On February 14, 2013, a delegation from the Greek Consulate General at Toronto visited the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (WIHS). Friendly contacts had already been established in 2010, when the Hon. Consul General Dimitris Azemopoulos had been our guest of honour on occasion of the inauguration of the Institute. This time, Consul Despina Hatzidiakos, Director of Education, and Mr. Spyros Volonakis, Director of Education of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Canada, followed our invitation to the University of Waterloo campus. After a welcome by the Dean of Arts Professor Douglas Peers, they met with Professor Altay Coşkun, the recently-appointed Director of WIHS, and Professor Andrew Faulkner, the Institute’s Liaison with the Greek community. All four shared their experiences in inspiring students with a desire to learn about Greek language, culture, and history or more generally about the Classical heritage. Together with Ms. Kim Bardwell, Director of Arts Advancements, they discussed strategies to promote their shared mission.
A meeting with the Steering Committee of the Institute gave further opportunities to identify common ground for joint initiatives. Professor Craig Hardiman, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute at Greece in Athens, took the opportunity to introduce our guests to one of the most distinguished institutional links between our two countries. Most importantly, Mrs. Hatzidiakos explained the generous terms under which the Greek Ministry of Culture and Education intends to sponsor a Greek lecturer for the University of Waterloo Department of Classical Studies. It was further agreed to embark on jointly organized outreach events in Toronto and Waterloo, to address both the Greek community in the Greater Toronto Area and everyone interested in history and cultural heritage of the Ancient Greeks. Highlight of the day was a tour through the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum Nano Centre, the most recent and most spectacular building on campus. Fascinating are not only the unique architecture and the concentration of world-leading scholars in the field, but also the story of how a single member of the Greek-Canadian community and alumnus of University of Waterloo has been impacting the development of his alma mater as much as the history of technology: about the ground-breaking vision, energy, and generosity of Mike Lazaridis we were told by a close friend of the benefactor, the Executive in Residence Mr. Bob Crow.
The visit of the consular delegation would have been incomplete without a meeting with our undergraduate and graduate students: the inspiration that they draw from their Classical Studies and the happy optimism with which they are planning their next career steps – against all the odds of a challenged economic environment – made our day.