MEAMS Faculty

The faculty who teach courses in Middle East and Ancient Mediterranean Studies are teachers and scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds. Follow the links below for more detailed information.


Ancient Mediterranean Studies

headshot of Hilary Becker

Hilary Becker

Associate Professor/Undergraduate Director AMS

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Roman Economy and Materiality
  • Pigments
  • Etruscan Archaeology
  • Latin and Etruscan epigraphy
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headshot of Tina Chronopoulos

Tina Chronopoulos

Associate Professor/Chair; Associate Professor

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies; Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Research Interests

  • Greek and Latin Hagiography
  • 11th- and 12th-cent. Medieval Latin literature
  • Reception of Classical Latin Literature in the medieval period

Teaching Interests

  • Medieval Latin Literature
  • Latin language and literature, incl. active use of Latin
  • Hagiography
  • Reception of Greco-Roman Antiquity in the USA
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headshot of Carina de Klerk

Carina de Klerk

Lecturer

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Archaic and Classical Greek poetry
  • Theatre and performance
  • Reception studies
  • Language pedagogy

Teaching Interests

  • Greek and Latin language and literature
  • Classical Mythology
  • Classical Reception
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headshot of John H. Starks, Jr.

John H. Starks, Jr.

Collegiate Professor of Newing; Associate Professor

Residential Life; Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Greek and Roman Comedy (theater history, performance, gender)
  • Non-"Western" Ethnicity around the Ancient Mediterranean, esp. Africa and the Levant
  • Hellenistic and Roman Social History
  • Greek and Latin Epigraphy
  • Roman Historiography (including Greek historians of Rome) and Classical Biography

Teaching Interests

  • Women in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome
  • Race and Ethnicity in Ancient North Africa
  • Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh
  • Satire from Rome to Colbert
  • Ancient Comedy in Performance
  • Women in Ancient Theater
  • The "Other" in Latin Comedy
  • Celtic and "Germanic" Ethnicity in Latin Historians
  • Greek and Roman Biography
  • Democracy Inaction: Ancient Greek Comedy and American TV Satire
  • Greek Songs of Life and Love
  • All levels of Latin and Ancient Greek
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headshot of Andrew Scholtz

Andrew Scholtz

Associate Professor

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • The Passions 一 Especially Desire and Envy 一 in the Ancient Mediterranean World
  • The Social Psychology of Greek Rhetoric
  • Intersections of Ancient Greek & Roman Sexuality, Ideology, Politics and Literature
  • Literary Theory
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Middle East Studies

headshot of Maher Bahloul

Maher Bahloul

Visiting Researcher

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Arabic translation and digital challenges
  • Arabic language and linguistics
  • Arabic pidgin and language development
  • Language learning and performative pedagogy
  • Learning through the arts

Teaching Interests

  • Arabic language and linguistics
  • Theoretical and applied linguistics
  • Public speaking
  • Academic writing
  • French language
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headshot of Omid Ghaemmaghami

Omid Ghaemmaghami

TRIP Courtesy Title; Associate Professor/Undergraduate Director - Middle East Studies

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Interfaith Council; Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP); Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Islamic intellectual history
  • The Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths
  • Shīʿī Islam
  • The Quran and its interpretation
  • Arabic grammar
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headshot of Gregory Key

Gregory Key

Turkish Lecturer

Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • Turkish Linguistics
  • Theoretical Linguistics (morphosyntax)

Teaching Interests

  • Elementary Turkish
  • Intermediate Modern Turkish
  • Modern Turkish Literature in Translation
  • Turkish Media and Pop Culture
  • Ottoman Turkish


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headshot of Mary Youssef

Mary Youssef

TRIP Courtesy Title; Associate Professor

Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP); Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Research Interests

  • The Contemporary Egyptian Novel
  • Modern Arabic Literature
  • Arab Diasporic Literature
  • African Literature
  • Postcolonial Studies
  • Migration Studies
  • Race Studies
  • Gender Studies

Teaching Interests

  • Modern Arabic Literature
  • Arab American and Diasporic Literature
  • Postcolonial Theory
  • Translation Theory
  • The Arabic Language
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Affiliated Faculty

Affiliated faculty members from departments across campus regularly teach courses cross-listed with Middle East and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.

headshot of Mateo Duque

Mateo Duque

Assistant Professor

Philosophy

Research Interests

  • Ancient Greek Philosophy
  • Aesthetics and Performance
  • 19th and 20th century Continental and American Philosophy
  • Latin American Philosophy

Teaching Interests

  • Introduction to Philosophy
  • Plato and Aristotle
  • Platonic and Socratic Mimesis (graduate class spring 2021)
  • Philosophy as a Way of Life (fall 2021)
  • Thinking Performance (fall 2022)
  • Philosophy and Comedy (spring 2023)
  • The Stoics and Politics (fall 2023)
  • Latin American Philosophy (fall 2024)
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