The Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) is a professional organization for classicists and non-classicists at all levels of instruction which promotes the Classics through the broad scope of its annual meeting, through the publication of both original research and pedagogical contributions in The Classical Journal, and through its awards, scholarships, and outreach initiatives.
CAMWS was founded at the University of Chicago in 1905 as the first regional classical organization in the United States of America. It immediately began publication of the Classical Journal, which became only the second classical journal (excluding annuals) in the country. Twenty-two states belonged at CAMWS' inception; there are now thirty-one states and three Canadian provinces. CAMWS is an educational, non-profit organization, the largest of all regional Classical groups; membership is open to anyone with Classical interests, regardless of place of residence. Its members (c. 1,500) are primarily college and university professors, K-12 teachers, and graduate students whose specialty is Classics: Classical languages (Greek and Latin) and the world of ancient Greece and Rome.
A subcommittee of CAMWS, the Committee for the Promotion of Latin (CPL), produces a quarterly peer-reviewed online journal, CPL Online and serves as CAMWS' arm for public outreach.
CAMWS holds its annual meeting in March. In odd-numbered years the annual meeting is held in a northern or western state or in Canada. In even-numbered years it is held in a southern state.