On this day, May 15, 2023, another class of Classical Studies majors has passed through the doors of Claudia Cohen Hall for the last time as students. While the hardships of global disruptions marred large swathes of their undergraduate experience, the class has nevertheless paved a unique path through this aged institution. Every year—to mark the momentous occasion that is their undergraduate graduation—Discentes publishes a profile on each of these remarkable students…
Events
A Review of the Penn Museum’s New Eastern Mediterranean Gallery
A Review of the Penn Museum’s New Eastern Mediterranean Gallery
By Evan Dash
The Penn Museum celebrated its grand opening of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery on November 19. In the months leading up to the exhibit’s opening, I visited the museum weekly for my Mediterranean archaeology class, and there was clearly excitement in the air for the new installation. After taking two separate tours of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery, I have concluded that the buzz surrounding the exhibit’s debut was more than justified. The Eastern Mediterranean Gallery is unlike any other exhibit at the Penn Museum.
A Facultea with Professor Emily Greenwood
A Facultea with Professor Emily Greenwood
By Riley Glickman
A recap of the Classical Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board’s recent Facultea with Dr. Emily Greenwood, a professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Harvard University who is taking part in Penn’s Classics visiting lecturer program.
A Facultea with Professor Peter Struck
A Facultea with Professor Peter Struck
By Olivia Lee
A recap of the Classical Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board’s recent Facultea with Dr. Peter Struck, Professor and Chair of Penn’s Classical Studies Department.
Wolf Humanities Center Visiting Fellow Profile: Dr. Christopher Parmenter
Wolf Humanities Center Visiting Fellow Profile: Dr. Christopher Parmenter
By Luke Snyder
Based in Williams Hall, Penn’s Wolf Humanities Center selects a small group of fellows each year to participate in annual research projects. Bringing together a group of scholars from diverse backgrounds, the Wolf Humanities Center seeks to encourage interdisciplinary studies centered around a different theme each year. This year’s theme focuses on migration, an especially interesting topic for Dr. Christopher Parmenter, one of this year’s visiting fellows.
Meet the Penn Classical Studies Class of 2021!
Meet the Penn Classical Studies Class of 2021!
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi
Every year, we here at Discentes have sadly bid another graduating class farewell while happily celebrating their achievements by featuring some of our newest Classical Studies and Ancient History alumni. The recently-graduated Class of 2021 is unique—they completed their entire senior year remotely, yet they excelled.
Classics Must Be Anti-Racist
Classics Must Be Anti-Racist: The Classics Studies Department’s Anti-Racism Working Group at Penn
By Cecelia Heintzelman
Classics is at breaking point, one where it must decide to be actively anti-racist.
Our seemingly small field exploded into public controversy after the recent publishing of the New York Times’s article about Princeton professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta. The NYT article, “He Wants To Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?” begged the question: if we attempt to make Classics an anti-racist field, will it remain Classics as we know it…
A Conversation with Professor Kate Meng Brassel
A Conversation with Professor Kate Meng Brassel
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi
This fall, Professor Kate Meng Brassel joined Penn’s Department of Classics as a visiting assistant professor of classical studies. I was excited to get to know her, so we arranged to meet over Zoom for a Friday morning chat.
Professor Brassel received her B.A. from Columbia University, M.A. from Princeton University, M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, and her Ph.D. in Classics from Columbia University in 2018…
BLM x CLST: A Series of Interviews with the Faculty of Penn Classics — Part 3: Professor Cynthia Damon
Future Directions and Resources
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi, Sara Chopra, Cate Simons
For the third installment of our Black Lives Matter & Classics series, we invited Professor Cynthia Damon to talk about the relevance of the Black Lives Matter movement and the current reassessment of past scholarship in the field. She also provides advice for fostering inclusivity in our classrooms and suggests reading material and resources for us to become better allies by listening, reading, and learning…
BLM x CLST: A Series of Interviews with the Faculty of Penn Classics — Part 2: Professors Kimberly Bowes and Sheila Murnaghan
Looking Back, Thinking Forward: what Black Lives Matter means in our own department and discipline
By Sara Chopra, Cate Simons, Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi
In the first interview of the Black Lives Matter & Classics series, Professor Emily Wilson discussed the translation and reception of BIPOC voices in classical literature. In our second installment in this series, Professors Kimberly Bowes and Sheila Murnaghan provide critical considerations of the exclusionary past of our field and discuss strategies for cultivating a climate of inclusivity here in our department, especially in light of recent statements made by members of peer departments…