Drs. Cynthia White and James O'Donnell (seated) and Classics Graduate Students
James O’Donnell, Professor of Classics and Provost at Georgetown University, spent two days with Classics students and faculty as a Visiting Phi Beta Kappa lecturer. On Wednesday (2/15), he met with Dr. Cynthia White’s Horace and Catullus (LAT 411/511) students to discuss Humanities and technology, followed by lunch with classics faculty and Vice Provost Gail Burd, Heads and Directors in SILLC, and faculty of the Honors College to discuss the topic “Crisis in the Humanities?” Dean of Humanities Mary Wildner-Bassett introduced Dr. O’Donnell at his public lecture, “Death of the Gods: What We Can Learn from Paganism,” where there was standing room only. For the Daily Wildcat account of Professor O’Donnell’s elegant, humorous and insightful take on ancient religion and the evanescence of the pagan gods, click here.
Graduate Students Kevin Lubrano, Anthony Browne, Kolb Ettenger, Emily Hulme, Marissa Gurtler
On Thursday (2/16), he delivered a talk on the pagan gods to 500 students in the co-convened Emergence of Christianity in the Greco-Roman World and Classical Mythology courses, taught by Dr. White and Dr. Robert Schon, respectively. Dr. O’Donnell then attended a reception in his honor attended by faculty and students from Classics, Religious Studies, Judaic Studies, the Division of Late Medieval and Reformation Studies, and Italian Studies before riding off into the desert sunset, fondly remembered from his youth in El Paso.
James O'Donnell and (right) Dr. Thomas Miller, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs
