Congratulations, Class of 2024!

The Classics Department is delighted to celebrate the majors who successfully completed their undergraduate studies this year: Eric Banuelos, Nia Correal, Lisbeth Gil, Bryanna Harrell, Monserrat Hernandez, Elijah Holton, Shannon Mayo, Amanda Orza, Eduardo Ruiz Felix, Michelle Woo.

Congratulations, graduates!

Carissa Chappell headshot

Carissa Chappell Wins the 2024 John J. Winkler Memorial Prize Competition

We are delighted to announce that Carissa Chappell’s essay “Leaving No Trace: Reading the Asexual Possibility in Leucippe and Cleitophon” has been selected as the winning essay in the 2024 John J. Winkler Memorial Prize competition.

The Prize is intended to honor the memory of John J. (“Jack”) Winkler, a classical scholar, teacher, and political activist for radical causes both within and outside the academy, who died of AIDS in 1990 at the age of 46. Jack believed that the profession as a whole discourages young scholars from exploring neglected or disreputable topics, and from applying unconventional or innovative methods to their scholarship. He wished to be remembered by means of an annual Prize that would encourage such efforts. In accordance with his wishes, the John J. Winkler Memorial trust awards a prize each year to the author of the best student essay in an adventurous or marginal field of classical studies. Topics include (but are not limited to) those that Jack himself explored: the ancient novel, the sex/gender systems of antiquity, the social meanings of Greek drama, and ancient Mediterranean culture and society. Approaches include (but are not limited to) those that Jack’s own work exemplified: feminism, anthropology, narratology, semiotics, cultural studies, ethnic studies, and lesbian/gay studies. 

Congratulations, Carissa!

Annie Lamar headshot

UCSB Classics Welcomes New Faculty Member Annie Lamar

We are delighted to announce that Annie Lamar will be joining the Classics faculty as an Assistant Professor next year. Professor Lamar (PhD, Stanford) is a Classicist and Data Scientist whose research uses computational methods to analyze Homer and develops machine-learning models for low-resource languages like ancient Greek. 

Professor Lamar joins a growing network of faculty in computational linguistics and humanistic data science on campus. She will teach a range of Classics courses, as well as a new course in Literary Text Mining (Spring 2025) and other new courses in Classics & Data Science. Her computational linguistics lab will offer exciting opportunities for undergraduate majors and graduate students to participate in high-level research.

Chris Erdman headshot

Chris Erdman to join the Classics faculty at Wash U

Chris Erdman (PhD ’24) will join the Department of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis as an Assistant Professor this fall. Chris has spent the year in Rome at the American Academy as a Rome Prize Fellow. He is currently finishing a groundbreaking dissertation (supervised by Robert Morstein-Marx) on voting culture in the Roman Republic. His article “The ‘Ballot Questions’ of Roman Republican Legislative Assemblies” is forthcoming in Historia. Congratulations, Professor Erdman!

Assistant Professor of Digital Classics in the Classics Department

Job #JPF02629
Classics / College of Letters & Science – Humanities and Fine Arts / UC Santa Barbara

Apply now: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02629/apply
View this position online: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02629

POSITION OVERVIEW

Position title: Assistant Professor
Salary range: The posted UC salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at the time of appointment. See Table 1 for the salary ranges. Off-scale salaries and other components of pay, i.e. a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions. A reasonable estimate for this position is $78,700 – $102,200 at the Assistant Professor level.
Percent time: 100%
Anticipated start: July 1, 2024

APPLICATION WINDOW

Open date: November 1, 2023
Next review date: Friday, Dec 1, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Sunday, Jun 30, 2024 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Department of Classics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Classics & Digital Humanities to begin on July 1, 2024.

Requirements for the position include a PhD (or its international equivalent) in Classics or closely related fields (e.g. Greek/Roman concentrations in History, Comparative Literature, Art History/Archaeology, Religious Studies); a record of research combining Classics and Digital Humanities; competence in Greek and/or Latin and the ability to teach Greek and Roman literature, culture, history, or archaeology at the undergraduate level or higher.

The position carries a teaching load of 5 or 4 courses (in alternating years) over three quarters. Duties will include developing and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, supervising and mentoring graduate degree candidates, contributing as a dissertation committee member or as dissertation advisor, and participating in the administrative activities and intellectual life of the Department and the University. The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching, and service as appropriate to the position.

The Department is home to a vibrant community of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate majors and minors. For more information about our research strengths, PhD program, and undergraduate curriculum, go to: https://www.classics.ucsb.edu/

In 2023-24, a wide array of UC Santa Barbara departments is partnering with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to launch a special faculty recruitment initiative named after Benjamin Banneker, the 18th-century African American mathematician, astronomer, anti-racist, engineer, ecologist, and peace advocate. Funded by an Advancing Faculty Diversity grant from the UC Office of the President, with the goal of diversifying faculty, research, and curriculum, the Banneker Initiative aims to recruit scholars, scientists, and engineers whose disciplinary and interdisciplinary work would take place within the community of interests exemplified by Banneker’s intellectual, ethical, and social commitments as an African American scientist. Applicants may be eligible to be fellows in the Benjamin Banneker Initiative. The community of Banneker Fellows will receive funding for cohort building and professional development activities, including enrollment in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity Faculty Success Program, proposal writing training, and seed grants.

