The IHCLA offers ACG faculty competitive fellowships carrying teaching reductions and research/curricular development funds in order to encourage research in fields related to the institute’s mission as well as the creation or revision courses and programs emphasizing Hellenic culture and the liberal arts and/or incorporating such approaches in current curricula.
Visiting Fellows of the IHCLA
The IHCLA invites scholars from around the world to ACG to teach and/or conduct research on Hellenic culture and the liberal arts and their relationship to contemporary thought, society and government. Visiting Fellows are eminent scholars, usually working in areas directly relevant to the ACG 150 initiatives, which focus on fostering Hellenic values like “excellence, stewardship and liberty”. Visiting Fellows retain their (non-voting) Fellow status and certain privileges after the formal term of their fellowship ends.
Scholars of the IHCLA
The IHCLA solicits recommendations from ACG academic departments in order to appoint students who perform at a superior level as IHCLA Candidate Scholars. Scholars collaborate with faculty on Focused Research Projects as well undertaking independent research in Hellenic culture and the liberal arts. Successful completion of such a research project or exemplary completion of an identified IHCLA curricular pathway or five recommended courses results in the student’s designation upon graduation as a “Scholar of the IHCLA.”
Closely associated with the Scholars program are IHCLA internships, created in cooperation with private-sector partners and ACG academic departments. Affiliated private-sector entities have first access to the IHCLA Scholars, enjoying a “pipeline” of young talent trained at ACG and the IHCLA. Internships may be partially funded by the IHCLA, making these interns even more attractive to private-sector partners.
The IHCLA leadership and faculty fellows work with Pierce, Deree and Alba academic leadership and faculty in order to develop and foster secondary, undergraduate and graduate programs and pathways incorporating elements of Hellenic culture and the liberal arts. As part of this initiative the IHCLA has developed the following programs:
Our annual interdisciplinary seminar series invites ACG faculty, visiting fellows and guest speakers to present their work on a variety of topics in Hellenic Studies ranging from antiquity to the present, and including the fields of archaeology and art history, classics, as well as Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. All seminars take place at our Aghia Paraskevi campus, are free and open to the public and accessible through Zoom. They are posted on our News and Events page.
The HSSS is an intensive and diverse one-month academic program that engages undergraduate students in a critical exploration of Hellenic culture from antiquity to the present. Students may choose from a variety of course offerings in the fields of language and literature, history, art and archaeology, philosophy, as well as performing arts such as theater and dance. The program’s focus encourages students to explore connections between Greece’s past and present and thus better understand the significance of Hellenic culture in the world today.
This interdisciplinary minor enables students to study the Greek world from a variety of perspectives and includes lower and upper-division courses offered in the fields of history, classics, philosophy, art history and archaeology, anthropology, and sociology. Students will gain integrative knowledge and understanding of the Greek world (past and present) and explore the connections between academic disciplines that address various aspects of Hellenism. The minor offers an excellent complementary pathway for students completing a major in area studies or more broadly in the humanities, social sciences, communications and business.
In addition to the Hellenic Studies minor, the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Deree – The American College of Greece currently offers a variety of courses related to Hellenic Studies in the degree programs in history, philosophy and sociology. A strong Hellenic studies component is also present in the minors offered in classics, archaeology, Modern Greek language and culture, and Modern Greek Studies: From Local to Global.
The Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts also offers courses related to Hellenic studies, notably in its art history and theater arts degree programs.
The IHCLA serves as the organizational hub for ACG cultural exchange initiatives with a particular focus on supporting and empowering Greek diaspora programs, including and building on ACG’s partnership with the National Hellenic Society (NHS) and Heritage Greece (HG).
The IHCLA works to position ACG as a leader in developing solutions for Greece based on innovation and fundamental Hellenic principles such as “excellence, stewardship and liberty.” This outreach includes publications, media productions (including social media), a bespoke website eventually featuring archived publications and media productions, and conferences/seminars/symposia (real-time and virtual/electronic) that seek to bring public officials, academics (faculty and students), and business leaders together to address specific issues facing Greece and the world today.
Central to these efforts is the Eudaimonia Initiative, in which the IHCLA, the Institute for Hellenic Growth and Prosperity and the Institute for Public Health collaborate to promote “human flourishing” (eudaimonia) by working to balance economic concerns, public health and civic liberty. The IHCLA serves as the “values input” for the ACG 150 initiatives, which aim to foster Greek economic growth in ways consistent with Greece’s historic cultural values, especially excellence (αρετή), stewardship (επιμέλεια) and liberty (ελευθερία).
The Demos Center is a part of the Institute of Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts (IHCLA). With the motto “Devote your life to making progress,” we promote democracy by fostering civic engagement, multiculturalism, and inclusivity through the practice of engagement, effective citizenship, and service learning. We celebrate, create programming around, and study the pillars of healthy democracies. This includes “Blue Sea Greece,” a study-abroad environmental, experiential learning program, GAP year Demos, and the Demos Center Fellowship Program.
Working together with Heritage Greece and the NHS the IHCLA is developing a number of initiatives aimed especially at increasing the appreciation of Greek culture and heritage among young people.
The IHCLA and ACG’s Institute for Hellenic Growth and Prosperity will collaborate with the Center for Hellenic Studies to host a conference celebrating the first complete Greek translation of Adam Smith’s classic statement of liberal economic principles, The Wealth of Nations. The conference will be hosted by IHGP Advisory Board Chair and Chief Consultant, Dr. Michalis Psalidopoulos (Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Athens and former IMF representative for Greece) and Dr. Nicolas Prevelakis, Assistant Director of Curricular Development and Lecturer on Social Studies (Center for Hellenic Studies).
A collaborative project based at UC Berkeley that seeks to document the administrative, social, economic, and cultural life of the forty-two neighborhood-level communal institutions (κοινότητες) of the Greek Orthodox of Istanbul/Constantinople. Led by UC Berkeley/Professor Christine Philliou, the project features a working group of scholars from Greece, Turkey, the US, and Europe, including IHCLA Fellow Ilay Ors, working to synthesize this knowledge and produce scholarly publications based on a range of sources including the tremendous knowledge possessed by Constantinopolitan Greeks in the diaspora.
The IHCLA and the ACG School of Liberal Arts and Sciences collaborated with the IHR (NHRF) in the International Conference, “Performance in Late Antiquity and Byzantium,” organized by Dr. Niki Tsironis (IHR (NHRF), ACG, Global Knowledge Academics, CHS US, and supported by CHS Greece, April 19-24, 2021.