- Letter From the Chair
- Congratulations to the Class of 2023!
- Notes from Faculty
- Notes from Graduate Students
- Prizes, Grants, and Fellowships
- Eta Sigma Phi, the National Classics Honor Society
- Support the Department of Classics
Letter From the Chair
A Letter from Andrew W. Mellon Professor Christian Wildberg, Department Chair and Graduate Advisor
Christian Wildberg is a historian of ancient philosophical and scientific ideas and the way they shaped and continue to shape our Western intellectual tradition. His current research interests concern the so-called “Presocratics” and the beginnings of Western philosophical thought as well as the development and influence of ancient conceptions of evil. He is also endeavoring to further our understanding of Egyptian philosophical thought (as preserved in the enigmatic Corpus Hermeticum) and its profound influence in late antiquity.
The department of Classics can look back at another successful year in terms of teaching, course development, and research, even if the conditions under which we operated, with three regular tenure-stream positions vacant, posed an enormous challenge. Many of our faculty, especially our valiant part-time faculty, went above and beyond the call of duty to take on extra teaching, mentoring, and service commitments this year. However, a search yielding 229 (!) applications seems to be coming to a successful conclusion, and we look forward to welcoming new faculty soon.
Moreover, for the first time in many years, we have again graduate students in the department. Abigail and Nataly have just completed their first year and are poised to help with teaching in the Fall and Spring of next year. At the end of April, we hosted a fabulous commencement ceremony for our graduating students of the great Class of 2023, seeing off 10 majors and 21 minors. Best of luck to them all!
In addition to teaching two upper-level courses, one on Helen of Troy and the other on Roman Cosmology as well as GREEK 0102, I somehow managed to publish two articles and a book review. One article discusses the veiled and pre-philosophical employment of the Principle of Sufficient Reason in Greek tragedy, the other is reaching for a historical explanation of the strange fact that Plato, in his Timaeus, abandons traditional and typically Greek cosmogonic narratives and writes something that has much in common with the biblical creation story. The book review concerns recent research on the Corpus Hermeticum; my own new text and translation of that body of arcane literature is due to come out with Oxford University Press next year. Fingers crossed.
The Department of Classics at the University of Pittsburgh is dedicated to studying and teaching the rich history of the ancient world and to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who share an interest in it. Read more about our mission and commitment to diversity.
Congratulations to the Class of 2023!
Meet our graduating Classics majors! Congratulations to all the hardworking & dedicated seniors who have been a part of our department and are now venturing into the next chapter of their lives. Euge! Well done!
Nicole Madeline Arnold
Nicole Madeline Arnold, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a Classical Languages major and has earned Departmental Honors with her thesis: "Speaking Truth to Power: Whistleblowing as a Practice from Sallust's Bellum Catilinae to the Trump White House," which has been awarded a Robert S. Marshall Prize in Writing. Nicole has most valued her experiences studying abroad through the Pitt in Sicily program and the support she’s received from her professors. Nicole plans to continue studying Latin in graduate school and to pursue an academic career.
Nikki Gomez-Bush
Nikki Gomez-Bush, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a Classical Civilization and History of Art & Architecture major, minoring in Mediterranean Archaeology, Museum Studies, and Italian. Nikki’s most memorable experiences in Classics have been her language courses, which she says were not only incredibly fun and useful, but helped her build a community within the department. Nikki plans to attend graduate school for Library Sciences, aiming to focus their studies on community outreach and inclusion.
Frances Harrington
Frances Harrington, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a double-major in Classical Languages and Linguistics. Frances has found her experiences translating Roman Stoic philosophy into Attic Greek oratorical style in Dr. Lee’s Greek Prose Composition course to be particularly memorable. She has really valued how the smaller department size in Classics has allowed her to get to know her classmates and professors. This Fall, Frances will attend the University of Colorado Boulder to begin a Master of Arts degree in Classics.
