Mizzou alumn Dawn Smith-Popielski and Nick Popielski have received the 2021 Keely Lake Advocacy Award from the American Classical League. The ACL's citation reads:
   
"Dawn Popielski and Nick Smith-Popielski are modelsof how those who love Classics can advance the field of Classics through their professional careers. Whether they are talking with students, working with alumni, or speaking with university administrators about the importance of classics, these two have been energetic in their support of classics. Nick, Head of Environmental Impact at Spire (St. Louis' gas company), and Dawn, a cost analyst for Ascension Health in the Ascension Data Science Institute, are mainstays of the local chapters (in Columbia and St. Louis) of the Archaeological Institute of America. They serve as Secretary-Treasurer of the Alumni/ae Association of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. They are regular and enthusiastic speakers to graduate and undergraduate students at Washington University, the University of Missouri, and elsewhere, about how a degree in Classics can lead not only to rewarding lives, but to successful careers in numerous fields. They are active at alumni events and eager to speak with administrators all the way up to the Provost and President. Dawn funded a scholarship, in the name of her father, for a Classics or archaeology student to travel to Greece."
   
The American Classical League, founded in 1919, celebrates, supports, and advances the teaching and learning of the Greek and Latin languages, literatures, and cultures, and their timeless relevance.