About Us
Lupercal: Latin by and about women
Lupercal is dedicated to celebrating and increasing awareness of Latin, with a special focus on women and their stories. While our roots lie in creating spaces for women to explore Latin, our mission has expanded to welcome members of all genders who share a passion for this ancient language and its connections to women's voices throughout history.
Originally, Lupercal centered on women speaking Latin and discussing Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century text, De Mulieribus Claris (On Famous Women). Through these efforts, we built a thriving community dedicated to meaningful engagement with women and Latin.
Today, we embrace a broader scope: supporting students, teachers, and school communities. From professional development to immersive learning experiences, we collaborate with school districts, universities, cultural institutions, and individuals to craft customized, research-informed offerings.
Using Active Methods, we make Latin vibrant and accessible through weekly chats, book clubs, and other engaging activities. Whether you're a seasoned teacher or a curious learner, Lupercal is your space to explore the timeless language of Latin and its ties to women’s stories.
Our Team
Co Director and Founder
Skye Shirley
In addition to creating community wherever she goes, Skye has a rich expertise studying and teaching Latin written by women. She has taught a number of graduate level courses focused on the topic to support diverse voices in the Latin classroom. She earned her PhD in Latin at the University of London, and her dissertation focused on the writing of Latin women poets from the 17th century.
Co Director
Lauren Downey
After teaching Latin for 18 years in public high schools in Massachusetts, Lauren is switching gears to support Latin teachers and students of Latin with specialized programming.
In addition to launching this new career path, Lauren has three young boys who keep her busy!
Our Story
Founded in 2018 in the Boston area, Lupercal began as a space for women to read, speak, and think about Latin together. What started as small, in-person gatherings quickly grew into an international community of scholars, teachers, and students united by a shared commitment to women’s voices in the Latin tradition.
Today, Lupercal supports learners and educators around the world through teaching, professional development, and collaborative scholarship.
Our Work Today
Lupercal is a Latin education nonprofit dedicated to expanding who Latin is for, how it is taught, and whose voices are centered. Our work spans students, educators, and institutions, connecting scholarship, pedagogy, and practice.
We support students through one-on-one tutoring and small-group classes for middle school, high school, and adult learners, both in the Boston area and online. Our instruction emphasizes active Latin, inclusive texts, and confidence-building approaches—from introductory Latin through AP-level work.
We support teachers and schools through professional development, curriculum design, and consulting. Lupercal partners with school districts, universities, and cultural institutions to create research-informed materials aligned with modern proficiency-based standards and inclusive curricular goals.
Through projects like Project Nota, we also engage in collaborative scholarly work—digitizing, translating, and contextualizing Latin texts by women writers and transforming them into classroom-ready resources.
Across all of our work, we believe Latin thrives when it is living, accessible, and connected to the people who study it today.
Who we serve
- Students (elementary school through AP Latin)
- Teachers and school districts
- Adult and lifelong learners
- Scholars interested in women’s Latin writing