Ron Stroud, Klio Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and Literature Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Aristeia Award for Distinguished Alumni/ae of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Ron has been a positive presence at the School since his student days as a Seymour Fellow in 1959. He has served as Secretary of the School, as a member of the Managing Committee, as Whitehead Professor, and as Mellon Professor from 1996 to 1999. In that capacity and in his long and illustrious career as an educator at Berkeley, Ron has mentored legions of classical scholars, including many who went on to distinguished careers and to fruitful associations with the School in their own right.
Of equal importance and renown is Ron’s record as a scholar and researcher. He directed the excavation of the shrine of Demeter and Kore in Corinth, played a leading role in the resurrection and continuing success of the SEG, and has published extensively and influentially in the fields of Greek archaeology, epigraphy, history and law.
The Aristeia Award, now in its third year, was created to honor those who have done the most over the years to support the School's mission in teaching, research, archaeological exploration, and/or publication. In Ron, we are fortunate enough to have a recipient who has made outstanding contributions not just in some but in all of these areas. He stands alongside our previous two recipients, Alan Boegehold and Jim McCredie, as exemplary representatives of the ideals of service and scholarship.
Ron will be presented with the Aristeia Award at the next meeting of the Alumni/ae Association, which will be held at the AIA/APA convention in Seattle in January (exact date and time will be announced soon). All alumni/ae are encouraged to make plans to attend this meeting to help us celebrate Ron’s career and his contributions to the life of the School.
— Bill Hutton, ASCSA Alumni President
ED. NOTE: 2008-09 Regular Member Katie Rask contacted Ron Stroud in 2009-10 to do an informal Q and A with Prof. Stroud about his recollections of coming to the School in 1959. They are excerpted here.
