Your support for the Department of Classics provides our faculty and students the means to investigate, discover, and share their findings with the larger community. Your generosity helps to preserve the great tradition of academic inquiry that is such an essential element in the creation of new knowledge.
We invite friends and alumni to contribute to our funds:
Friends of Classics Unrestricted support for the Department of Classics. Gifts to this fund are used at the discretion of the Chair and are directed to where the need is greatest. These gifts support activities which enhance our treasured sense of community and collegiality, including receptions, symposia, class retreats, lectures, academic visits, and plays, and also make possible small capital projects such as the recent refurbishment of the Meg Greenfield Room (The Classics Seminar Room) and expansion of the department's own heavily used collection of texts, commentaries, journals and works of reference.
Classics Endowment Fund. 'Friends of Classics' and the 'Classics Endowment Fund' are funds for general use, which reach where state dollars cannot reach, and allow us to promote excellence and collegiality. Donations to ‘Friends’ give us short-term flexibility; donations to ‘Endowment’ help us to build up capital.
Jim Greenfield Endowed Classics Scholarship Fund established by the late Meg Greenfield in memory of her brother Jim, to reward student excellence and initiative in the Classics; open to further donation. To join a conversation about new ways to honor Meg Greenfield's vision please contact the Department Chair, Deborah Kamen (dkamen@uw.edu).
Phillip H. & Estelle Delacy Endowed Fellowship Fund was established through a generous bequest by Phillip H. and Estelle DeLacy in support of graduate students in Greek or Latin. Phillip and Estelle DeLacy were both distinguished classicists, and both alumni of the Department. Estelle earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees here, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1931. She went on to earn her doctorate at the University of Chicago, and thereafter was a Professor of Philosophy at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Philip also received his B.A. (1932) and M.A. (1933) in classics at the UW, where he was the President’s Medalist, before studying for his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He taught at Princeton, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Washington University, Northwestern, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. He was president of the American Philological Association in 1966–67, and held a number of important positions in professional organizations, including the American Council of Learned Societies. Both Estelle and Phillip remained good and steadfast friends of the Department throughout their careers. Please click HERE for the wonderful 'In Memoriam' of the DeLacys, written by Professor Donald Lateiner of Ohio Wesleyan.
Endowed Faculty Support Fund in Classics This fund was established in 2014 by a generous anonymous donor in order to provide broad-based support to faculty in the Department of’ Classics in support of their scholarly endeavors.
Thomas and Joyce Morgan Endowment for the Classics fund to assist the development of a classics faculty of the highest possible quality and to promote the competitive position of the Department of Classics with regard to outstanding departments in peer institutions.
The DeLacy Classics Library Endowment was established in late 2010 by Betsy Wilson, Dean of the UW Libraries, from a portion of a generous bequest to the Libraries by Phillip and Estelle DeLacy, former graduates of the Department of Classics and distinguished classicists and scholars in their own right. This fund was the target of a matching funds campaign, wherein the Libraries matched every dollar donated to the fund up to $32,500. We are pleased and delighted to report that this match was fully met in June 2014, thus reaching an initial goal of $100,000. The aim of the endowment is to guarantee the continued excellence of the University Libraries' Classical holdings. This fund supersedes the Classics Library Fund, established in 2002. Please click HERE for the wonderful 'In Memoriam' of the DeLacys, written by Professor Donald Lateiner of Ohio Wesleyan.
Classics Student Travel Fund provides financial support for students in the Classics Department who are intending to participate in the departmental Rome Program or extramural programs, to attend conferences, or to travel to specific place in support of their studies.
John B. and Mary K. McDiarmid Lectureship: The death on April 15, 2002 of John B. McDiarmid, chair of Classics from 1949 to 1973, marks the end of an era. Without John's vision, ambition and leadership, the Department could never have become the thriving intellectual and collegial community that it is today. Donations to this fund support an annual lecture given in memory of John and Mary.
Harvey Bruce Densmore Memorial Fund rewards distinguished undergraduate students of Greek.
Lawrence Bliquez Endowed Student Support Fund for the Classics was established by Laura Matz and Trevor Peterson in 2024 "to provide broad-based support for undergraduate students in the Department of Classics. Examples of expenditures may include, but shall not be limited to, support for educational expenses, research, travel costs, or study abroad." Open to further donations.
As the Department of Classics responds to increasing challenges in public university funding, here are major new fund-raising priorities for the years ahead:
- Endowed Professorships of Classics
- Endowed Graduate Fellowships
- Classics Endowment for Suzzallo and Allen Libraries
For more information about these and our other fund-raising goals, please see our Development Plan (PDF).
How to Give
Contributions designated for any of our funds, and/or simply made out to ‘University of Washington,’ can be mailed to the Department or online. Every single gift makes a real difference to us. The numerical strength of our community of donors will protect our standing within the University, irrespective of the size of each donation.
Donate by mail:
Department of Classics, 262 Denny Hall
University of Washington
Box 353110
Seattle, WA 98195-3110