Students, whether current or alums, are the heart of UGA Classics. This page is dedicated to the many successes, personal, academic, and professional of our students, on campus and abroad. UGA Classics: Preparing you for what comes next. Mohammed Al Eethawi is a third-year student at the University of Georgia. He is pursuing two degrees in Biology and Biomedical Physiology, with a minor in Classics. His long- term goal is to attend medical school because his lifelong passion has always been medicine. Unlike other students with a passion for medicine, Mohammed has a unique view of the field. He believes in the past as much as he believes in the future. He stated that “without the colors of the past, the future is an incomplete portrait.” Consequently, with the help of the Classics department, he was able to travel to the past and learn about the early years of medicine. During the spring 2023 semester, Mohammed worked closely with Dr. Mario Erasmo on his very first research paper, titled Claudius Galen: The Great Roman Physician and Anatomist. His research focused on medicine during antiquity times, which he explored through Galen’s work. Through this research, Mohammed learned one major concept regarding medicine during that time – that the purpose of medicine was not to help those in need. Rather, it was the “prestige” of aristocratic males, and it was practiced showing off the male’s social status and advanced education. Through this journey, Mohammed learned that antiquity medicine was merely a show, and every physician, including Galen, tried their best to display their remarkable discoveries. Mohammed was astonished by finding the true purpose of medicine in its early years. His interest went beyond the antiquity period, and he wanted to discover the purpose of medicine throughout the centuries. Over last summer, he independently worked on another research paper titled The Time in Between: The Western Dark Age and The Eastern Golden Age. Although the time he studied was much closer to modern times, he still did not find the modern purpose of medicine in the physicians’ work. Mohammed viewed this time as a reconsecration era of medicine, because while Europeans were fading in the darkness, the Muslims were bringing a new light to medicine knowledge. He believes that without the Muslims’ high interest in education and medicine, Europe would not have seen the light of education again, which lead to the Renaissance Era. Currently, Mohammed is working on a CURO research with Dr. Erika Hermanowicz, and he is studying the works of medicine during the Renaissance Era, specifically the works of Andreas Vesalius, title The Coding of Andreas Vesalius. He has yet to discover the true purpose of medicine during this period. He is hoping to publish this paper after its completion and take it with him to the University of Oxford next spring to work closely with scholars to research his final destination, modern medicine. Elizabeth R. Lavender: My interest in academic study of ancient Greece and Rome developed in high school. When looking at colleges, I identified schools with strong programs in Classics and chose UGA over other options. Memorable experiences from my years as an undergraduate major include coursework on the late ancient Roman Empire and Augustine, Aristophanes, Greek rhetoric and tragedy, and Roman art history; meeting new friends at Classics Club, a branch of the national undergraduate society Eta Sigma Phi; and studying in the departmental library in Park Hall. Faculty in Classics went above and beyond to support my learning, advising a presentation at an undergraduate conference at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. and my senior capstone project on representations of familial relations in late antique literature. The department also sponsored my application to the Society for Classical Studies’ Lionel Pearson Fellowship. This funding award made it possible for me to complete a master’s degree in Roman history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. I then committed to doctoral studies in Classics at Yale, where I am now writing a dissertation on postclassical debates about natural factors in child development and education. I treasure my memories of UGA Classics and am immensely grateful for the training and community the program offered. Ari Anderson: I graduated from UGA in 2019. I arrived in Athens my freshman year with broad plans of attending law school after graduation, but lacked any specific direction of the path I would take to get there. I settled on political science as my major and began the process of choosing my classes for the fall, which led me to enrolling in an elective titled Introductory to Greek Mythology taught by Dr. John Nicholson. What I did not know at the time was that this course would awaken an academic curiosity that I had not yet experienced. I finished that semester feeling inspired and craved the opportunity to take more courses in the classics department. I continued taking courses with Dr. Erika Hermanowicz, whose teaching challenged me to reevaluate what it means to think critically and communicate those thoughts with intention. Thanks to these courses, I developed as both a student and a person, having gained skills necessary to succeed moving forward and relationships with mentors that supported me along the way. I moved on to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law and now work as an attorney at a law firm in New York, where even today that challenge to think critically and communicate with intention resonates as I confront the issues of the day. To put it shortly, I would not be where I am or who I am today without the dedicated professors in the Classics department at UGA. My name is Ari Anderson and I graduated from UGA in 2019. I arrived in Athens my freshman year with broad plans of attending law school after graduation, but lacked any specific direction of the path I would take to get there. I settled on political science as my major and began the process of choosing my classes for the fall, which led me to enrolling in an elective titled Introductory to Greek Mythology taught by Dr. John Nicholson. What I did not know at the time was that this course would awaken an academic curiosity that I had not yet experienced. I finished that semester feeling inspired and craved the opportunity to take more courses in the classics department. I continued taking courses with Dr. Erika Hermanowicz, whose teaching challenged me to reevaluate what it means to think critically and communicate those thoughts with intention. Thanks to these courses, I developed as both a student and a person, having gained skills necessary to succeed moving forward and relationships with mentors that supported me along the way. I moved on to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law and now work as an attorney at a law firm in New York, where even today that challenge to think critically and communicate with intention resonates as I confront the issues of the day. To put it shortly, I would not be where I am or who I am today without the dedicated professors in the Classics department at UGA. Daniel Rivera: The scale of UGA’s campus seemed so large that first day–It took me a good part of my first semester to acclimate to its scale. The library itself was larger and more labyrinthian than the whole of the school I had transferred from. But, it was not that library where I eventually found myself whittling hours away in pursuit of Latin mastery. It was in the simple, unassuming rooms in Park Hall that I would meet Augustine, Cicero, and many others for the first time. The Alexander Reading Room, smaller than my living room, shelved on its walls the great story of Western civilization in all its immortal tongues. Under the tutelage of the generous giants of the Classics department, I went from an absolute Latin novice to a translator of Augustine–and discovered in myself a talent and passion for the essay that gave order and vision to my life. Since graduating I have found myself teaching Latin down here in Florida. I have had many jobs before this one, but none have brought me greater joy than this. I owe the Classics department at UGA everything, especially my patient Latin instructors. They were my Virgils, who walked with me on the winding path as model and guide when I feared I had lost the way. Teddy Starling: Classics at UGA opened me up to so many worlds. I learned about ancient Roman culture and philosophy, the history of medicine and medical terminology, and of course, the wonderful language of Latin. The writing in Classics courses also helped me, as a Biology and Psychology major, to translate the lessons I learned from classes, volunteering, and research on to the page in my personal statement and essays. Perhaps most importantly, the wonderful professors in the Classics department challenged me to think outside the box. For instance, Roman Culture wasn’t just a history class: we were invited to use history and philosophy as a vehicle to expand our consciousness and think critically about our place in the world. The study of Classics is centered around antiquity, but we were always called to apply what we learned to understand and improve our inner lives and our community. Outside the classroom, we were encouraged to expand beyond the content and find a philosophy and worldview that worked for us. I accepted that challenge and found my way into the wonderful world of meditation and mindfulness practices, which has been an integral part of my journey into medicine. I am now in my first year as an MD student at Emory School of Medicine. I can say wholeheartedly that my experiences in Classics classes at UGA led me to be a more thoughtful, caring and mindful student, and that I would not be where I am without them. Learn more about student success in our Newsletters.
