Faculty

Philip Barnes came to Burroughs in 1988 at the express invitation of Head of School Keith Shahan to expand and enhance the Classics Department.  Under his leadership, ancient Greek was added to the department's curriculum as a half-credit elective for upperclassmen.  Philip also pioneered the enormously popular spring-break trip to Italy for students; the first trip in 1991 consisted of five students, and the most recent numbered twenty-six; he has also developed a complementary trip to Greece, for students, parents, and alums; the second such trip, amounting to forty-six, made the trip in June, 2019.  Philip teaches at all levels of both languages, as well as another elective he initiated, The History of Vocal Music.  That class sprang from his long commitment to and passion for choral music, also manifested by his long tenure as artistic director of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus.  Philip has been active in classical organizations at the local, state, and national levels.  Among the accolades he has received are: holder of the Johnston Endowed Chair of Classics; an ovatio from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, in recognition of his service to the organization and to championing classical education; and an LL.D. conferred upon him by the Aquinas Institute here in St. Louis, in recognition of his contributions to the musical culture of the city. Philip is married to Rachael Barnes of the JBS mathematics department, and his two children, Eliot (JBS class of 2022) and Sylvia (JBS class of 2023), are tireless student-proponents of our Latin curriculum. 

Jim Lowe was lured by Philip to his doom, joining the department in 1989.  For the three years preceding he was an assistant professor of classics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, having earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in classics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Over the years Jim has taught all levels of Latin and Greek.  Since 1995 he has devised and taught a full-credit, senior elective, Foundations of Western Literature, which enables all students, whatever foreign language they may study, to read seminal texts from Greek and Latin literature, ranging from epic poetry to tragedy to comedy to history to philosophy.  Over the years Jim has been Head of the department and held the Johnston Endowed Chair; he is currently the president of the Classical Club of St. Louis, which celebrated its centenary in 2019-2020.  He has been particularly active in the Classical Association of the Middle West and South in several capacities; as chair of the local committee, he took a leading role in Burroughs' hosting of the Association's centennial meeting in 2004--the first and only time a secondary school has been the host-institution.  Jim's wife Laurie, a trained and certified Montessori teacher, teaches pre-schoolers; their four children all attended Burroughs and took classes in the department, and therefore have emerged into adulthood well-adjusted.  

Sorsha Maness (Head of Department) came to Burroughs in 2018 as a sabbatical replacement for Avery Springer, having obtained her M.A. in Classics from Washington University in St. Louis, after earning a B.A. in Classical Languages and Linguistics from the University of Missouri, Columbia.  After a two-year sojourn in the school's library, she rejoined the Department full-time in 2021-2022.  She teaches all levels of Latin and Greek, and will introduce a new class in the curriculum (Classical Mythology in the Arts).  She has been a co-sponsor of the school's yearbook, and she has co-sponsored the Middle School Book Club.   Sorsha is an active member of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, serving currently on its Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  Closer to home, Sorsha organizes and leads Certamina (Classics Quiz Bowls) for students at Burroughs and across the greater St. Louis region.  Sorsha and her partner Chad, a mechanical engineer, welcomed their daughter Ariadne in February, 2022, and rejoice as well in the company of an Australian Shepard mixed-breed.  Sorsha is the present holder of the Edwin Johnston Endowed Chair in Classics.

Emeritae

Avery Springer was enticed to move from Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, where she had been teaching at Illinois State University, to join our department; that was in 1995.  After a B.A. in classics from Colby College, Avery earned the M.A. and Ph.D in classics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  A previous holder of the Johnston Endowed Chair of Classics, Avery also served skillful and faithfully as Chair of department for many years. Like the rest of her colleagues, Avery taught throughout the curriculum; she also devised, and taught, a half-credit elective, the History of Classical Art; a recent graduate aptly characterized it as the "best course no one has heard of at Burroughs."  Avery is a past president of the Classical Club of St. Louis, overseeing a renaissance of that organization, and she has presented papers to its members regularly; she also has given presentations to the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.  Avery has always been an indispensable member of our student-trips to Italy, where her fluency in Italian has saved us from many a misunderstanding.  Avery has travelled extensively throughout Europe, not least with her husband Carl, who also holds a doctorate in classics; he currently holds an endowed chair at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  The Springers have also raised four children, all graduates of JBS, all better human beings for having studied Latin here.  For the time being, Avery will live with Carl in Chattanooga, with frequent trips to wherever her grandchildren and larger family live.

Marni Dillard first taught at Burroughs as an intern in 1990-91.  After various peregrinations, including enough time in Seattle to be an ABD in classics at the University of Washington, she and her family relocated to St. Louis.  After subbing for a couple of years, she re-joined our department.  Marni has been active both within and without the strict confines of the department: in the former capacity she now serves as Head of the Department, and has recently been named the Edwin Johnston Endowed Chair in Classics; in the latter, she has been a faculty sponsor for two student clubs, Helping Hands for ALS and the Business Club.  Marni has taught throughout our curriculum and has been an active member of the Classical Club of St. Louis and our informal group of classics teachers in the greater metropolitan area.  Marni's son Alex graduated from JBS in 2018, and her daughter, Phoebe, in 2022; and her youngest, Sandra, keeps Marni and her husband Bob on the go at home.