All Scholars
MACEWEN, Sally Anne
- Date of Birth: January 05, 1948
- Born City: Abington
- Born State/Country: PA
- Date of Death: March 15, 2012
- Death City: Atlanta
- Death State/Country: GA
- Married: Aaron Ruscetta, 11 March 2012.
- Education:
B.A. Mt. Holyoke, 1970; Ph.D. U. Pennsylvania, 1981.
- Dissertation:
“Theme and Structure in Three Plays of Euripides” (U. Pennsylvania, 1981).
- Professional Experience:
Vis. lectr. Gk & Lat., U. Utah, 1979-82; asst. prof. class., Agnes Scott Coll., 1982-88; asso. prof. 1988-2010; prof., 2008-12; chair dept., 1988-91, 1993-94, 1997-2003, 2004-11; Women’s Studies faculty, 1999-2012; ed. Cloelia, 2004-10; Founder, Friends School of Atlanta, 1990; Human Relations Award, Agnes Scott; Liberty Bell Award, Decatur-DeKalb Bar Association; DuPont Fac. Dev. Grant; NEH Grant.
- Publications:
“Oikos, Polis and the Question of Clytemnestra,” Views of Clytemnestra, Ancient and Modern (ed.) (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990) 16-34 [REVS: CR XLI 1991 495-496 Flintoff | CW LXXXV 1991-1992 126 Gutzwiller; Phoenix XLVI 1992 90-91 Nielsen; RPL 16 1993 269-272 R. Cecire]; “Using Diversity to Teach Classics,” CW 96,4 (Summer 2003) 416-20; Superheroes and Greek Tragedy: Comparing Cultural Icons (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006).
- Notes:
Sally MacEwen was born to a Quaker family and devoted her life to the ideals of pacifism, community service, racial justice, gender equality, and education. She grew up in Riverton, NJ, educated at Quaker secondary schools, where she was a talented lacrosse player, which she continued as a student at Mount Holyoke. Once she received the Ph.D., her lacrosse skills morphed into serious softball. At the University of Utah she was drafted to pitch for the faculty softball team. While in Salt Lake she met Aaron Ruscetta, who would become her life partner, marrying her just four days before her death in a Friends ceremony conducted by their 25-year-old daughter. Her chief academic interest was in the cultural values of ancient Greece, particularly notions of heroism as reflected in Athenian tragedy. Her coursework went hand-in-hand with her research and reflected her own commitment to integrity and social justice. Students ranked her among the best teachers at Agnes Scott consistently throughout her career and colleagues admired her leadership of the Classics Department. Her commitment to education and Quakerism led her to help found the Friends School in Atlanta in time for her daughter Elaine Isabell to receive its benefits.
- Sources:
DAS 10th ed. 3:169.
- Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.