Students, faculty, and staff from all around George Mason University packed the Grand Tier of the Center for the Arts on Thursday, March 24, to hear Frederick Ahl, professor of classics at Cornell University, deliver the first Jeffrey T. Chamberlain Memorial Lecture, named after the late beloved faculty member. Looking back on the spring semester, the first ever Chamberlain speech was a smashing success, said faculty and staff members from the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.
Ahl’s topic was “Humor and Wit in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid,’” and coincidentally, the Aeneid was the last work of literature that Chamberlain enjoyed, according to his friends. Going into the first ever Chamberlain lecture, which the department hopes to make into a yearly tradition, Walter Mircea-Pines, IT coordinator for the department, said he was looking forward to a consistent, successful event.
“Jeff deserves the best,” he said. “It was the first iteration in a hopefully long tradition, and although it was well advertised, I did not know what to expect in terms of the audience’s breadth and their liking and the sufficiency of our preparations.”
Mircea-Pines dropped his anxiety at some point during the event.
“My apprehensions were quickly dispersed upon seeing the roomful of people being entertained first by Mary Bauer, Jeff’s widow, and then by the exceptional scholar and speaker, Dr. Frederick Ahl.”
Bauer spoke first at the event and introduced and told stories about Chamberlain, delving a little bit into their personal lives. Jack Censer, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Julie Christensen, chair of the department, Martin Winkler, professor of classics in the department, and Ahl spoke afterward. After the event, attendees stayed for a French-themed reception, which Christensen would like to intertwine with the yearly lecture.
According to Christensen, Chamberlain had many great qualities and is truly worthy of a lasting legacy in his name.
“Jeff Chamberlain leaves behind a huge legacy,” Christensen said. “He was witty and humorous, he loved languages, he loved George Mason University, he had respect for both his colleagues and students, he was meticulous, he was a wonderful teacher, and he was very diplomatic.”
Mircea-Pines added, “The first thing you thought of when you saw him was, ‘What a nice man and human being.’”
Winkler, who first brought up the idea of having a lecture series named after Chamberlain, said the event was a fitting beginning for the new tradition.
“As all of his friends, students and colleagues know, Jeffrey Chamberlain loved Latin, Roman literature and the classical cultures,” Winkler said. “This scholar of linguistics loved the potential that languages have for jokes, puns, witticisms and plays with words.”
It was a fitting beginning to a worthy legacy.
May 01, 2011