Kaitlyn Parisi
Kaitlyn Parisi, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a double major in Classical Civilization and History, minoring in Latin and Education. Although Katie started at Pitt seeking a STEM degree, she made the decision to switch to a career in education and a degree in Classics. She says that deciding to become a Classics major was one of her best decisions because it gave her a place where she felt like she belonged here at Pitt. In the Fall, Katie will attend the Pitt School of Education’s graduate program for primary teacher certification.
Leah Smith
Leah Smith, a magna cum laude Fall 2022 graduate, is a Classical Civilization major, minoring in Spanish and Mediterranean Art & Archaeology. Leah is grateful for how the professors in the Classics department treat students with kindness and respect, foster excitement for the course material through their own passion, and encourage students to grow more confident in their abilities. Leah is currently taking a gap year to spend time studying language and traveling while deciding on a postgraduate program.
Charlie Taylor
Charlie Taylor, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a double major in Classical Civilization and Art History, minoring in French. Charlie has earned a Bachelor of Philosophy with their thesis entitled “Emaciated Women, Weeping Men: Queerness and the Saintly Body in Medieval Christian Art, c. 1000-1500.” Charlie has particularly valued the closeness of the department and the dedication of the faculty to their undergrads. In the fall, Charlie will begin a Ph.D. in Art History at Bryn Mawr College, focusing on Byzantine art.
Diana Velasquez
Diana Velasquez, a Spring 2023 graduate, is a double major in Classical Civilization and English Writing. Diana has earned Departmental Honors with her thesis: “‘Oh My God They Were Urnmates’ - How Achilles and Patroclus Are Perceived in Online Fandom Spaces,” which has been awarded first prize this year in the thesis category of the Robert S. Marshall Prize in Writing competition. Diana has valued our small tight-knit department, where faculty and students alike are very passionate about what they study. After graduation, Diana plans to return home to the New York City metropolitan area and pursue a career in writing.
Notes from Faculty
Drs. Maggie Beeler
In addition to taking students this summer to Corinth, Greece to participate in the Lechaion Harbor Settlement and Land Project (LHSLP) archaeological field school, Dr. Maggie Beeler took Classics students on a field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art!
Read more about Dr. Beeler, our new classical archaeologist!
Likewise, if you are interested in Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world, Dr. Beeler will be teaching a class on that topic in the Fall semester! Other courses of hers include Roman Art (CLASS 1520) & Art and Empire (CLASS 0105).
Dr. Andrew Korzeniewski
Dr. Andrew Korzeniewski has spent the year trying to master teaching Latin via Canvas (he hasn’t taught Latin since before Covid happened). Now that he has the hang of things, he’s looking forward to teaching upper-level Greek courses next year. This Spring, Dr. K supervised a Departmental Honors Thesis & a W-credit – both of which he did in connection with trying to plot out a new Writing Credit Classics offering.
Take a look at Dr. K's GREEK 0101 course being offered this Fall! Likewise, he will also be teaching Roman Civilization (CLASS 0020).
Professor Ellen Lee
Professor Ellen Lee served as a consultant for the Netflix film The Pale Blue Eye and earned a film credit as a Latin Linguist! Her new writing course, CLASS 1170: Antiquity Now, which explores modern works that reinterpret ancient themes and characters to critique, represent, or reimagine ancient and modern identities, was approved and was offered for the first time this Spring!
Finally, Prof. Lee has been developing her pedagogical interests, giving a paper entitled “‘Levi-O-sa, not Levio- SA’: Bad Pedagogy in the Magical Classroom” at the 8th Feminism & Classics conference in May and she served on a panel discussion about preparing graduate students for teaching careers in February.
Good news! Professor Lee will be offering her Roman cognition course this Fall! Likewise, she will also be teaching Beginning Latin 1 (LATIN 0101)!
