Michele Ronnick, professor of classics in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, presented the final keynote speech at the King's College Women as Classical Scholars Conference at Notre Dame University in London.

The interdisciplinary conference, held in March during Women's History Month, honored the achievements of Hellenist Jacqueline de Romilly - the first woman nominated to the Collège de France and only the second to enter the Académie Française - and other women pioneers in the language, literature, history and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. This year marks the centennial of Romilly's birth.

Though Ronnick has been invited to speak at more than 50 national events, the Women as Classical Scholars conference was her first international engagement.

"It's a great opportunity for me personally to be a part of such an international event and one which coincided with Women's History Month," Ronnick said. "I am thrilled to have had the chance to interact with a group of such eminent academics, to get a fresh view of what is being said and studied in other places by other scholars, and in turn present portions of my own research face to face to a live audience."

Ronnick's research areas include Latin literature, classical tradition and black classicism. She is most known for finding and editing the autobiography manuscript of William Sanders Scarborough, the first African-American classical scholar.

Rosie Wyles, lecturer in Greek Literature at King's College, was impressed with Ronnick's lecture on "African-American Women, Classical Studies & Emancipation."

"As a trail-blazer in this field, Professor Ronnick has brought energy and commitment to her extensive research and has given long overdue acknowledgement of the contributions made by women of African descent to Classics," Wyles said.