ENDOWMENTS
The M. Lynette Thompson Endowment
Lynette Thompson was born in 1919 in the small town of Gretna, about a 30-minutes’ drive west of Tallahassee. She attended FSU in the 1930's at the time when it was an exclusive women's school, Florida State College for Women, and majored in Classics. Here she studied under Olivia Dorman, chair of Classics and dean of students, who is remembered in our Dorman scholarships. Lynette was an excellent student and became president of the school’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. She received the A.B. in 1940 and then took her master's immediately in 1941 at Oberlin. She returned to Tallahassee in 1942 as an instructor in Classics, and she taught her last class at FSU in 1994, thus creating the longest tenure of any faculty member ever to teach at FSU. This record seems to have held up to the present. She was promoted, eventually to full professor in 1965, but before that promotion she became chair of Classics in 1961, and she held that administrative post until 1980. She did not have much time for her scholarship, but her favorite author was the poet Lucan, and she did publish some articles on him in prestigious journals. The Thompson Library now owns a number of books from her library on Lucan. Lynette started that library herself and through the years donated many books to it; this is one of the truly great resources our department has at its disposal.
Lynette was also proud of the role she played in starting up archaeology in our department. The first dig at Cetamura took place in 1973 as a course in the FSU Florence program. At that time we did not have a field school and there was very little funding available, but she managed to find the funds to support the first four years of work there and she had a vision of how this project could contribute to the growth of the department. She included two archaeologists in her faculty, which by the way reached the hefty number of 11 members in 1971. Lynette was a colorful vigorous personality, and took a good bit of teasing about her habits of chain smoking and of cussing like a sailor. There are stories of her going into the Dean’s office fulminating and pounding on his desk and it is easy to imagine how she obtained some of her faculty lines. She was a direct, head-on person, honest and devoted to the university and to the Classics. It is recalled that while eating at a Chinese restaurant, Lynette got a cookie with a fortune that said, “you are honest, straight and true.” And she was.
The Langadas Endowment
Angelos Langadas of Boca Raton, Fla., gave $100,000 to the Department of Classics for support of graduate students.
An engineer by training who was born in Greece, served in World War II, and then worked in the shipping industry, the 93-year-old Langadas has lived in Boca Raton for several years. Passionate about Greek studies, all of his many endowments to higher education have furthered Greek studies programs, students studying Greek subjects, or scholarships for students of Greek descent. Langadas’s gift to FSU’s classics department creates the Angelos C. Langadas Graduate Fellowship for full-time students in the department who are pursuing a degree in Greek studies or a related field.
The Langford Endowment
Through the generous support of the Langford family, the Department of Classics has been able to advance our understanding of the ancient world in multiple ways, notably by bringing to campus as teachers and researchers Langford Family Eminent Scholars and by hosting international conferences which bring to FSU leading researchers in a wide variety of subjects.
The Langford Family Chair
George R. Langford contributes daily to the betterment of Florida State University. Because of George Langford's involvement, the University has been significantly enhanced in many different areas. After helping to secure the future of athletics at Florida State, he now extends his support to academics. "I want to help Florida State University as it competes for national eminence in the academic arena," explains Mr. Langford. With the establishment of the George R. Langford Family Chair in Classics, he is embracing his vision and commitment to academic excellence for the University.
The George Langford family has been an integral part of the University for many years. Mr. Langford is the only member of his family who is not an alumnus of FSU. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia. In 1988, however, Mr. Langford received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Florida State University in recognition of outstanding service and commitment to the University. In conferring the degree, the then president of Florida Statue University, Bernard F. Sliger, said, "George has served his community, the state of Florida, and the University in countless ways. We are proud to have him as a neighbor and grateful to have him as a friend."
The members of the Langford family who are counted among the alumni of Florida State University include his wife, Marian L. Langford; both sons, A. Lawton Langford and G. Robertson Langford, Jr.; and their wives, Beth Martin Langford and Naie Sibley Langford. Prospective alumni include three grandchildren: Giles R. Langford, V. Madison Langford, and Callie Corbin Langford.
George Langford is the founder and chairman of the Municipal Code Corporation, the largest codifier of municipal codes in the United States, serving more than 2,000 municipalities. In 1989, Mr. Langford was named Florida Entrepreneur of the Year and was inducted into the Institute of American Entrepreneurs in recognition of his business achievements.
George Langford takes the practical view of a businessman when he discusses his ongoing support of Florida State University. "The University is good for Tallahassee," is his explanation for his inordinate expenditure of time and resources in helping to make Florida State University a great institution. His emotional commitment, however, comes from the heart. "When I think of Florida State, I think of spirit, hard work, success, and enthusiasm." The same words could be used to describe George Langford.
When he is asked why the Langford family chose to establish an eminent scholar chair in the Department of Classics, Mr. Langford lists two important reasons for their decision. First, the Langfords wanted to enhance even further an already excellent department that was beginning to receive national and international recognition. Second, Mr. Langford says, "We believe that the examination and understanding of ancient cultures is the context in which we begin to understand modern cultures.
The generous gift of the George R. Langford family, will enable the Department of Classics to invite each year an outstanding scholar of international distinction as a visiting professor. The rotating nature of the Langford Chair affords students and faculty alike the rare opportunity to share in the knowledge and scholarship of a variety of experts in the study of classics.
The George R. Langford Family Eminent Scholar Chair has enabled the Department of Classics at Florida State University to reach new levels of learning, teaching, and scholarship.
The Olivia Dorman Endowment
Olivia Dorman came to Florida State College for Women as a Classics professor in 1924. A native of Alabama, she earned her undergraduate degree at Randolph Macon Woman’s College, then earned her master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. She soon became chair of the department.
In 1925, the hugely popular Sarah Landrum Cawthon, FSCW’s first Dean of the College Home, resigned because of poor health. Her two immediate successors provely wildly unpopular as they ended numerous FSCW rituals and traditions. In 1934, Dorman was appointed to the position renamed Dean of Students.
Dorman oversaw a great modernization of FSCW social rules, while supporting many traditions. Under Dorman, rules on smoking, riding in cars and dating were relaxed. The housing program was reorganized, a counseling program begun, and the synchronized swimming Tarpon Club was founded.
But with the arrival of male students in 1946, Dorman was unable to enforce many of FSCW’s longstanding policies. In 1947, a month after FSCW officially became the co-ed Florida State University, she resigned to return as head of the classics department. She retired in 1949 and died in Tallahassee in 1958 at age 66.
In 1959, the Dorman Hall on West Jefferson Street was named for her.
The Kathleen Rankin Endowment
Kathleen Rankin was born in England and graduated from Sommerville College, Oxford, England and then received a law degree from the London School of Economics. She later earned a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a dissertation entitled “The Physician in Ancient Comedy” and supervised by Professor Kenneth Reckford. Dr. Rankin taught Greek, Latin, and classical mythology at Florida State University, where she was much beloved, from 1968 to 1976. After her untimely death friends and colleagues created an endowment in her honor.
