Endowments

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 when it was an exclusive women's school, Florida State College for Women, and majored in classics. 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 an A.B. in 1940 and earned her master's in 1941 at Oberlin. She returned to Tallahassee in 1942 as a classics instructor and taught her last class at FSU in 1994, establishing the longest teaching tenure of any faculty member at FSU. This record seems to have held up to the present. She became chair of the classics department in 1961 and held that administrative post until 1980; she was also promoted to full professor in 1965. She did not have much time for her scholarship, but her favorite author was the poet Lucan, and she published articles on him in prestigious journals. The Thompson Library now owns a number of books from her library on Lucan. Lynette started the library and donated many books to it through the years; this is one of the truly great resources our department has at its disposal.

Lynette was also proud of the role she played in establishing archaeology in our department. The first dig at Cetamura took place in 1973 as a course in the FSU Florence program. At the 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 — she had a vision of how this project could contribute to the growth of the department. She included two archaeologists in her faculty, which reached 11 members in 1971. Lynette was a colorful vigorous personality, and took a good bit of teasing about her habits of chain smoking and 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.

Langadas Endowment

Angelos Langadas of Boca Raton, Florida, 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 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.

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 leading researchers of a wide variety of subjects to FSU. 

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," Langford said. 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. 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, 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, Bernard F. Sliger, president of FSU, 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 FSU 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, he was named Florida Entrepreneur of the Year and was inducted into the Institute of American Entrepreneurs in recognition of his business achievements.

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 FSU 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 asked why the Langford family chose to establish an eminent scholar chair in the Department of Classics, Langford lists two important reasons for their decision. First, the Langfords wanted to further enhance an already excellent department that was beginning to receive national and international recognition. Second, Langford said, "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 an outstanding scholar of international distinction as a visiting professor each year. 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 to reach new levels of learning, teaching and scholarship.

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 became chair of the department shortly thereafter.

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 proved 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 chair of the classics department. She retired in 1949 and died in Tallahassee in 1958 at age 66.

In 1959, Dorman Hall on West Jefferson Street was named after her.

Kathleen Rankin Endowment

Kathleen Rankin was born in England and graduated from Sommerville College, Oxford, England and 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,” supervised by professor Kenneth Reckford. From 1968 to 1976, Rankin taught Greek, Latin, and classical mythology at Florida State University, where she was beloved. After her untimely death, friends and colleagues created an endowment in her honor.