Classics

For the prospective student considering Classics as a course of study in college, Denison has a small but excellent department which offers Latin and Greek courses of unusual breadth and depth. Students also have opportunities to participate in an on-campus classics organization, Ludus , as well as the national Honorary Society in Classics, Eta Sigma Phi. An undergraduate classics journal, Ephemeris, is also sponsored by the Department on Classics.

Denison offers major and minor degrees in Classics, Greek , and Latin. Further information is available in the Department's curriculum statement.

An Open Letter From the Classics Department:

Salve!

As a professor in the Department of Classics at Denison University, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our program to you. We offer a large variety of courses in Greek and Latin. Our elementary and intermediate Latin courses normally are fully enrolled at 22 students, and the upper level seminars average from 10 to 15 students. This autumn 2006 I am teaching a Latin seminar to 10 students, from first years to seniors, on the topic of "The Erotic Elegiac World" in Latin literature; please click on the link on our faculty web page for the syllabus of that class and other courses offered. My colleague, Professor Timothy Hofmeister, oversees a growing program in Ancient Greek and currently teaches an upper-level seminar on "Sophists, Signs, and Saviors."

As one example of our strong presence in the Denison community, for students wishing to study on campus after the regular academic year, I often direct student research projects in the Denison Young Scholars Summer Program. In October 2002 at the Ohio Classical Conference in Cincinnati, a student, Elizabeth Prueter '04, and I delivered a presentation based on her summer research on the poetry of Catullus and Charles Bukowski.

Students who major or minor in the department also have the opportunity to become Departmental Fellows, paid assistants working with the faculty on various research projects, tutoring other students, or doing other work related to Classics. We also have a strong and growing chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the national Classics honorary society of undergraduates, as well as LUDUS, a student organization here at Denison that sponsors a number of academic and social activities. We also publish Ephemeris, a journal of undergraduate work in Classics here at Denison.

I hope this gives you some idea of what to expect in Classics at Denison University. I am confident that Denison can provide the academic foundation for your success. Graduates in Classics from Denison have gone on to successful careers in medicine, law, education, government and business, as well as pursuing graduate study. Indeed the quality of your Denison education in the liberal arts and Classics may be best exemplified by the fact that we have even had one of our students accepted for graduate study at Cambridge University. Consider the possiblities, consider Denison!

Vale,

Garrett A. Jacobsen
Associate Professor

Office of the Department of Classics,
Ms. Deborah Bennett, Secretary
411 Fellows Hall, 740-587-6251