Thomas J. Sienkewicz

             Tom Sienkewicz was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He attended St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he studied Latin for four years and ancient Greek for three. He was a Classics major at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he read the works of Aeschylus, Thucydides and Sophocles in the annual Hellenic Traditions Seminar. He was an enthusiastic member of the trombone section of the marching band in both high school and college.         

            After earning a B.A. in Classics summa cum laude from Holy Cross, he entered graduate school at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued his study of Classics and met his future wife Anne Waterman. He spent the academic year 1973-74 in Paris, France, where he attended a seminar led by Jacqueline de Romilly at the Ecole Normale Superieure, studied medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at the Bibliotheque Nationale and worked on a project on Greek bronzes at the Louvre. He earned his doctorate in 1975 with a dissertation on Euripides’ Trojan Women. He was inducted into the Hopkins chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.

            Sienkewicz taught Classics at Howard University from 1975 until 1984. In 1982 he spent a sabbatical semester as a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.

            In 1984 Sienkewicz joined the faculty at Monmouth College. He served as Minnie Billings Capron Professor of Classics until his retirement in 2017. From 1984 through 2007 he offered a full Classics program essentially single-handedly and designed a unique, award-winning Triad curriculum which enabled him to teach a wide variety of language courses and courses in translation. He led student study trips to Rome, Naples, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain and Britain. He also was twice a visiting professor for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Florence Program. In the spring of 2016 he walked across Spain on the Camino de Santiago.

            He is the author of a wide variety of books and articles on the Classical world, including, with Kenneth Kitchell, DISCE! An Elementary Latin Course, and, with LeaAnn Osburn (MC’72) Vergil: A LEGAMUS Transitional Reader.

            Sienkewicz has devoted much of his time to professional service. He has served as president of the Illinois Classical Conference, vice president of the American Classical League, and Executive Secretary of Eta Sigma Phi, and, is currently Secretary-Treasurer of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South and Business Manager of The Classical Journal. In 2018 he was appointed an affiliate faculty member at the Guangqi International Center for Scholars.of Shanghai Normal University.

            He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a CAMWS Ovatio, a Meritus Award from the American Classical League, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Illinois Classical Conference and Eta Sigma Phi.