MARTA STEELE

e-mail martasteele@gmail.com

Web site and blog at www.wordsunltd.com; professional page at www.editingunltd.com.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS

                           

 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

 

     Freelance Academic Reference Editor for Oxford University Press, 2/2010-present: on project Oxford Bibliographies Online (see http://www.oxfordbibliographiesonline.com/browse.1 for description of project).

 

Contractual Editing, technical/production, for the National Academy of the Sciences, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 5/19/08-12/4/10.

 

Freelance Editing, 2005–8: for Professor (of business and economics) Francesco Perrini, Bocconi University, Milan—The New Social Entrepreneurship (Cheltenham, 2006) and various research papers, reports, and correspondence; Ernest von Simson, Ostriker, Von SImson, Inc., New York, NY—Surviving Strategic Chaos (as yet unpublished); Oberhelman and Pedrick, eds., The Soul of Tragedy (University of Chicago Press, 2006); indexed Kraus and Foley, eds., Visualizing the Tragic (Oxford University Press, 2007); Alice Mary Talbot, ed., Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 59 (Harvard University Press, 2006).    

 

     Freelance Academic Book and Reference Editor for Oxford University Press, 11/99-4/2004: books include S. R. Holman, The Hungry Are Dying (2001);  M. Krawiec, Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery (2002); L. Floridi, Sextus Empiricus (2002); T. Scanlon, Eros and Greek Athletics (2001); reference editing: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History and The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2d ed.: articles and language lists (the latter encompassing some 4,000 different languages).

 

      Adjunct Assistant Professor of Homeric Greek, The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, 9/00-1/01. Filling in for Professor Ann Raia, who was on leave of absence, I taught the beginning term of Homeric Greek to undergraduates at this Catholic liberal arts college. The students were "Greekless," and teaching Homer as their first Hellenic exposure was an experimental approach that was surprisingly successful, given the complexity of the subject. Several of the students had studied Latin, but the challenge was to orient them more grammatically toward Greek and language in general. Adjunct Instructor of Rhetoric, English department, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, 8/01- 12/01. Freelance tutor in Latin for Inlingua, Inc., Princeton, NJ, winter, 2006–7               

 

     Freelance Manuscript Editor, Indexer, and Academic Publishing Consultant under the logo Words, UnLtd., 6/87‑2/91 and 4/97- : Have edited art, sociology, business, history, journalism, standardized tests, mathematics, popular fiction, school, college‑level, and professional texts, including two Spanish textbooks; indexed one college philosophy survey text and three anthropology books; proofread one college German textbook. Employers include AMACOM Books, Walker and Co., McClanahan & Co., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford University Press,  and The New Press, New York City; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., Fort Worth, TX; Prentice‑Hall and Globe Book Co., Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ; Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, NY (translated descriptive blurbs from Spanish to English for Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges also); Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY; line edited Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and The Encyclopedia of European Peoples for Facts on File, Inc., New York, City, 2003; and 2005.

    

     specializing in classics since 4/97: edited and augmented index of biennial newsletters, 1977-97, for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA), Princeton Publications Office (mounted on website http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/newsletter/2003index%20v49.pdf as well as hard copied; project ongoing as of 6/99); freelance edited and indexed (general, locorum, and  museum indexes) Himmelmann, Childs, Meyer, Reading Greek Art (Princeton University Press, 1998); proofread and indexed (general, locorum, and verborum Greek/Latin) J. McMahon, Paralysin Cave (E.J. Brill, 1998);  edited R. Stroud, The Athenian Grain-Tax Law of 374/3 B.C. (Hesperia Supplement 29; Princeton: ASCSA, 1998);  edited and completed 2 indexes (general and locorum) for J. Cooper, Reason and Emotion: Essays on Ancient Moral Psychology and Ethical Theory (kleine Schriften of articles on ancient Greek philosophy, Princeton University Press, 1999); edited, vetted, and proofread S. Alexander, trans., The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace (Princeton, 1999). Indexed L. Kurke, Coins, Bodies, Games, and Gold (general; published Princeton, 7/99), A. Boegehold, When a Gesture Was Expected (general, locorum, and museum; Princeton, 1999), H. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (general; Princeton, 2001); consultant in stylistics pertaining to ancient Greek and Latin for The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2004); freelance copy editor and consultant for the University of Chicago Press: S. Benardete, The Argument of the Action (2000), B. Krostenko, Cicero, Catullus, and the Language of Social Performance (2001); W. Burkert, Savage Energies, tr. Peter Bing (2001); freelance indexer for Zone Books (New York, NY): M. Sahlins, Culture in Practice (2000). Freelance bibliographer for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (9/00 – 2/01): S. Carboni et al.,The Glass of the Sultans; freelance editor for American Journal of Philology (Johns Hopkins University), fall 2002 (vol. 123.3).