Dr. John Newell
Dr. John Newell had a paper, “Finding Ithaca, and Sense in Parmenides B1.3: The Homeric Meaning of εἰδώς” published in The Classical Quarterly. Through close reading, the paper reveals that Homer often uses εἰδώς with ironic force. This realization sheds light on several passages discussed therein, including: 1) Homer's description of the location of Ithaca, and 2) the manuscript reading of Parmenides B1.3, which is shown to harbor no internal conflict. Other literary clues in Parmenides B1 are shown to support this reading. The paper can be accessed here.
Take a look at Dr. Newell's Greek Civilization (CLASS 0010) course, which is being offered this Fall! Dr. Newell will also be teaching The Augustan Age (CLASS 1022) in the Fall!
Dr. Marcie Persyn
Dr. Marcie Persyn successfully completed four (4) public talks in February: two for the Humanities Center (including “Breaking Down the Joke: De-Fragmenting or Re- Fragmenting Early Roman Satire,”; a Humanities Center fellows workshop; a round-table, interdisciplinary pedagogical presentation “Teaching large-enrollment courses: a round table” with colleagues from English, French and Italian, and German; and her Carnegie Science Center talk “Valkyries, Goddesses, Kingslayers: Oh My—Warrior Women of Norse Mythology.”
In the Fall, Dr. Persyn will be teaching Advanced Readings in Latin Oratory: Cicero's Laws (LATIN 1418), Mythology in the Ancient World (CLASS 0030), and Greco- Roman Religions (CLASS 1402).
In Summer Session 2, Dr. Persyn will be offering Ancient Medicine (CLASS 1810)! This course may be of particular interest to those students intending to study medicine, or who are interested in the medical humanities.
Professor Mark Possanza
Professor Mark Possanza is excited about teaching a new course in the fall term 2023, CLASS 1270: The Romans in Britain. His interest in Roman Britain was inspired by walking the eighty Roman miles of Hadrian’s Wall from Wallsend to Bowness on Solway and by a two-week stint as a digger at Vindolanda, a Roman fort just south of the Wall. (The Romans liked to leave a big footprint on the landscape.) Exploring Britannia during the nearly 400- year period of Roman occupation leads to unexpected discoveries and encounters on an island in the Atlantic that was drawn into the multicultural and multiethnic world commonly known as the Roman Empire.
In addition to The Romans in Britain, Professor Possanza will also be teaching Intermediate Latin: Prose (LATIN 0210)!
Dr. Wes Scott
Dr. Wes Scott is offering his Classical Mythology and Literature course (CLASS 1130) during the Summer 2023 12-week term using a WEB- based delivery. Following the university-wide initiative to make more WEB-based courses available during the summer, this is our department's foray in ascertaining what level of interest there is in our courses being offered in this mode. And it looks to have worked! The course has filled.
In the Fall, Dr. Scott will be teaching Greek Tragedy (CLASS 1140) and Roman History (CLASS 1220).
Professor Andrew Wein
The highlight of Professor Andrew Wein’s first year at Pitt has been the privilege of working closely with the department’s cohort of up-and-coming philologists, reading portions of Plato’s Symposium in the Fall and Iliad 1 in the spring. The fun is set to continue this summer in an epic reading group he is organizing. So if you are interested in joining, don’t hesitate to reach out to him. Otherwise, he plans to spend the summer finishing a paper on the nature of Homeric fate and starting another on the Presocratic reception of Homer.
This Fall, he will be leading a seminar with Professor Wildberg on the Presocratics and teaching another course on the ancient epics in translation.
Take a look at Professor Wein's upcoming Ancient Epic (CLASS 1142) course!
Notes from Graduate Students
Nataly Ianicelli Cruzeiro
Nataly Ianicelli Cruzeiro’s first year as a graduate student in the Department of Classics was great. The welcoming, friendly, and diverse nature of the program added to the lively academic environment. Being able to engage with topics concerning not only language and literature, but also ancient philosophy and ancient sciences in the CPAS reading group and all the seminars were a tremendous learning experience, and she is very happy to be part of this community.
