The Manhattan Chapter of The Order of AHEPA, Delphi # 25, on August 19, 2019, honored a member of the Manhattan based AHEPA family – Evryklea Chapter #36 of the Daughters of Penelope – Michele Mitrovich, by issuing a $ 1,000 scholarship grant for her extraordinary academic work, efforts in promoting Hellenism, and work ethic after the recent completion of her graduate archaeological project in Hellas. Michele has selflessly volunteered her time through the past years for the Delphi Chapter, as the Recording Secretary and a core team member that reactivated the Evryklea Chapter #36 in Manhattan. Michele is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP) at the University of Texas at Austin. The Manhattan Chapter of The Order of AHEPA, Delphi #25, is proud of Michele accomplishments and look forward to her future endeavors and successes. ΑΞΙΑ!!!
Additional information about Michele Mitrovich’s academic work
- Michele received her BA Summa Cum Laude from Hunter College, CUNY under the mentorship of Prof. Robert B. Koehl after which she was admitted directly to the PhD Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP) at the University of Texas at Austin. This is a very prestigious uniquely specialized program; it is the only such program in the country. Michele was offered a scholarship, a teaching stipend and a special PASP Fellowship Award which was created especially for her by Prof. Thomas Palaima, the PASP Program Director and Prof. Lesley Dean-Jones, the Chair of Classics Department at UT. Such fellowship award was never granted to anyone before.
- The PASP program is specializing in Mycenaean (Bronze Age Greek) and Minoan Archaeology and such ancient scripts as Linear A, Linear B and Cypro-Minoan.
- At the University of Texas at Austin, Michele concurrently with her studies will be teaching undergraduate courses in Ancient Greek language, art, archaeology and mythology, first as a Teaching Assistant and later as an Assistant Instructor.
- Michele has been accepted into a highly competitive joint Greek-American Archaeological Excavation, Publication and Conservation Project on Mochlos, Crete. The Mochlos Archaeological Project has uncovered a Minoan town of the Neopalatial period, ca. 1700-1430 BC, and is currently preparing the publication of the town’s main ceremonial complex and site conservation work concurrently with the study of materials from their excavation. This was a ten-week summer program, June 2 to August 15, 2019. During this time, she was working on Minoan ceramic materials and assisting with publication photography for the forthcoming volumes.
Michele Mitrovich - Through careful study, analysis and publication of the archaeological materials, and dissemination of this knowledge to a wider audience by the Mochlos Archaeological Project, we will be able to better understand the local economy, social structure, religious activities, migration and trade networks in the Bronze Age society in Mochlos, on Crete and in the Aegean in general.
- Some of the objects restored by the project team will go to various museums on Crete, like the Archaeological Museum of Sitia and the Agios Nikolaos Archaeological Museum.
- Michele is honored to be invited to present a lecture at the Aegaeum, 18th International Aegean Conference in May of 2020 in Austin, Texas, which will be followed by a publication. This conference is considered the most prestigious venue for Bronze Age Aegean archaeology in the world.
- This summer she was also granted a special permission from the Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture to study an artifact which will be a part of her presentation at the Aegeaum Conference. Dr. Eleni Konstantinidi-Syvridi, the curator of the Prehistory Dept. at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens kindly arranged for her this special study appointment. The object was temporarily taken off the public display to allow Michele to examine and study it in detail in one of the museum’s laboratories.
Brief History of AHEPA and Delphi Chapter #25
The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (‘AHEPA”) is the largest and oldest American-based, Hellenic heritage grassroots membership organization. AHEPA’s Delphi Chapter #25 was founded in 1923 in Manhattan NYC; it was the first Chapter in New York State and one of the first in the Northeast. The Delphi Chapter # 25 was instrumental in welcoming the early Greek immigrants to the USA as they disembarked at Ellis Island and helping them with their assimilation into the American culture by assisting them with learning the English language, finding employment and eventually becoming citizens of the United States.
The Delphi Chapter # 25 has had many notable and prominent members in its history, including many philhellenes who embraced AHEPA’s ideals and values. In 1924 Seraphim G. Canoutas joined Delphi Chapter # 25 he was at the time the most notable historian and the primary source for the 1880 to 1920 wave of Greek immigrants. Some of the many notable members that followed in Delphi’s rich history were Past Chapter Presidents and later Past Supreme Presidents of AHEPA Dean Alfange and Dr. Kimon Doukas. On March 11, 1931, the then New York State Governor (and later to become President of the United States) Franklin D. Roosevelt became a member of the Order of AHEPA and joined the Delphi Chapter # 25 in New York City and remained a member till his death. In 1954 then U.S. Senator Irving M. Ives of New York also became an AHEPAn with his membership in Chapter # 25 followed in 1955 by New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph A. Cox; other notable past Presidents of Delphi Chapter # 25 included the late Honorable Federal Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas.
Currently, the AHEPA Delphi Chapter # 25 is one of the most vibrant Chapters of The Order of AHEPA; following a dynamic revitalization this AHEPA Chapter, based in Manhattan, has George Eliopoulosgrown to be the largest Chapter in the entire global AHEPA domain. The Delphi Chapter # 25 was recently awarded the 2019 Chapter of the Year Award at the AHEPA Supreme Convention in Chicago. It vibrantly continues on today in the tradition of AHEPA’s ideals and values of promoting Education and Hellenism through its many efforts of public service and philanthropy.
For any further information please visit www.AHEPA25.org
Cover photo: Left to Right: Theodore Klingos, Chapter V.President, Louis Katsos, AHEPA District 6 Governor, George Eliopoulos, Chapter President, Michele Mitrovich, Effie Streida, DOP Chapter President, Michael Papaphotes and Argyris Argitakos, past Chapter Presidents.
