Dr. Ian Storey, professor emeritus of Ancient History and Classics and former principal of Otonabee College, has been announced as the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research Award. Established in 1986, the Distinguished Research Award is given annually to a member of Trent’s faculty in recognition of outstanding achievement in research and scholarship.

Dr. Storey is recognized as a leading expert on the comic dramas of Aristophanes and his contemporaries in 5th-century BCE Greece. He is the world’s leading academic on the study of Eupolis, a rival of Aristophanes whose work survives only in fragments. His research on Eupolis, especially his monograph published by Oxford University Press and his contributions to the Loeb Classical Library, have been instrumental in providing deeper insight about this playwright and the associated literature of the period to students and fellow academics alike.

“Dr. Storey is an outstanding research scholar of remarkable and consistent productivity who is held in the highest regard for his contributions to literature in his discipline,” said Dr. Byron Styles, acting chair of the Department of Ancient History and Classics at Trent University. Dr. Storey’s nomination for this award was widely supported by colleagues at Trent and internationally.

A former student, Dr. Kevin S. Whetter of Acadia University, credits Dr. Storey’s support as an important factor behind his own academic achievement. “Ian Storey epitomizes the kind of researcher whose intellectual achievements and student mentorship deserve recognition by this award,” Dr. Whetter said. “Ian is one of the best teachers I ever had. His pedagogic and scholarly mentorship and inspiration are partly responsible for my decision to enter graduate studies in the first place.”

Dr. Storey recently retired after teaching at Trent for 38 years. He joined Trent’s faculty as a lecturer in 1974, while studying for his Ph.D at the University of Toronto. He became an associate professor in 1981 and a full professor in 1989. From 1989 to 2012 he also worked as an adjunct professor with Queen’s University, and served as a visiting scholar or fellow at several other institutions, including the University of Canterbury, Exeter University, Acadia University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He published multiple monographs, delivered over 100 papers, lectures, and seminars, and published articles and reviews in a wide variety of journals. In addition to his ground-breaking research about and translations of Eupolis, he has written about a number of other playwrights and literary figures, including Euripides, Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. This award recognizes the immense influence he has had on critical discourse regarding the plays of ancient Greece, and is a fitting accomplishment with which to close out his career.

September 2014 will mark the 40th anniversary of Dr. Storey’s arrival at Trent, and he feels proud to be able to mark such a significant milestone with this acknowledgement. “I was absolutely delighted to learn that I will be presented with the Distinguished Research Award at this year's convocation, especially as I look over the list of previous winners in the Humanities – ‘distinguished’ company indeed, and all that more of an honour to join,” Dr. Storey said. “I would certainly thank colleagues both in Ancient History and Classics and in the Humanities more largely for their constant support and constructive suggestions, but also my students who often sparked off a line of research and with whom I would share the results in the classroom.”

The Distinguished Research Award will be presented to Dr. Storey at Trent University Convocation on June 3, 2014.