James M. May, provost and dean of St. Olaf and professor of classics, recently has published two articles in important volumes dedicated to teaching and scholarship in classics.

In the first article, "Ciceronian Scholarship in the Latin Classroom" (in A Concise Guide to Teaching Latin Literature edited by Ronnie Ancona, Oklahoma University Press 2007, pp. 71-90), May joins four other teacher-scholars (from CUNY, Bowdoin, Cambridge University and Harvard University) in providing accessible information about recent scholarship on the Latin authors Catullus, Horace, Ovid, Cicero and Vergil, the official Advanced Placement Program Latin authors whose works are standard reading for college and advanced secondary students of Latin. The book is aimed specifically at keeping teachers current on recent developments in Latin scholarship by showing how an awareness of current academic debates can enhance their teaching in the classroom.

In the second article, "Cicero as Rhetorician" (in A Companion to Roman Rhetoric edited by William Dominik and Jon Hall, Blackwell 2007, pp. 250-263), May joins an international team of 30 scholars known for their expertise in ancient Roman rhetoric and oratory. As a leading authority on the Roman orator Cicero, May was commissioned to write an essay on Cicero's work, specifically as a rhetorician. May focused on Cicero's masterpieces De oratore, Brutus, and Orator, -- treatises that exerted a profound influence not only on subsequent Roman rhetoric and oratory, but also on humanistic studies into the modern era.