The Classics Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson would like to introduce you to our Classics M.A. program, which should be of interest to both Classics majors and Humanities-oriented undergraduate students. Our graduate program has enjoyed remarkable growth since its inception in 1985 and, along with our undergraduate program, continues to expand. It is now one of the premier M.A. programs in the United States and attracts qualified students from all regions of this country and from abroad. In the last ten years, for example, graduates have been accepted at, and received fellowship packages from many prestigious doctoral programs, such as Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, U. of Chicago, U. of Michigan, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U. of Cincinnati, UCLA, U. of Toronto, U. of Virginia, and Yale.
Students in our M.A. program emphasize Classical Philology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient History, Latin Pedagogy, or Latin Philology. A number of Graduate Fellowships, Teaching and Research Assistantships, as well as waivers of tuition and fees, are available. Graduate students take courses and seminars, teach under supervision, and write their theses under the directorship of the departmental faculty.
M.A. concentrators in Classical Philology and Latin Philology focus on ancient Greek and Latin languages and literatures and study with the department's philologists: Norman Austin, John Bauschatz, David Christenson, Mike Lippman, Marilyn Skinner, Bella Vivante and Cynthia White. Faculty in Classical Philology are active researchers in a broad range of specialties, including Homer, Greek and Roman drama, Augustan literature, feminist approaches to Classics, ancient sexuality, neoteric poetry, ancient astronomy and astrology, Greek papyrology, Greek and Roman historiography and social history, textual criticism, the classical tradition, early Christian and late antique Latin literature, medieval Latin, Latin paleography, literary reception, and ancient and modern performance studies. In addition, Julia Annas, Rachana Kamtekar, and Daniel Russell of the Philosophy Department, and Alison Futrell and Steven Johnstone of the History Department regularly teach cross-listed courses and work closely with departmental students.
The Classical Archaeology option aims to provide students with broad disciplinary training, including an introduction to a wide variety of field methods and interpretative approaches to material culture, as well as a firm foundation in Greek and Latin. All students are encouraged to participate in fieldwork throughout the Mediterranean region. Regents Professor David Soren has long supervised students on his excavations in Italy, and Mary Voyatzis is a Co-Director of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project in the Peloponnese in Greece. Students interested in the wider Mediterranean intercultural nexus may work with Regents Professor Richard Wilkinson, who directs excavations in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Eleni Hasaki is a specialist in ancient craftsmen and technology, and has taken students on summer tours and projects in Greece and Tunisia. Robert Schon, an expert in Minoan and Mycenean society, is Co-Director of the Marsala Hinterland Survey in Sicily with Emma Blake, an expert in the Western Mediterranean Bronze and Iron Ages who joined the Department of Anthropology in 2009.
The faculty of the Classics Department approaches ancient history from a variety of angles—political, economic, social, military, cultural, religious, etc.—and encourages this same approach in our students. Students in the Ancient History emphasis work with the department's philologists and archaeologists, as well as Alison Futrell and Steven Johnstone of the History Department, to design M.A. programs tailored to their interests in ancient history. They first master the names, places and dates, and then move on to more in-depth analysis of ancient Greek and Roman history via fields such as historiography, prosopography, papyrology, epigraphy and numismatics. Those who obtain the M.A. in the Ancient History emphasis from the Classics Department are well-qualified for study at the Ph.D. level.
Students whose interests are in Latin Pedagogy and teaching may earn Secondary School Latin Teaching Certification through the Department of Classics in association with the College of Education. Students may also enroll in graduate level courses in second language acquisition and teaching through the SLAT Program and participate in language pedagogy workshops and seminars. As Graduate Teaching Assistants they will have opportunities to teach in our Elementary Latin and Summer Intensive Latin programs, both directed by Dr. Cynthia White. Our M.A. graduates who have earned the Latin Teaching Certificate have had enormous success in securing secondary school and community college teaching positions throughout the country.
Our Modern Greek Program is one of the most active in the western United States. The program offers a four-semester sequence in modern Greek language and further options at a more advanced level in modern Greek literature. The program typically attracts graduate students who plan to travel, study, or do field work in Greece, or who are interested in post-classical Greek language and culture. Qualified students may also serve as teaching assistants in the program.
To take full advantage of our M.A. program, an undergraduate applicant should have basic preparation in the classical languages, ancient history, and archaeology, and will be expected to demonstrate basic reading knowledge of German or French by the end of the first year of graduate study. Applicants who are not equally prepared in all these areas, but who have shown promise in their undergraduate coursework in ancient Greek, Latin, or archaeology (as well as courses in related areas) are also encouraged to apply. The department generally expects students to earn the M.A. degree in two years. Our faculty are committed to promoting deserving M.A. students in every possible way and routinely nominate them for departmental, university, regional, and national scholarships. The department has also established a Graduate Student Educational and Professional Development Fund.
The Department of Classics normally has about thirty graduate students in residence. These students enjoy the breathtaking beauty of Tucson and its surrounding mountain ranges, its benign desert climate ("it's a dry heat"), and its relatively low cost of living. Interested undergraduate students are invited to visit the department in Tucson, or to contact any of our faculty or student representatives.
Applications for fall 2012 are due February 15, 2012; the deadline for international students is January 15, 2012.
For departmental admissions requirements, click here, or get in touch directly with us.
For online application materials, please contact the graduate school; for program information, contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. David Christenson.
Haec Studia Floreant!
