Ph.D., University of Toronto (1986)

Terence Tunberg completed his post-graduate training at the University of London and the University of Toronto, earning his Ph.D. in 1986. Since that time he has published extensively on the history of Latin prose styles from Cicero up to and including the Renaissance. One of his special interests is the phenomenon in humanist Latin known as ‘Ciceronianism’, on which he published a seminal article in 1997 and is now preparing a substantial study. His expertise in Neo-Latin also extends to the works of Erasmus, and he is currently completing a critical edition of a declamation by Erasmus for the Amsterdam series of Erasmus’ Opera omnia. Tunberg is not only an expert in the history of Latin prose, he is also keenly interested in the practice of Latin prose composition in modern Latin study and is co-author with his colleague Milena Minkova of a book on the subject entitled Readings and Exercises in Latin Prose Composition (from Antiquity to the Renaissance), and he has won prizes for original Latin prose in international competitions. The teaching of Latin itself has been a focus for other publications by Tunberg, who in collaboration with Milena Minkova has written Reading Livy’s Rome, Selections of Livy, Books I-VI, an annotated edition designed for students who are just beginning to read Latin prose. Together with Minkova, Tunberg is currently working on Latin for the New Millennium, an entirely new introductory course on the Latin language. Finally, for many years Terence Tunberg has devoted himself to Latin as a spoken language. Convinced of the potential of active Latin to enhance the teaching and study of Latin he founded in the mid 1990s the Conventiculum Latinum, an annual summer immersion workshop in spoken Latin held on the campus of the University of Kentucky. Today the Conventiculum Latinum draws 60-70 people each year from many parts of North America and the world, and it is the largest and longest-running seminar for active Latin in North America. Together with Milena Minkova, another pioneer in the revival of spoken Latin, he directs the Institute for Latin Studies, a special graduate certificate curriculum in the MA program in Classics at UK, which brings together active Latin (speaking and writing) with graduate-level course work.

Special Fields

Latin Literature, Renaissance Studies, Latin Pedagogy and Active Latin

Education:

• University of Toronto, Ph. D. Classics, 1986
• University of London, MA Programme in Medieval Studies and Ancient History, 1979 -1982
• University of Southern California, MA Classics, 1974
• University of Southern California, BA Classics, 1972

Previous Positions:

• Assistant Professor: University of Kentucky, 1986-1994
• Associate Professor: University of Kentucky, 1994-1996
• Professor of Classics: University of Kentucky, 1996-