    

     Manuscript / Production Editor, specializing in classics, and Series Editor, Kierkegaard's Writings (the 25 text volumes were completed in 5/98; see further below, at "Honors") and Ramāyāna of Valmīkī, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2/91‑9/99: Edited and oversaw the production through bound book of academic manuscripts; completed a style sheet for the editing of Princeton Press classics books that address classicist as well as generalist audiences (7/97). Adapted a XyWrite 4.0 computer program to regularize spellings in classics manuscripts; also developing three other programs to facilitate various stages of classics indexing – patents applied for on all four. Series editing in cooperation with the staffs at Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Supervised summer intern in production department (1996 and 1997), teaching editorial and production skills; wrote monthly feature essays for PUProfiles and Words, UnLtd., the Press's newsletters (1996-99 - see below, under "Publications"); editor of (and continued contributor to) newsletter, 4/99-8/99.

 

    Freelance Translator/Author for Transparent Language, Hollis, NH, manufacturer of computer software for foreign-language, on-screen instruction, 4/95-2/97: Analyzed translation of and authored Ovid, "Narcissus" episode, Metamorphoses 3.339-510 from classical Latin into English (LE-206); translated from English to French and authored "Adventure in D.C." and translated from English to French "Pitfalls of the English Language" for the English as a Foreign Language division (EF-CE5); translated from French and authored an eight-volume set of disks, "The French Anthology," selected French poetry from Chanson de Roland  to Genet. 

 

    Editor of Standardized Tests, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, 9/85‑6/87: Including SAT, Advanced Placement, Achievement, GMAT, and GRE, in every subject area and all age categories from elementary school through adult.

 

     Copy Chief, New Jersey Network (educational television), Trenton, NJ, 5/85‑9/85: Copyedited Network Magazine and brochures, newsletters, and promotional material; wrote two magazine features, including one cover story, and rewrote another cover story (titles detailed below under Publications).

 

     Adjunct Instructor in English Composition, research and exposition, and business writing, Rider College Department of English, 9/84‑6/85: Taught day and evening students, all ages, averaging about 65 students per term (3 classes); skill levels ranged from post-baccalaureate to marginally literate; emphasis was on learning to write through style and usage exercises and a high volume of actual writing assignments. Translated into Latin the official diploma awarded annually to graduates of the Baccalaureate Honors program.

   

     Full‑time and Freelance Newspaper Reporter, 9/83‑9/85: For Valley News, Entertainment Weekly, Huntsville Star, and Hometown Press, Huntsville, Alabama; and American Jewish Life (Ewing, NJ), Intercounty Newspapers (Yardley News, Newtown Advance, Lower Bucks County, PA), and Princeton Packet (Princeton, NJ): worked for eight months as full‑time news reporter in Ardmore, Tennessee‑Alabama, covering local government events as well as human interest, crime, etc.; other freelance assignments were in business and entertainment promotion, a column on cultural events (Huntsville), interviewing local celebrities (Huntsville), and two magazine features, one profiling a master storyteller in Huntsville and the other a study and analysis of issues related to breast cancer (Princeton, 1985; see on Publications, below).

 

PUBLICATIONS (see also new [as of 6/19/03] web site and blog at www.wordsunltd.com)

     

     "ITV:Television's Untapped Gold Mine" (cover story) and, with John Garbarino, "Montclair State College's Dumont Legacy," both in the September 1985 issue of Network Magazine; "Breast Cancer," three illustrated articles (main feature) in the October 1985 issue of Princeton Packet Magazine; "Richard Chase: Master Storyteller and Appalachian Folklorist," in the May‑June 1987 issue of Hometown Press, Huntsville, AL ‑ reprinted in abridged form in the summer 1988 issue of Mountaineer Times, Copperhill, TN.

  

    Commented on and authored Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.339-510, the "Narcissus" episode, from Latin to English for Transparent Languages, Hollis, NH, published September 1995. Translated into French and authored two other programs for the EFL division (see above, at Transparent Language).

 

     Cited in a recent New York Times Bestseller List book, Peter Bernstein, Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk (New York: Wiley, 1996), pp. 118 and 343, for translating into English a Latin passage in the correspondence between Gottfried von Leibniz and Jacob Bernouilli (letter of December 3, 1703). This book was, in an end-of-the-year summary in The New York Times, cited as one of the best economics trade books of the year.                           

 

      Frequent contributor (under pseudonym and real name) to Princeton University Press monthly newsletters PuProfiles and Words, UnLtd., 1996-99: reviews, essays on grammar and editing issues, classics, musical events; writer and editor of successor Words, UnLtd., 4/99-7/99; Words has since August been published monthly by me as an independent. Have compiled thence (and including earlier writings and poetry) several collections, including A Most Surprising and Unexpected Muse and The Return of the Muse.

 

     Translated (from French) verses of Voltaire addressed to Catherine the Great in 1769, p. 11 and n.10 of J. McInernery, The Folds of Parnassos (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999). 