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
• At minimum, applicants must have completed all requirements for a PhD (or international equivalent) in Classics or a closely related field (e.g. Greek/Roman concentrations in History, Comparative Literature, Art History/Archaeology, Religious Studies) at the time of application.

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)
• A PhD in Classics or a closely related field (e.g. Greek/Roman concentrations in History, Comparative Literature, Art History/Archaeology, Religious Studies) is required by the time of appointment.

Preferred qualifications

• Competence in Greek and/or Latin.
• Ability and relevant preparation to teach standard Classics courses, e.g., Greek or Latin courses, undergraduate lecture courses in Greek or Roman literature, culture, history, or archaeology; graduate and undergraduate seminars in Greek or Roman literature, culture, history, or archaeology.
• A promising, verifiable research program in Digital Humanities involving Classics.
• Experience integrating digital tools and projects into teaching.
• A demonstrated commitment to enhancing diversity and equity through research, teaching, and service.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Document requirements

  • Curriculum Vitae – (1-2 pages)
  • Cover Letter – (2 pages), Including a discussion of research and teaching.
  • Graduate Transcripts – MA/PhD
  • Writing Sample – Not more than 20pp./7,000 words.
  • Statement of Contributions to Diversity – (1 page) Statement addressing past and/or potential contributions to diversity through research, teaching, and/or service.
  • Sample of Digital Project – If not already included in the writing sample. (Optional)

Reference requirements

  • 3 letters of reference required
    Please arrange to have 3 letters of recommendation submitted via UC Recruit.

Apply link: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02629

Help contact: rebeca_adam@ucsb.edu

CAMPUS INFORMATION

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

JOB LOCATION

Santa Barbara, CA

Helen Morales to Deliver Prestigious Martin Lectures at Oberlin College main art cropped

Helen Morales to Deliver Prestigious Martin Lectures at Oberlin College

From October 30 to November 3, 2023, Helen Morales, the Argyropoulos Professor of Hellenic Studies, will deliver the 2023-2024 Charles Bebee Martin Lectures at Oberlin College. Established in honor of Charles Bebee Martin, who taught Classics and classical archaeology at Oberlin College for forty-five years, these lectures are among the most prestigious in the field of Classics worldwide.

Professor Morales’ lecture series is titled “Art, Activism, and Ancient Fiction” and includes the following presentations:

  • Monday, October 30: “Re-encountering antiquity with Harmonia Rosales”
  • Tuesday, October 31: “Aesop, slavery, and queer kinship”
  • Thursday, November 2: “Riddles of incest”
  • Friday, November 3: “Heliodorus’ blackness”  

 

More information about the Martin Lectures can be found here

 

 

two mold of faces next to each other

Volume on Classics & Queer Theory Co-Edited by Sara Lindheim Just Published!

The Routledge Handbook of Classics and Queer Theory, edited by our own Sara Lindheim with Ella Haselswerdt (UCLA) and Kirk Ormand (Oberlin College), has just been published. The volume, which convenes an international group of experts working on the classical world and queer theory and features an expansive array of methodologies applied to the interdisciplinary field of Classics, seeks to explore the vast – and increasingly uncharted – intersections of the queer and the classical.

More information, including a detailed table of contents, can be found here.    

Congratulations, Sara!

Painting of Woman with her hair wrapped up in a pink cloth

Exhibition Curated by Helen Morales Covered on CNN!

The exhibition “Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative,” currently on display at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, has received coverage on CNN. The exhibition is an expanded and transformed version of “Harmonia Rosales: Entwined,” which was conceived and curated by Helen Morales, the Argyropoulos Professor of Hellenic Studies in our Classics Department, and was first shown at UCSB’s AD&A Museum in 2022. 

The exhibition features paintings by the Afro-Cuban American artist Harmonia Rosales that put Yòrúba and Greek mythologies in dialogue, prompting discussions about about traditions,
eurocentrism, racism, memory, and institutional responsibility, in and beyond many Humanities
disciplines, as well as in the public sphere.

The earlier version of the exhibition had already attracted international attention: it was reviewed on the well-known on-line journal Hyperallergic and covered in Mary Beard’s blog for the Times Literary Supplement.

Congratulations, Helen!

 

Chris Erdman in front of a background of Rome

Chris Erdman Wins Rome Prize

Chris Erdman, a PhD student in our Ancient History emphasis, has been selected as one of five Rome Prize recipients in Ancient Studies for 2023-24. During his fellowship in Rome, Chris will work on his dissertation, a “citizen’s-eye view” of the Republican legislative process entitled Voting Culture and Political Theater in Late Republican Lawmaking. Chris’ research and achievements are featured in the UCSB CurrentCongratulations, Chris!

Tejas Aralere headshot

Tejas Aralere Accepts Tenure-Track Position at UNH

Tejas Aralere (PhD ’23) has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Classics in the Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies Department at the University of New Hampshire. Tejas’ interdisciplinary research, which he has pursued at UCSB in both the Classics and Religious Studies departments, examines the globalization of scientific discourse in ancient India, Rome, and Greece. At UNH, he will be teaching courses in Classics and Humanities, as well as contributing to curricula in Religious Studies and South Asian History. Congratulations, Tejas!