Abigail Fritz
Abigail Fritz enjoyed her first year as a graduate student at Pitt. She is particularly excited to be in a program that actively encourages her interdisciplinary interests in ancient Greek philosophy and intellectual history. Abigail presented her research on Aristotle at a student philosophy workshop this Spring and is looking forward to continuing her research in the coming years.
Prizes, Grants, and Fellowships
Thanks to the generosity of our friends and alumnae/i/x, the Department of Classics is proud to offer a variety of annual scholarships, prizes, and fellowship opportunities to Classics majors, minors, and students of antiquity at the University of Pittsburgh.
Marshall Travel Grant & the Marshall Summer Research Fellowship
Congratulations to this year's recipients of the Marshall Travel Grant & the Marshall Summer Research Fellowship!
Marshall Travel Grant
- Meghan Hannum, Ky Quigley, & Anna Trimble, to attend the Lechaion Harbor and Settlement Land Project, under the direction of Dr. Maggie Beeler
- Alex-Jaden Peart, to attend the Pitt in Munich Program & Goethe-Institut
Marshall Summer Research Fellowship
- Logan Truesdell, to conduct a research project entitled “A Matter of Life and Death: Myths of Reincarnation Across Greece, Rome and Egypt,” under the direction of Dr. Marcie Persyn
Robert S. Marshall Prize in Writing
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Robert S. Marshall Prize in Writing!
In the Honors Thesis category:
First Place
- Diana Velasquez, “‘Oh My God, They Were Urn Mates.’ — How Achilles and Patroclus are perceived in online fandom” Supervisor: Dr. Ellen Lee.
Second Place
- Nicole Arnold, “Speaking Truth to Power: Whistleblowing as a practice from Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae to the Trump White House” Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Korzeniewski.
In the Course Paper category:
First Place (tie)
- Flaviana Shkoza, “The Restructuring of Cognitive Micro-Ecologies Through Theater” Supervisor: Dr. Ellen Lee.
- Jason Vetitoe, “Bona Dea: The Good and Mysterious Goddess” Supervisor: Dr. Marcie Persyn.
Second Place:
- Cody McSherry, "Στολήν γ’ ἄμορφον: A Reimagining of the Costumes of Helen and Menelaus in Euripides’ Helen" Supervisor: Dr. Christian Wildberg.
Eta Sigma Phi, the National Classics Honor Society
The Zeta Tau chapter of Eta Sigma Phi (ΗΣΦ) has been reestablished!
On April 20, 2023, the University of Pittsburgh's chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the National Classics Honor Society, held an induction ceremony, in which 26 students of Ancient Greek and Latin were initiated into the Zeta Tau chapter!
Led by President Meghan Hannum and Faculty Advisor Prof. Ellen Lee, our chapter is committed to developing and promoting interest in classical studies among students at Pitt and beyond.
The national organization of Eta Sigma Phi offers many opportunities for undergraduate scholars and alums, such as scholarships for travel abroad and for archaeological fieldwork, translation contests, and opportunities to present student research, including an annual national convention that hosts delegates from across the country.
Support the Classics
Why Support the Department of Classics?
Gifts to the Department of Classics have a direct impact on the daily lives of students and are applied in a variety of ways. Your support will help with one of the following.
- Undergraduate scholarships
- Graduate student fellowships
- Distinguished Lecture Series
- Graduate student travel to conferences
- Undergraduate research
- Outreach activities
Making a gift to the Department of Classics is quick and easy. Use the convenient online service, and follow the link to Give Online Now. Select "Other" and enter "Department of Classics" on the second page of the form.
You can also send your check made payable to the University of Pittsburgh to:
University of Pittsburgh Records Management
Park Plaza
128 North Craig Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Indicate "Department of Classics" in the subject line of your check. Call the University of Pittsburgh at 1-800-817-8943 to make your gift by phone. Thank you very much for your generosity!