Island Echographies: Re-assembling Archives of Tilos
23-24 April 2026
Leiden, Leiden University (Rooms TBA)
Professor Nikolas Kakkoufa, Maria Boletsi (University of Amsterdam & Leiden University), Dr. Ilios Willemars (Leiden University), and Geli Mademli (University of Amsterdam) received the October 2025 award.
Professor John Ma will pursue research on gender and sexuality in the Hellenistic world.
Professor Nikolas P. Kakkoufa was featured on a podcast episode of "Atelier" during his Reid Hall Faculty Visitorship in February 2025.
The Columbia Global Paris Center writes:
"During a recent visit to the Institut de France, Reid Hall Faculty Visitor Nikolas Kakkoufa explored the archives of Claude Fauriel, who collected Greek folk songs and poetry—including what is considered the first Greek homosexual poem. In this episode, he shares insights on the emotional connections to archival research, teaching Modern Greek to undergraduates, and his upcoming book, A Queer History of Modern Greek…
We are excited to share that our very own Karen Van Dyck, Kimon A. Doukas Professor of Modern Greek Language and Literature, was sworn in as an honorary Greek citizen last week!
Athanasios Balermpas, Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, stated: "Karen Van Dyck, Professor at Columbia University, was sworn in yesterday, honorably naturalized for her contribution to the country. Karen has contributed significantly to the promotion of modern Greek literature in the English-speaking world. We welcome her with honor and pride as our fellow citizen."
Click here to watch a video of…
Stathis Gourgouris's recently published book, Nothing Sacred, is a call to action for reconceptualizing humanism and democracy as creative sources of emancipatory meaning, from the immediate political sphere to planetary ways of living.
Read more in an interview with Columbia News here.
Watch a video of the book celebration here.
Professor Nikolas P. Kakkoufa has been selected as a 2024-2025 Faculty Visitor at Reid Hall in Paris. The Faculty Visitorship program brings ten Columbia faculty members to the Columbia Global Center in Paris for one to three weeks in order to conduct research, organize workshops or talks, and collaborate with fellows from the Institute for Ideas & Imagination.
The Mediterranean Humanities in Athens seminar was featured in the Greek newspaper, "To Bima", on Sunday, June 9th.
The Program in Hellenic Studies is very pleased to announce the establishment of two new paths of study: a Minor in Modern Greek Language, Literature, and Culture (MGLLC) and a Minor in Hellenic Studies. These minors will be offered beginning in AY 24-25 for Columbia College and General Studies students. The Program currently also offers a Minor in Modern Greek at Barnard College.
More information about the requirements can be found here.
In partnership with the Columbia Global Centers and the Athens Global Center, the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement is excited to offer the Mediterranean Humanities in Athens seminar. The seminar will be led by Professors Konstantina Zanou (Italian Dept.) and Nikolas P. Kakkoufa (Hellenic Studies Program).
An info session will be held on Friday, March 1, 2024 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM. Registration is required.
A transcript for the conversation that took place over Zoom on 10 March 2022 between our very own Karen Van Dyck and Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Depts. of French and Philosophy) is available to read. The discussed centered around Van Dyck's ‘Migration, Translingualism, Translation’ and Diagne’s ‘Cultural Mediation, Colonialism and Politics: Colonial Truchement, Postcolonial Translator’. Both pieces point towards the need for a kind of translator and interpreter who is able to read context, who can look beyond the immediate text and situation to assess what is at stake, and…
The Justice-in-Education Initiative (JIE) provides Columbia students and faculty with an interdisciplinary framework for understanding criminal justice issues by supporting the development of new course offerings within the curriculum that engage contemporary issues of justice. The Leros Humanism Seminars/LSH/ΣΛ are co-sponsored by the JIE.
Please see the upcoming events hosted by the Justice in Education Initiative at Columbia University.