Taper Hall of Humanities 224
(213) 740-3676 or 740-3677
FAX: (213) 740-7360
Email: classics@usc.edu
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/classics

Chair: Amy Richlin, Ph.D.*

Professors: Anthony J. Boyle, M.A. (Cantabr.); Thomas N. Habinek, Ph.D.*; Frank Lewis, Ph.D. (Philosophy); Amy Richlin, Ph.D.*; William G. Thalmann, Ph.D.*

Associate Professors: Carolyn Dewald, Ph.D.*; Vincent Farenga, Ph.D.

Assistant Professors: Clifford Ando, Ph.D.; Bryan Burns, Ph.D.; Catherine K. Gilhuly, Ph.D.; Phiroze Vasunia, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Emerita: Jane Cody, Ph.D.

Jerold C. Frakes, Ph.D. (German); Dermot Brendan Nagle, Ph.D. (History); John Pollini, Ph.D. (Art History)

*Recipient of university-wide or college teaching award.

The curriculum of the Classics Department is designed to transmit a knowledge and an appreciation of the civilizations of the Greeks and the Romans — their languages and literatures, myths, philosophies and political thought — as well as to develop an understanding of the ways in which the classical heritage has manifested itself in later ages. Approximately one half of the department’s classes are taught in English; these have to do with broad areas of civilization, including classical culture and literature. The remainder are courses in language and literature taught from the original Greek and Latin texts.

The undergraduate classics major gives the student an understanding of the cultures, languages and literatures of ancient Greece, Rome and the Mediterranean world.

Classics is a broadly interdisciplinary field. Most courses focus on ancient Greece and Rome, but students in the department also study the impact of classical cultures on later societies and the interactions among various ancient cultures. USC is a member of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies and the College Year in Athens program, and classics majors are encouraged to spend a semester in Rome or Athens. The classics major is also encouraged to explore courses in allied fields such as ancient philosophy, history, comparative literature, art history and archaeology (School of Religion).

Classics Department Minor

See the School of Religion section for complete description.

See the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies section for complete description.

Candidates for the B.A. in classics can receive an honors degree by meeting these requirements: a 3.5 GPA in department courses at the time of graduation; completion of an honors research project under the guidance of a faculty member (CLAS 495x). Admission to the program is granted by the departmental undergraduate advisor in the semester preceding enrollment in CLAS 495x; students should have a 3.5 GPA in the major at this time.

Students interested in attending graduate school in classics are advised to take as many courses in Greek and/or Latin as possible.

Because of the great flexibility built into the classics major, students are required to have their course schedule approved by the undergraduate advisor every semester. Students must have a total of 32 upper division units (8 four-unit courses) to graduate at USC and 24 upper division units (6 four-unit courses) in their major.

The graduate program in classics at USC aims to train students to become scholars, teachers and interpreters of ancient Mediterranean civilizations, of the Greek and Latin languages and literatures, and of the traditions that have developed from them. In order to prepare students to work in a variety of intellectual contexts, the department seeks to provide both a traditional substantive training in classical philology and the intellectual flexibility that will enable them to make the accomplishments of the past available to audiences of the present.

The department offers the Ph.D. in Classics (Greek and Latin) and the M.A. in Greek, Latin and Classics. Collateral offerings are available in related departments, such as comparative literature, history, philosophy, art history, English and anthropology.

The graduate program offers mastery of traditional philological and linguistic skills as a basis for the study of ancient cultures, with emphasis on literature, other discursive practices and material culture. Students are encouraged to explore interdisciplinary approaches to classical studies and the relations between classics and other fields. Courses in related departments are recommended and degree requirements permit students to develop individual interests.

department. At least three letters of
recommendation from the student’s undergraduate teachers should be sent to the chair of the department. All applicants are required to take the verbal and quantitative general tests of the Graduate Record Examinations. See the department Web site for detailed application instructions.

These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the Requirements for Graduation section and the Graduate School for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

Work toward the M.A. consists of six four-unit courses (24 units) and a thesis and oral defense, ýr the M.A. comprehensive examination. Two of the core seminars are required and five of the six courses must be taken in the Department of Classics. Under the guidance of a faculty committee, the student elects those courses appropriate to individual areas of special interest and previous academic preparation.

Sixty units of course work are required. Of these ordinarily at least 48 will be taken in the Department of Classics. Course work, exam and individual research projects are organized into a three-year cycle of 12 core courses. The final two years of the five-year program are reserved for dissertation preparation. At the end of each of the first three years a student will sit for a portion of the preliminary examinations, with all preliminary exams to be completed by the end of the third year. In addition, at the end of each of the first three years students present before a jury of internal and external examiners an individual research project. A substantial dissertation prospectus will be submitted within six months of the Zompletion of course work, and an oral examination conducted by the student’s five-member guidance committee will be based on the prospectus.

The core program is as follows, and a student may enter at any time in the three-year sequence.

Under the Johns Hopkins-USC Exchange Program in Classics, graduate students at either university may spend one or two semesters at the other school. USC students must obtain a cross-registration form from the resource Sharing Coordinator in the USC Graduate School, Grace Ford Salvatori Hall 315, obtain signed approval and return the forms to the Graduate School. Students then enroll in USC 700o Off-Campus Studies, CR/NC, through the USC Office of the Dean of Academic Records and Registrar. At the conclusion of the semester(s), the Johns Hopkins instructors will report the student’s grades to the USC Graduate School Resource Sharing Coordinator. Credit (CR) will be granted only for work completed with a grade of B or higher. The student’s transcript will show that the courses were taken at Johns Hopkins and also record the names of the courses.