For Randall McNeill, associate professor of classics, helping students connect the dots between ancient Mediterranean culture and the world today isn’t as difficult as it appears. Aspects of our legal system, architecture, and even how our favorite sitcoms are written can be traced back two thousand years to Greek and Roman culture. Many of the challenges Imperial Rome had to deal with are similar to those confronting a modern-day United States. “I think it’s the surprising combination of the familiar and the alien that is of interest, and is why people still study the classics,” he said.
A specialist in Latin poetry of the Roman Republic and early Empire, McNeill has recently begun a new project that will appeal to an even broader audience. A grant from the Arete Initiative will allow him to study the way wisdom influences how an individual interacts with society. McNeill, one of 23 international scholars chosen for the Defining Wisdom Project, will research the concept of civic wisdom using characters from classical poetry who struggle to reconcile their personal desires with their obligations to others. “This is a challenge we all face in our lives. Studying these examples may help us to make wiser choices as we confront the social problems of today.”
A 2003 recipient of Lawrence’s Young Teacher Award, McNeill holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B. summa cum laude 1992) and Yale University (Ph.D. 1998). Students have praised McNeill for sharing ‘interesting and amazing information that can’t be found in a textbook.’ Said McNeill, “I think I try to recognize that each student has a different trajectory through the material that he or she will want to follow, a body of experiences that will lead them in a particular direction. I try to accommodate that when
I present this material to them.”
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