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Janet Bews retires after 33 years at Trent
by Professor Ian C. Storey

After nearly a third of a century at Trent, Janet Bews (Ancient History & Classics) has taken early retirement. Her time at Trent goes back to the earliest days of the university and to the founding of the Department of Classics (later: Classical Studies, Ancient History & Classics). Janet taught Latin at all levels, with special interest in the great prose writers, Cicero and Tacitus, and the poets Vergil and Ovid. Her other great interest lay in myth, and her Classical Literature 200 course (Myth in the ancient world) spanned 44 centuries, from Gilgamesh to C.S. Lewis. It is truly a course without parallel. She has always been interested in the interface between cultures, and most recently has taken to exploring the classical influences on the Middle Ages, especially Dante, on which she wrote her contribution to Celebratio, the volume of essays that marked the 30th anniversary of the Department (1998).

Janet was a passionate supporter of the College system at Trent; her entire career was spent at Traill College, where she served as Senior Don and Senior Tutor for a number of years. The story of Janet, the calf, and the Traill common room has entered the oral history of the university. The College paid tribute to her at the annual gala dinner, including a letter from Bryan Reardon the first Chair of the Department. In keeping with her wishes for a low-key ażair, several of her friends, colleagues, and former students took her to dinner in late June at Saporito's in Charlotte Mews, where she was feasted, briefly toasted, and presented with a book on Classical Cats (a history of the cat from ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages).

Janet was for many years (and still remains) an Adjunct Fellow in the Trent/Queen's agreement for graduate study. She taught several graduate courses, supervised and took part in a number of MA theses at Queen's.

Janet plans to spend her retirement working on Dante and the relationship between the classical and mediaeval worlds. All wish her well in her "vita nuova" after Trent.


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