jill Dubisch, regents’ professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University, and Douglas Cairns, professor of classics and archaeology in the School of History at the University of Edinburgh.
The free symposium is from 2-5 p.m. Sunday in Rackham Auditorium. A reception follows from 5-6 p.m.
The Arthur and Mary (Seiradakis) Platsis Endowment for the Greek Legacy that funds the symposium was given to the university by George Platsis to honor the memory of his parents, immigrants from the Greek island of Crete.
Arthur Platsis demonstrated his devotion to the United States by volunteering for military service with the 32nd Michigan Infantry in World War I. Upon his return, he served as head chef at the American Legion Hospital in Battle Creek, which cared for veterans who suffered the effects of poison gas attacks.
Like many immigrants, he labored to support not only himself but also family members in Greece. Mary Platsis also demonstrated her desire for serving others by volunteering for the Red Cross and founding the Battle Creek Friends of Greece during World War II. The group shipped clothes to her war-torn homeland, and provided relief to orphanages in Kandanos and Sougia, the village of her grandfather, from 1945-47 under the United Nations Relief and Reconstruction Act.
The Platsis Endowment provides an annual symposium and student prizes for original work relating to the Greek legacy. George Platsis says of the endowment, “Our hope is that the symposia and prize contestants will successfully explore the beauty and significance of the Greek tradition and its relevance to contemporary life and learning.”
For more information contact [email protected]. The symposium is sponsored by The Department of Classical Studies.
