The University of Washington Department of Classics is known nationally and internationally as a place where innovative research, excellent instruction, and active mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students are ensuring the preservation and expansion of knowledge of the Classical world for the next generation. Our faculty, currently ten in number (we’re hiring a new faculty member in Roman history this year!), are award-winning educators and scholars who represent a broad array of interests.
UW Classics strives to show how study of the ancient world—even its negative aspects (such as slavery and patriarchy, to mention the most obvious)—offers useful points of departure for exploring some of the most pressing issues facing our world today. We are deeply committed to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and our faculty, graduate students, and alumnx have taken leading (and sometimes foundational) roles in the key DEI-related groups of our discipline, including the Asian and Asian American Classical Caucus, the Lambda Classical Caucus, and the Women’s Classical Caucus, among others. In 2014, we received the first-ever Award in Professional Equity from the Women’s Classical Caucus.
Our Department offers four undergraduate majors and six minors. The majors in Classics, Greek, and Latin emphasize the development of expertise in the Classical languages and literatures, while the BA in Classical Studies is for students wishing to explore the literature, history, art, archaeology, and philosophy of classical antiquity primarily through English translations. The Department’s graduate programs, including the MA in Greek, Latin, or Classics and the PhD in Classics, ensure comprehensive and thorough training in the disciplines needed for teaching and producing original research in the field of Classics, while also allowing students to pursue coursework in related areas of interest (such as art history, gender and sexuality studies, history, linguistics, literary and critical theory, and philosophy). The Department, moreover, supports undergraduates and graduate students who wish to study, excavate, or conduct research abroad, including participating in our own program at the UW Rome Center.
Ultimately, the success of our program is reflected in the success of our graduates. Many of our undergraduate alumnx have gone on to become distinguished teachers and scholars; others have pursued successful careers in business, journalism, law, medicine, the arts, and a variety of other fields. Our PhDs have won a number of prestigious awards and fellowships (including two recent Rome Prizes) and have performed exceptionally well in a competitive job market, landing positions both within and outside the academy.
You can read more about the UW Department of Classics here.
Submitted by Deborah Kamen, Chair of UW Classics
Image of Denny Hall, home of UW Classics:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denny_Hall.jpg
