Terracotta statuette of a woman holding a baby, 2nd-1st century BCE, Myrina. Met Museum 74.51.1729.
Welcome to the website of The Women’s Classical Caucus (WCC)!
We invite you to tour our pages, check out our upcoming events, and become a member of our vibrant community.
The WCC is one of the longest-serving affiliate organizations of the Society for Classical Studies, the principal society in North America for the study of ancient Greek and Roman languages, literatures, and civilizations.
Founded in 1972, the mission of the WCC is to promote gender-informed perspectives in the study and teaching of all aspects of ancient Mediterranean cultures, particularly in the study of women, gender, and intersectionality in classical antiquity.
Additionally, we support scholars from all genders and from historically underrepresented groups (including women, non-binary identified, people of color, trans people, first-generation students, people with disabilities, etc.) so they can thrive as scholars and full human beings in the field of Classics and in their pursuit of knowledge about the ancient Mediterranean world. To that end, the WCC seeks to create a community that supports the well-being of its members through programs and professional development opportunities related to research, teaching, service, and advocacy.
We seek to incorporate feminist and gender-informed perspectives in the study and teaching of all aspects of ancient Mediterranean cultures, particularly the study of women in classical antiquity.
The Summer/Fall 2025 issue of the Cloelia is up!
Welcome to the Summer 2025 edition of Cloelia, the WCC’s quarterly newsletter devoted to keeping our membership up-to-date on the latest activities and initiatives of the Women’s Classical Caucus (WCC). As we look forward to the new academic year, we celebrate the winners of the WCC Awards and Prizes and gear up for another year of our mentorship program.
Congratulations to our 2025-2026 Prize Winners!
The Abstracts Resource Page is now up!
In the lead-up to the Feminism & Classics IX: COMMUNITIES conference, the FemClas9 Program Committee and WCC Mentorship Team collaborated to put together this “Abstracts 101” panel event focused on writing and reviewing conference abstracts. The event occurred on July 7, 2025, and a resource page has been created as a follow-up to the event. Click below to check it out!
Introducing the Hardship Fund
The Hardship Fund supports US-based classicists, at any stage of the profession, in need of financial support for an emergency that is not a professional expenditure. Applicants do not have to be current members of the SCS or WCC but do need to be currently active scholars, teachers, or students who study the ancient Mediterranean world.
Events and Announcements
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The Summer/Fall 2025 issue of Cloelia is up!
Welcome to the Summer 2025 edition of Cloelia, the WCC’s quarterly newsletter devoted to keeping our membership up-to-date on the latest activities and initiatives of the Women’s Classical Caucus (WCC). As we look forward to the new academic year, we celebrate the winners of the WCC Awards and Prizes and gear up for another year of our mentorship program.
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Pop-up Workshop: Writing and Revising Abstracts
Are you planning to submit an abstract to the conference Feminism & Classics IX (due 9/12), CAMWS, the SCS, or another conference? If so, we have a great workshop for you!
Feminism & Classics and the WCC invite you to a pop-up Abstracts Workshop on Wednesday 8/13, 3-5pm. This is a follow-up event to our Abstracts 101 event last month.
In this workshop, we will discuss the mechanics of writing and revising abstracts. We welcome participants to bring an “abstract-in-progress” for feedback from volunteer mentors, who each have experience reviewing conference abstracts. You may bring something polished or an early-stage draft to get some direction.
Facilitators: Melissa Funke and Suzanne Lye
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WCC Pedagogy Series: Why Are You Taking This Class? Student-Centered Strategies for First-Year Language Instruction
Teaching ancient languages in 2025 is hard. The environment for language instruction is changing, as digital tools like Google Translate and ChatGPT improve their translation ability, as students become more and more overburdened, and as educational institutions at all levels become increasingly hostile to the intensive processes of language-learning. So how do we teach beginning-level languages in this environment?
Join Dr. Ellen Lee and Dr. Amy Pistone to explore strategies for meeting students where they are.
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WCC Pedagogy Series: An AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI
Have you, like so many of us, been reluctant to learn much about AI because you find it to be an unethical tool with catastrophic environmental impacts, a disregard for intellectual property, and an active hindrance to deep learning? Same!
Join Dr. Amy Pistone and Dr. Ellen Lee for a workshop about managing the role of AI in the classroom.
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WCC/TIC Reading Group "The Third Sex in Antiquity: Intersections of Trans Studies and Classics"
The Women’s Classical Caucus and Trans in Classics invite you to participate in a jointly hosted Reading Group on Wednesday, July 16 4:00-5:00 PM EST
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Abstracts 101
Abstracts 101 is for anyone who wants to learn about this unique genre of writing in the context of CFPs for conferences. The facilitators and panelists will give an overview of conference abstracts and discuss how to approach abstract writing, the elements of a successful conference abstract, and tips for those reviewing abstracts in response to a CFP.
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WCC/LCC Prize Winners Reading Group
The Women’s Classical Caucus and Lambda Classical Caucus invite you to participate in a jointly hosted Reading Group featuring the 2024-25 paper prize winners. We will meet virtually to discuss these two articles on Wednesday 12 June 4:00-5:30 PM ET.
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Women’s History Month Reading Group
Thank you to everyone who voted in our Women’s History Month reading group poll! We’re thrilled to announce that the winner is….
🎉 Can an Object Love?: A Philological Essay on Female Subjectivity" by Ellen Söderblom Saarela (2023)! 🎉
WCC at 50: Celebrating our Community
In 2022, the WCC celebrated fifty years of feminist scholarship, service, advocacy, and activism. We kicked off the year-long celebrations at the 2022 AIA/SCS. Here’s what we did:
WCC at 50 webpage: Visit our page featuring resources and interviews with WCC founders, leaders, and members (check out the preview video)
SCS Blog Post: Read our story and how we have grown, changed, and supported our community
WCC Events at the 2022 AIA/SCS
WCC Members Video Montage Preview