Evan Dutmer, ’19 grad of Northwestern’s Department of Philosophy, has been nominated as one of the possible recipients of the 2021 Cambridge University Press Dedicated Teacher Awards. Dutmer works as an instructor in Latin, Ancient Mediterranean Cultures, and Ethics at Culver Academies, a boarding school in Indiana.
Dutmer was nominated by one of his students, who says Dutmer helped him discover his passion during one of the most difficult times of his life.
“My sophomore year, I was going through one of the hardest times of my life. My Dad had recently been diagnosed with cancer and I had no hope in terms of my education. I had planned on dropping out of Culver and returning to a public high school in Chicago. Dr. Dutmer changed all that for me. He allowed me to recognize the beauty of the world around me and although things may be hard, we can all grow together and as one. Because of him, I found a passion for spoken Latin that I did not know was possible. I cannot explain in a short 150 words how much he has improved my desire to continue my educational path. “
Dutmer was an active member of the Graduate Classics Cluster while working towards his PhD in Ancient Philosophy at Northwestern. He discusses how his experiences at Northwestern have lead to wear he is now, stating,
“The training I received during my time as a PhD student in Ancient Philosophy (at which time I was an active member of the interdisciplinary Graduate Classics Cluster) was invaluable for me as I made the transition to a teaching career in independent schools. During the coursework phase of my PhD in Ancient Philosophy, I was given great flexibility to continue to take upper level reading courses in Latin and Greek, eventually receiving Graduate Certificates in both Classical Latin and Ancient Greek, valuable additions to my CV as I entered the independent school job market. These small, seminar-style classes honed my philological skills and greatly increased my Latin and Greek proficiency while exposing me to vast scholarly literatures on central figures and texts… Together, these experiences made my time in the Graduate Classics Cluster at Northwestern foundational to my career in teaching Latin and Classics in an independent school. I am so thankful for the opportunities I received; I’m a proud alumnus!”