0.6 Homer multitext project  (Page 13/15)

In general, the shaping of such models has been a high priority for me as Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies for the last ten years, and I hope that the Center can fully maintain this priority in the next five years and beyond. Such models of collaboration in research and teaching can help lead to needed reforms in current academic practices, as in the realms of peer review in academic publications and research evaluation in academic procedures for promotion. Moreover, the forms of research evaluation that we are developing in our collaboration with the Homer Multitext project can even be extended to enhancing the evaluation of students applying for admission to graduate school. A “proof of concept” in this case is the successful track record of the Center in taking initiatives to place into Ph.D. programs our “alumni” who work as Postbaccalaureate Research Interns in the Homer Multitext project. Our strategy is to highlight, in letters of recommendation, the research done by these interns in the context of the project. Here is an example of a letter of recommendation I recently wrote on behalf of one of our Postbaccalaureate Research Interns, who is applying for acceptance into a Ph.D. program in the Classics (in reproducing the text of this letter, I have kept the names and places blank):

Dear colleagues,

This letter is on behalf of [name], applicant for graduate study in the Classics. I have read her statement of purpose with great care and endorse it enthusiastically.

I see [name] as a model for the ideals of teaching and research in the Classics. Over the past two years, I have collaborated with her in my capacity as Director at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies (hereafter “CHS”). Ever since her graduation from [name of college], [name of student] has been working part-time or full-time as a Research Intern for the CHS.

What I do at the CHS is relevant to [name]’s internship, as I will explain briefly. I have a dual identity right now as an active professor in Harvard’s Classics Department and as Director of the CHS. I commute back and forth every week in order to live up to my ideal of serving as a teacher and researcher at the Cambridge campus while directing a variety of projects at the “southern” campus in Washington. The core of our Center is a 60,000-volume Classics collection that is arguably the best ancient Greek research library in the world today. In the course of my ten years to date as Director, I have expanded the research program of the Center by going beyond its original mandate of enhancing the research projects of fellows at the Center who are generally at the level of associate professor in their academic careers. I have built initiatives of research fellowships involving young scholars at the post-doctorate level *and also at the post-baccalaureate level*. Here is where [name]comes into the picture.

[Name] represents a new kind of initiative—a post-baccalaureate research internship. She is a de facto Fellow working at the Center, where I supervise her projects while helping her build up her preparation for graduate school. What [name]and I and the rest of the CHS team are trying to accomplish in this collaboration is a prototype for a new kind of academic program at the Center. To me, [name] is not only a most accomplished student: she is also a trusted and brilliant junior research colleague.

In the course of working together with me and the CHS team, [name] has been performing a variety of scholarly tasks with great industry and intelligence. Among [name]’s tasks, the following three stand out:

- The creation of an electronic commentary tool for analyzing (a) ancient Greek texts, especially the corpus of Homeric poetry, as well as (b) libretti of operas, which are matched with the “sound track” of film versions. This commentary tool, which is meant for teaching as well as for research, has been used for over a year now by my students and by some of my fellow teachers at Harvard.

- Working with a subset of colleagues who are doing research on the Homer Multitext project at the CHS and at other campuses. [name] has been pivotal in helping design a display system for coordinating the manuscript evidence of two codices of the Homeric Iliad , the Venetus A and the Venetus B , with our evolving electronic edition.

- Coordinating the markup of online editions of ancient texts and of contemporary scholarship (books, essays, articles). On the CHS website, under “Online Publications,” most of the currently available online articles and two of the online books have been copy-edited and formatted by [name] herself.

I am simply in awe of all the hard work, creative thinking, and overall academic excellence of this extraordinarily bright and energetic student.

A word about [name] as a person... I see in her a combination of a disarmingly pleasant personality and a stellar intellect, enhanced by a strong sense of purpose and determination.

I see great things in store for [name], and I support her unconditionally.