Alumni: In their own words...

Lara K. Aho

The faculty in the Classics Department at Iowa are outstanding mentors, and I feel that graduate students receive excellent feedback and encouragement throughout our time in the program. While a graduate student, I regularly presented papers at regional and national meetings. The department encourages excellence in teaching, and puts its money where its mouth is:  as a fully funded graduate student, I taught a wide variety of interesting courses, and received the selective Outstanding Teaching Assistant award, an award that Teaching Assistants in Classics at Iowa have frequently won. The graduate program in Classics at Iowa gave me confidence in my ability to balance teaching and research interests. While finishing my dissertation, I taught as an adjunct at Duke University, and have now joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Elon University in Elon, NC. Elon hosts a rapidly expanding Classical Studies program for undergraduates, and I am excited to be getting in on the ground floor, so to speak, as their first full-time classicist.

Ph.D. 2007. Dissertation (advisor Dr. Mary Depew):  “Theocritus’ Graces (Idyll 16): Text and Translation with Introduction and Commentary.”

Sam Huskey

The training that I received at The University of Iowa prepared me well to join the profession after I received my Ph.D. in 2002. The logical progression of the curriculum and the sequence of graduate exams gave me a sense of accomplishment as I went through the program, and the seminars provided rigorous philological training that has served me well in my career. The teaching and research assistantships not only defrayed the costs of graduate school, but also provided valuable experience in the classroom and in the production of scholarship. In particular, my work as an editorial assistant for Syllecta Classica helped me to develop effective strategies for my publishing my own scholarship. By far the most valuable part of my graduate education was the thoughtful advice and guidance that I received from my professors.

All of my experiences at The University of Iowa have contributed to my success in my current position in the Department of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma. I have established a good record of publication, with articles in respected journals such as The Classical Journal, Philologus, and Arethusa; I have received university-wide recognition for my teaching; and I have found many outlets for service to my university and the profession. In recognition of my achievements, my university recently bestowed upon me the Joseph Paxton Presidential Professorship in Classics and Letters. None of this would have been possible without the excellent education that I received at The University of Iowa.

Keely Lake

Keely Lake (PhD 2001) is now Teacher of Latin and Greek at Wayland Academy in Wisconsin.  She teaches a full range of Latin and Greek. Due to Keely’s excellent work, there are now two classicists at Wayland, and she can teach Greek and Roman civilization and mythology as well.  She has been awarded an NEH stipend to attend the NEH seminar on “Houses of Mortals and Gods: Latin Literature in Context”.  

Publications: “How My Students Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Grammar”, for College Board Special Issue "Grammar in the Classroom”, edited by John Sarkissian (forthcoming).
“Sample Syllabus, Vergil”, for College Board AP Latin Teacher’s Guide, edited by Susan Bonvallet and Don La Fon (forthcoming).

Andy Montgomery

I joined three other full-time faculty members in the Department of Classics at Samford University in the fall of 2004 where we currently have about thirty very bright and eager majors.  I regularly reflect on the wonderful preparation and support I received – and continue to receive – from the program at Iowa:  Rigorous course work and exam requirements were balanced by thoughtful and personable guidance from professors (I try to emulate this balance in my own classes and relationships with students every day); the teaching assignments were varied and helpful; and I am especially thankful for the invaluable guidance and support I received when on the job market.

Ph.D. 2004, Dissertation title:  The Limits of Identity in Sallust’s Bellum Iugurthinum.

David C. Noe

A 2003 graduate, David began at Iowa in 1995. When asked about his time with the department, Dr. Noe had this to say: “What I most appreciated was the very genial balance of supervision and independence that the department offered. The faculty seemed to know precisely when I needed guidance and support in my teaching and research, and when it was better that I learn some lessons on my own. The teaching opportunities were excellent, and the support for papers and conferences, both intellectual and material, gave me an excellent start in my first job.” David is currently an Assistant Prof. of Classics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Ph.D., 2003
Dissertation title: Oikeiosis, Ratio, and Natura: The Stoic Challenge to Cicero’s Academism in Fin and Natura Deorum

Thomas Scheck

Dr. Thomas Scheck (PhD, 2004), a Senior Fellow of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, is an Assistant Professor in Pastoral Theology at the Ave Maria University Institute for Pastoral Theology.

Publications: "Origen and the History of Justification: The Legacy of Origen's Commentary on Romans," Foreward by Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J., University of Notre Dame Press 2008

Robert Holschuh Simmons

Bob Holschuh Simmons is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the second year of a three-year stint at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.  He defended his dissertation, “Reflections of an Athenian Political Crisis in Euripides’ Last Plays,” directed by Professor Rob Ketterer, in Fall 2006.  The Iowa Department of Classics prepared him well for his current job, and assistance he received throughout his tenure at Iowa and during the search that led to his current position helped him to be competitive on the job market.  Among the things the department did for him that helped him in those respects were the following: allowing him to teach a broad variety of classes and expand his professional repertoire through working on Syllecta Classica; providing funding during summer sessions so that he did not have to seek less applicable employment elsewhere; inviting in, and offering abundant chances for interaction with, a significant number of visiting scholars each year; encouraging and financially supporting travel to present at professional conferences, and offering feedback in advance of the conferences to make the papers the best they could be; writing thoughtful letters and coordinating other support for his successful candidacy for a teaching award and a dissertation fellowship; composing effective letters of recommendation, providing abundant guidance and preparation, and personally lobbying on his behalf during an employment search that resulted in numerous interviews and several job offers; and maintaining contact and continuing assistance as he maps out his professional future.

Svetla Slaveva-Griffin

Svetla Slaveva-Griffin completed her PhD in 2000 with the dissertation entitled "Ennead VI.6: The Concept of Multiplicity as Number in Plotinus' Universal Hierarchy." In 2000-2001, she was a visiting instructor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Since the fall of 2001, she has been an assistant professor at the Florida State University. She specializes in Late Greek Philosophy, ancient science, and medicine. Her interdisciplinary research interests are result of the diverse graduate curriculum at the Department of Classics at the University of Iowa. Facing the challenges of another large academic institution now, she also recognizes the valuable benefits of the expansive teaching experience which she gained as a Teaching Assistant at UI. In her current role as a mentor for graduate students, she tries to recreate the nurturing and very personal environment at the UI Classics program, which allowed her to adapt seamlessly to the American educational system.

John Thomas

John Ira Thomas (MA Latin 1995) is a graphic novel writer, with nine graphic novels to his name, including NUMBERS, THE FAIRER SEX vol 1 , THE FAIRER SEX vol 2, MAN IS VOX: Barracudae, MAN IS VOX: Paingels , ZOO FORCE: Dear Eniko, ZOO FORCE: Bean And Nothingness, ZOO FORCE: BBQ, and LOST IN THE WASH, which have been praised by Booklist for their originality and compared to early surrealist film masterpieces. He has also created an art book, FRAGMENTA: THE ART OF THE WRITER . His work has been twice nominated for Foreword Magazine Book Of The Year Awards. His and the other works from Iowa City publisher Candle Light Press (candlelightpress.com) are widely available.

John is currently at work on a new edition of Lucian's VERA HISTORIA, the new ZOO FORCE volume, and the final volume of MAN IS VOX ( "The Other Way"). He also has a review of Tom Sito's book on animation unions in a forthcoming issue of INTERTEXTS. He still thinks the ILIAD is one of the best books he's ever read and is currently re-reading the works of Columella as if he once fought giant ants. It will make sense later.