 

     “Reference Editing: A Branch of Freelancing That Offers Everything but Wealth,” The Freelancer (newsletter of Editorial Freelancers Association, Inc.), cover story, May-June 2002; “The Overseas Contingent: Three EFA ‘Expats’ in Europe,” The Freelancer, cover story, September-October 2002;  "Profile: Reva Singh of Delhi, India," The Freelancer, November/December 2002, pp. 2-3. "A Soul's Journey through Life: The Biographer's Craft," The New York Bookwoman (Women’s National Book Association, New York City Chapter), March 2003; “Powerful Women in Publishing,” The New York Bookwoman, April 2003; “The Literary Agent as Entrepreneur,” The New York Bookwoman, May 2003; "Literary Blogging," The New York Bookwoman, December 2004.

 

     “The Psychology of the Traveler,” story and pictures to launch the new Web site e-margaux-com November 21, 2003: http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/psychology-of-the-traveler/01.htm and http://www.e-margaux.com/en/gallery/psychology-of-the-traveler/photos/01.htm; “The Truth (?) about the Cistine Chapel,” one of four features in the March 1, 2004, newsletter e-Marginalia: A Passion for Travel, http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/sistine-chapel/

 

     Letter to the editor of the New York Times reacting to op ed published 2/3 (by Jimmy Carter and James Baker)—published on line 2/6/08, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/opinion/lweb06vote.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin.

 

 

EDUCATION

 

B.A., linguistics and Spanish, Wellesley College, 1971, as Wellesley College Scholar (received Freshman Honors, 9/68); M.A., classical philology and historical and comparative linguistics, UCLA, 1973; Completed Ph.D. course work, classical philology, Boston University, 1980; elected to Phi Sigma Iota, a foreign language national honors society, in 1980.

 

Other course work completed in classics, poetry writing, journalism, Old French and Provençal poetry, German, history of music, word-processing and Internet, and public speaking.

 

Computer background: Currently work on Word 2003 for Windows XP; some newsletter designing, including photography; also Microsoft Office 2003 and QUARK Express..             

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

Volunteer for Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Booksale (2001-): shelving, pricing, sorting all categories of books for resale to benefit scholarship funds. Volunteer presenter, Wellesley College Book Award (2002), at two local high schools.

                                                                                                                                          

Volunteer  translator for the HELIOS project (SUDA@lsv.uky.edu), an offshoot of the Classics-L internet discussion group based at University of Washington (classics@u.washington.edu) into English of the entire Suda Lexicon from Byzantine Greek (begun 1/98); my rubrics were 1000-1009.

 

Volunteer writer/editor for various print releases and publications of the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra (GPYO), Princeton, NJ (in which my daughter was principal  2nd violinist, then in 1st section) 1997-99. Volunteer publicist for Festival for Arts and Music Excellence (FAME), Lawrenceville, NJ, August 1997; salaried (part-time) publicist for GPYO, winter 1998; coordinated videotape of 5/98 orchestra concert, including interviews of concerto competition winners and orchestra conductor, which was aired on Princeton Public Access Cable Channel. Volunteer reviewer of Medusa Mythology Examination, 1999.

 

College‑level instructor of Latin while studying graduate‑level classics at University of California, Los Angeles, 3/72‑6/73, and Boston University, 1/80‑6/80 (also, during these terms, tutored in ancient Greek and ghost‑taught a high school Latin course).

 

First Day School teacher, first and second grades, Newtown Friends Meeting, Newtown, PA, 1987‑88; taught mainly Old Testament and arts and crafts related to this study.

 

                                                                                

 

MEMBERSHIPS AND HONORS

 

Member: Huntsville Women Writers Consortium (also co-founder), 1983-84; American Philological Association, 1997-; American Classical League, 1997-; New Jersey Classics Association, 2001-; Editorial Freelancers Association, 1985-91, 2000- (contributed to newsletter); Women in Scholarly Publishing, 1999-; The Wellesley Club of Central New Jersey, 2001-; Women's National Book Association (contribute writing to newsletter), New York City Chapter, 2002-; Recording “Scribe,” Steering Committee, Princeton Coalition for Peace Action, 2005- (member since 2002); American Association of University Women, (started writers' group and co-produced program on counter-recruitment) 2004-; Press Liaison, Coalition for Voting Integrity, Doylestown, PA, 4/2005-.; Recording Secretary, Peace and Social Concerns Committee, Washington Friends Meeting, Washington, DC, Jan.-May 2008.

 

Listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the East, 27th edition; Marquis Who’s Who in America: Finance and Industry, 31st edition; Marquis Who’s Who in America, millennium edition; Marquis Who’s Who in the World, 17th (millennium) edition.

 

Listed in the Directory of American Scholars, 1999 edition; International Authors and Writers Who’s Who, May 1999, 16th edition (IBC, Cambridge, England); pilot edition of IBC’s 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 20th Century; honored at Royal Danish Embassy, Washington, D.C., May 1998, for completion of the 25 text volumes of the Kierkegaard’s Writings series (Princeton University Press publications).

 

Profiled in the January 2003 issue of The New York Bookwoman, “Meet a Member” page; acknowledged in the  Preface  of The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (University of Chicago Press, 2004).