Undergraduate Research

Dr. Samuel Huskey directs a project specifically for advanced Classics majors. In collaboration with the History of Science Collections in Bizzell Memorial Library, Dr. Huskey has assembled a team of students to produce a translation of Robert Fludd's Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atqve technica historia (1617–21), a work never before translated into English. These students will also work with the librarians in the Collections to digitize the entire work. In a later stage of the project, students will work with Dr. Huskey to create on online version of their translation and to develop a wiki for the project, so that undergraduate students elsewhere can participate. Students working on this project will not only hone their knowledge of Latin, but also learn some important skills for working in the information age.

Currently three students are involved in this project: Matt Berry, Michael Fons, and Amy Brackenbury. Anyother students who would like to be involved in this project should contact Dr. Huskey (huskey@ou.edu)

Students interested in classical archaeology can sign up to go with Dr. Farland Stanley to one of the many projects that he pursues through his Center for Classical Archaeology and Civilizations. Last summer, he took students to an archaeological project at Pompeii and nearby Stabiae in Italy. The OU team joined with the University of Maryland and Italian archaeologists in an international project excavating and carrying out architectural analysis of two immense Roman villas at Stabiae. The project also involved an architectural analysis of houses in ancient Pompeii.

For more information about opportunities for research in classical archaeology, contact Dr. Stanley (fstanley@ou.edu).

The Honors College offers advanced students the chance to work closely with a faculty member through Honors Reading and Honors Research. Through this program, students develop reading lists and research projects in consultation with a professor. Projects in the Department of Classics and Letters over the past few years include:

• Michael Du Pont, “The Effects of a Creed on Freedom and Order” (Fall 2009)
• Rachel Dowell, “A reading of Ovid’s Ibis” (Fall 2008)
• Kelly R. Taylor, “The Sources on Amyntas IV and Amyntas Antiochou of Macedon” (Fall 2008)
• Bethany Burklund, “A Survey of Pedagogical Methods for Latin” (Spring 2007)
• Scott Wise, “Latin Textual Criticism and the New Lucan MS” (Spring 2007)
• Alex Ward, “An Analysis of the Prose Style of Julius Caesar’s Bellum Civile” (Spring 2007)
• Shane Morgan, “A Translation and Commentary on the Life of Elagabalus” (Spring 2006)
• Sharada Price, “Religion in Roman Britain” (Fall 2003)
• Mary Veith, “Jews and Judaism in Ancient Alexandria” (Spring 2003)

Current students are working on a wide variety of projects, including the depiction of horses in Homer's Iliad and a reading of Ovid's amatory works as satire. Honors students interested in working on a project should speak with professors in the department about how to begin.