The Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies honors its founder with the David A. Lupher Translation Award, given annually to the senior who demonstrates the greatest proficiency in ancient Greek and Latin. Over a thirty-year career, David Lupher served as the cornerstone for rebuilding a Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at the University of Puget Sound. After completing a Ph.D. at Stanford University, David was hired in 1981 and for the first five years of his career served as the sole member of the faculty teaching Greek and Latin languages courses. During his tenure the department grew to have four members teaching a range of courses from languages and literature to history and material culture. David was also a pioneer in the field now known as classical reception studies, teaching courses and leading a faculty development seminar on the uses of the classical tradition by later cultures. His book Romans in a New World: Classical Models in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America (University of Michigan Press, 2006) grew out of this interest as well as a turn teaching in the Honors program, as did his subsequent book Greeks, Romans, and Pilgrims: Classical Receptions in Early New England (Brill, 2017).
- Emory Brigden - 2019-2020
- Kara Ann Lamar - 2018-2019
- Kathryn Stutz - 2017-2018
- Rachel Schroder - 2016-2017