The illustrated lecture will be held in the Bernath Auditorium of the David Adamany Library on Saturday morning, April 12th at 11:00 AM followed by a reception on the third floor in the Community Room of the Library. The lecture is free and open to the public. Students and faculty are cordially invited to attend. Jacob Nyenhuis has just retired from his eighteen-year position as Provost of Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

When Jacob Nyenhuis was Chairman of the Greek and Latin Department (now Classics Department) at WSU, he initiated the classical mythology courses, which attracted hundreds of students each semester. Not content with just teaching the myths in literature, Nyenhuis has studied the role that the myths have played in the visual arts, in particular the works produced by the British artist Michael Aryton and the Myth of Daedalus, the Maze Maker. These myths include the stories of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth to house the half-man, half-bull creature beneath the palace of Minos on Crete.

They include the stories about Daedalus and his son Icarus, who flew too close to the sun that melted the wax holding together the wings his father had invented. They include the stories of the adventures of Theseus, who came to Crete with the Athenian youths and maidens, and who, aided by priestess princess Ariadne, entered the labyrinth and slew the Minotaur. All of these themes appear in Nyenhuis's new 2003 publication by the WSU Press, Myth and the Creative Process, which is handsomely illustrated by Nyenhuis in the book designed by Mike Savitski, edited by Kathryn Wildfong, and produced by Alice Nigoghosian.

At Hope College, Nyenhuis designed an innovative program in the Greek experience. Funded by a grant from the NEH, Nyenhuis was enabled to enroll students in a year's program of Greek study: ancient Greek language and literature; Greek history; classical Greek art history and archaeology; Greek philosophy; and Greek drama. At the end of this total immersion, Nyenhuis taught the students enough modern Greek to travel comfortably to Greece in a tour he designed and led to visit all of the sites that they had studied in the art and archaeology part of the course. The program continued successfully for many years, and Jack's wife Leona graduated as one of the students. He has worked to develop the overseas programs at Hope College. Jacob Nyenhuis helped develop the modern Greek program at WSU, and his friendships with the members of the Greek churches and the Greek community have lasted over the years.

The lecture is sponsored by the Detroit Classical Association, the Antiquaries of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the WSU Press, and the WSU Liberal Arts Dean's Office and Classics Department. We all welcome Jacob Nyenhuis's return to the WSU campus. Free parking in Structure 5 off of Anthony Wayne Drive the hour before the lecture.