Department Information
History
The Department of Classics at San Francisco State University was originally organized by Richard Trapp and Andreina Becker-Colonna in 1965/66 and began offering degree programs the following year. Prior to that time, students interested in the language, literature, and art of the Mediterranean world could participated in the "Mediterranean Archaeology" program in the (then) School of Humanities, which housed courses in Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian archaeology as well as elementary courses in ancient Greek and Latin. Students could only study advanced ancient Greek and Latin by special arrangement. The development of a formal major and minor in Classics allowed students to concentrate in Greek and/or Latin languages and literature or in Classical Archaeology. The emphasis in ancient philosophy was approved in 1977 for students who wished to study the ancient philosophers in the original languages. The Museum Studies program was created as an interdisciplinary program within the Department of Classics in 1991/92 and since 2002/03 has been an independent program within the College of Humanities. The MA in Classics, approved in 1981, was designed for students seeking preparation to enter a PhD program or a terminal MA with a view to teaching in the secondary schools or community colleges. At present, SFSU is the only member of the CSU system to offer the MA degree in Classics and is one of only three that offers the undergraduate degree (along with CSU Long Beach and San Jose State University). The Department of Classics at SFSU is also only one of two universities in the state of California to offer a subject matter certification in Latin for those who are interested in obtaining a single subject teaching credential under the current standards of the California Commission of Teacher Credentialing. The SFSU Classics program has a long tradition of outreach and K-12 interaction and strives to improve upon its successes by engaging in curricular collaborations with other departments and programs, maintaining cross-listed courses with Jewish Studies, Human Sexuality, Modern Greek Studies, History, Humanities, and Museum Studies.
| Tenure-Track Faculty | Year of Appointment |
| Andreina L. Becker-Colonna | 1950 |
| Raoul Bertrand | 1958 |
| Richard L. Trapp | 1960 |
| Edith F. Croft | 1966 |
| Thanasis Maskaleris | 1967 |
| Phillip V. Stanley | 1975 |
| Barbara McLauchlin | 1985 |
| Pamela Vaughn | 1993 |
| David D. Leitao | 1995 |
| David G. Smith | 2004 |
| Michael A. Anderson | 2006 |
| Gillian E. McIntosh | 2007 |
Campus Resources for the Study of Classics
San Francisco State University is proud to offer a wide diversity of resources for the study of ancient Mediterranean civilizations, whether material or textual. The University houses two collections of ancient artifacts: the de Bellis Collection, which includes Etruscan, Greek, and Roman materials, and the Sutro Egyptian Collection, which provides students with "hands on" experience in museum skills. Students interested in numismatics may also make use of the Lindgren Coin Collection. The University has a limited cross-registration policy allowing regularly enrolled full-time students to register in one course per semester at UC Berkeley. Students who choose to participate in international programs can, upon approval, earn academic credit at SFSU while they pursue full-time study at a host university or special study center abroad. The Richard L. Trapp Classics Library and Reading Room contains thousands of volumes of use to students, study and group work space, and a small computer lab offering printing and scanning capabilities. Through this lab, students also have online access to the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, l'Annee Philologique, Brills' New Pauly, and Jacoby's Fragments of the Greek Historians. Classics majors and graduate students are also able to apply for annual financial awards in the form of the John Ungaretti Translation Award, the Society for Classical and Comparative Studies Travel Award, the Richard L. Trapp Undergraduate Scholarship, and two Richard L. Trapp Graduate Teaching Fellowships.
The Raoul Bertrand Lecture
Since 2005, the department has sponsored the annual Raoul Bertrand Lecture, which aims at introducing the scholarship of a nationally reknowned Classical scholar to the department, campus, and community.
| Bertrand Lecture | Year |
| Kathryn Morgan (University of California, Los Angeles) Talking to Tyrants: Pindar and the Construction of Sicilian Monarchy |
2005 |
| Amy Richlin (University of Southern California) Marcus + Fronto: the Reception of Roman Homoeroticism in the 19th Century |
2006 |
| Paul Woodruff (University of Texas, Austin) The Necessity of Plato's Metaphysics |
2007 |
The Classics Students Association
The department's autonomous student group, the Classics Students Association, also contributes actively to the vibrant culture of the department by organizing its annual Spring Lecture Series, now the longest-running event on campus, and by editing and publishing the journal Pithos. For the history of the Spring Lecture Series and information about this year's upcoming speakers, as well as online access to Pithos (forthcoming), please visit the CSA's home page by using the navigation menu to the left.