History in Classics / Classics in History

In this paper, I will discuss the reality of the job market and training that both graduate and undergraduate students need in order to be hirable in History and Classics departments. To be viable in today’s job market, those who specialize in the study of Greece and Rome must be in a position to claim the ability to be all things to all people.

In this paper, I will discuss how a Classical Studies department can use an array of offerings in ancient history as a means of boosting enrollments and maintaining a central place in the undergraduate curriculum. My observations will be based on my own long experience in Classical Studies department in a selective private university. Over time, we have been able to increase the number of faculty with research and teaching interests in ancient history, and this has allowed us to increase and diversify our offerings in this area.

The aim of my presentation for the History in Classics/Classics in History panel is to describe the possibilities and challenges that accompany the development and teaching of an interdisciplinary course featuring Classics and Ancient History methodologies for the non-major, general student population at a Liberal Arts University.

This paper examines the place of ancient history in the curriculum of liberal arts colleges. These institutions favor a model of education that is interdisciplinary; as a result, specialized training is rarely seen as a prerequisite for teaching a particular discipline, and most faculty members teach across disciplinary boundaries.