1/8/97

ATTN: EDITORS, NEWS DIRECTORS: A color photo of Dr. Carpenter may be downloaded at: http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~univnews/pix/carpenter.jpg

CONTACT: President Emeritus Charles J. Ping, 614/593-4270

ATHENS, Ohio -- Following a national search that attracted 140 candidates, Thomas H. Carpenter, a professor of classics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, has been named as the Charles J. Ping Professor of Humanities at Ohio University. He will begin teaching next September.

"There was an overwhelming response of outstanding candidates," said Ping, the president emeritus of Ohio University for whom the professorship is named. "We brought seven candidates to campus for interviews. All had some form of campus, state or national awards for teaching and were highly regarded in their disciplines. It was heartening to see the genuine interest in the art of teaching that was expressed by all of them."

Carpenter, who has just returned from a research project in Rome, wrote: "I am convinced that good scholarship and good teaching at the college level go hand in hand, and I have found for myself that a balance between the two is essential; I cannot do without either."

Carpenter's research interests are focused on Greek religion and the way ancient imagery contributes to an understanding of it. He is the author of seven books and numerous articles.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master of theological studies from Harvard, Carpenter taught at the secondary level for a decade before completing a doctoral degree from Oxford University. From 1986 to the present, he has held a joint appointment in the Center for Programs in the Humanities and the Department of Art and Art History at Virginia Tech.

Ohio University Classics Department Chair James A. Andrews said Carpenter "is widely recognized for a number of major works which examine the artistic portrayal of the gods and heroes of Greek myth, and explain how such visual representations function in the various religious contexts in which they are discovered by archaeologists.

"He is no less accomplished as a teacher of the humanities, distinguished for his use of collaborative teaching and cross-disciplinary approaches in courses at every level, " Andrews said. "He is a successful conference organizer and fund-raiser, has conducted programs sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities for high school teachers, and has done similar work abroad -- most recently, at the summer program of the British School at Rome, which he co-taught with another Oxford-trained classical archeologist, his wife, Lynne Lancaster.

"Professor Carpenter will wonderfully complement what we do as a department," Andrews said, "and he has the wide knowledge, breadth of vision, and easy collegial manner which assures us that all members of the university community will benefit from his presence and find him a most welcome addition to our faculty."

Carpenter's new position is the third and final endowed professorship in the Ping Institute for the Teaching of the Humanities. The other institute professors were selected from within the university. They are J. Richard Hamilton/Baker and Hostetler Professor Alan Booth, an historian, and James S. Reid/Standard Products Company Professor Lois Vines, a professor of French.

Ping, who retired in 1994 after 19 years as president, is director of the institute that bears his name -- an honor bestowed by the Ohio University Board of Trustees as he left the presidency.