The Joy of Learning and Making a Difference

Roberta Elliott Wantman's passion is the pursuit of knowledge. After earning a B.A. in Latin and an M.A. in Classics (and nearly completing the journalism master's program), more than thirty years later she is pursuing a master's degree in the History of Decorative Arts at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, administered by Parsons New School of Design.

Elliott Wantman credits OSU Professor (now emeritus) Stephen Tracy, who taught her about Homer and Virgil and the music of classical poetry, with "bringing joy and beauty to learning," and her knowledge of Latin with helping her enormously as a writer and public relations practitioner. "Latin's vocabulary gives me a strong foundation for understanding the English language, and its grammar and general structure have lent discipline to my thinking and organizational skills."

Elliott Wantman spent her early career in public relations with the Oklahoma Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra. At age 30 she decided "to see the world as the rest of humanity sees it" and spent the next four years in Tel Aviv. "There," she says, "I did everything from interviewing Leonard Bernstein to watching Beirut burn during the 1982 War in Lebanon from my vantage point in an Israeli army encampment high above the city."

Upon returning to the United States, Elliott Wantman immersed herself in the Jewish community, working for the New York Jewish Week, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Israel Policy Forum, and American ORT. For the past nine years, she has served as national director of public affairs at Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, which works to strengthen ties with Israel to ensure Jewish continuity.

She began studying decorative arts after tracing her father's flight from Austria following the German invasion in 1938 to his arrival in the U.S. on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. This discovery of her family's rich history awakened a desire to learn more about the heirlooms she inherited.

Elliott Wantman's belief in education, preservation of the past, and goodwill to others inspired her to establish an endowed fund in the Department of Greek and Latin so that Classics majors can "experience the excitement of the Roman world." The College is thankful for her generosity and wishes her the very best as she continues along her path of life-long learning.