Students and Alumni

Class of 2014:

Hannah Elder (Classical Studies '14)
 

Class of 2013:

Sam Hawks (Classical Studies '13, premed)

Virginia "Ginny" Hodges (Classical Studies '13)

Lacey Polvi (Classical Studies '13) has traveled to Greece with the Willamette in Greece post-session.

Kirsten Straus (Classical Studies '13) has been accepted to study abroad at the Intercollegiate Center of Classical Studies in Rome.


Class of 2012:

Emily Hannenberg (Classical Studies '12, premed) had a chance to travel all around Turkey in Summer 2010. She saw many amazing ancient sites, including Istanbul (Constantinople), Antioch, Ephesus, and Troy.

Ethan Poole (Classical Studies '12) is studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany, in 2010/2011 where he enjoys himself taking classes in Latin, Greek, and Sogdian (!).

Anna Zimmermann (Classical Studies & Religious Studies '12)


Class of 2011:

Ilana Greenslade (Classical Studies & Archaeology '11) spent 2009/2010 studying abroad in Greece with the College Year in Athens. She not only improved her knowledge of Ancient Greek immensely but also speaks some Modern Greek now!

In addition, Ilana had a chance to volunteer in the conservation department of the research center that the American School of Classical Studies in Athens maintains on the first floor of the Stoa of Attalos. She packed material for long-term storage and cleaned Rhodian amphora handles for publication photos, and the conservators, Amandina Anastassiades and Karen Loven, gave her a tour of the Stoa--including the artifact-packed basement--and explained how and why they treat the artifacts as they do.

Katy Hoth (Classical Studies '11) magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa 
In the long term, Katy is interested in a career in health administration. Before she goes on to graduate school, however, she hopes to get some practical experience in the medical field. While at Willamette, she tutored students in Latin, History, and Chemistry, worked for Willamette Instructional Technology Services (WITS), won a Forensic Talent Award. During breaks, she gathered experience as a paralegal. Her Classics senior thesis proposed a new reading of Catullus' Phaselus poem (c. 4). 

Daniel Miller (Classical Studies '11) 
is planning to go on to graduate school in Classics. His senior paper on Catullus' Atthis poem (c. 63) was accepted for publication by a new Classics undergraduate journal started at Western Washington University, Vexillum.

Margaret Robertson (Classical Studies '11) is thinking about becoming a chiropractic. In 2010, she traveled to Greece with the Willamette in Greece post-session.

Anita Santos (Classical Studies '11) is planning to go on to graduate school in Classics.


Class of 2010:

Severn Bannow (Classical Studies '10)
wrote his Senior Thesis on the Hebrew version of the Book of Esther. He is now attending a Master's program at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland.

Alicia Maggard (Classical Studies & History '10) magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa 
has already won a number of prestigious fellowships and awards. In Spring 2009, she studied at the Intercollegate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, one of the most prestigious and most competitive study abroad programs in Classics. A term paper she wrote at the ICCS, entitled “The Supposed Separation of Collegium and State: Trajan and the Rise of Mercantile Associations”, won the 2009 Carl Knopf Award for Best Student Paper that is awarded by Willamette University's Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (CASA). Alicia also won two important History fellowships. In summer 2009, she spent several weeks pursuing research for her senior thesis in History in Philadelphia through the SHEAR/Mellon Undergraduate Fellowship Program at the University of Pennsylvania's McNeil Center. After that she headed to New York as a Gilder Lehrman History Scholar, where she visited historical collections and complete a research project on Abraham Lincoln. She is planning to pursue a PhD in American History, but may teach English in Japan first.

For more of her story, click here.

Christina Peaslee (Classical Studies & Art History '10) cum laude
was accepted by Teach for America. She is now teaching Third Grade at Pioneer Charter School in Denver, CO. 

William Pilon (Classical Studies '10) cum laude
spend Spring 2009 serving as Legislative Intern for State Representative Nancy Nathanson across the street from campus. During fall 2009, he enjoyed attending John Cabot University in Rome. Since fall 2010, he has been a law student at the UCLA Law School (class of 2013).

Class of 2009:

Tracy Carrithers (Classical Studies '09) cum laude; Departmental Honors
was accepted to the 1-year Post-Baccalaureate Program in Classics at the University of Pennsylvania. She decided to change tracks, though, and is currently pursuing her interests in computer science instead, working through a subcontractor for Microsoft, testing new computer games.

Joe Daniels-Hall (Classical Studies & Chemistry '09)
is pursuing an M.A. in Chemistry at the University of Oregon.

Melissa Magana (Classical Studies '09)
attended Willamette's archaeological fieldschool in Italy's Sangro Valley. After graduation, she planned on going into restaurant management, cashing in on her experience as the Bistro's kitchen manager and as theater house manager of Willamette University's Theater Department.

Lauren Saxton (Classical Studies & History '09) cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
studied for a semester with the College Year in Athens. She is attending the Ph.D. program in History at the CUNY Graduate School in New York City and enjoys studying right across from the Empire State Building!

Class of 2008:

Ashley Buchheit (Classical Studies & History '08)
traveled to Greece with the Willamette in Greece post-session. After graduation, she was admitted to the M.A. Program in Theological Studies at Princeton University’s Theological Seminary, but then decided postpone her studies and work instead at Willamette's sister campus across 12th Street, Tokyo International University in America, as Campus Life Assistant and Summer Community Coordinator. In Fall 2010, however, she will start taking graduate classes at Fuller Theological Seminary in Southern California.

Sara Foerster (Classical Studies '08)
spent a semester abroad at John Cabot University in Rome. After graduation, she completed the 1-year Post-Baccalaureate Program in Classics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gregory F. Henselman (Classical Studies & Mathematics, '08) Phi Beta Kappa
was a star athlete in Crew and Swimming. After graduation, he spent a year at the University of Oregon to take a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses in math in preparation for an M.A. or Ph.D. program in Mathematics.

Elizabeth Swensen (Classical Studies '08)
spent a semester at the prestigious Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. An aspiring writer and avid video gamer, she recently (2011) received her Master of Fine Arts from the program in Interactive Media within the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. One of the projects she worked on was a game called Pathfinder that is supposed to engage high school students in the college preparation and application process.

Class of 2007:

Rositsa Atanasova (Classical Studies '07), Phi Beta Kappa
a native of Bulgaria, spent her study abroad in Paris studying French and Arabic in France and producing a documentary film about French Muslim women and the veil. She completed an M.A. in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School on a generous Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship, then went on to the College of Law at the Florida State University, where she recently won the Outstanding Oral Advocacy Award (more info). (4/2011)

Jeffrey E. Johnson (Classical Studies '07), Phi Beta Kappa
who interned at a hospital in Bulgaria, is now attending medical school at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, one of the top-ranked clinical and medical research centers in the United States.

Class of 2006:

Brian P. Bowinski (Classical Studies '06)
was a Preproduction Administrator with Liberty Home Products in Denver, CO, then worked for Circuit City, the consumer electronics chain that has been hard hit by the current economic downturn. Just in time, Brian changed tracks again. In November 2008, he started teaching English in Namyanju, a suburb of Seoul, South Korea!

Mariah E. Smith (Classical Studies '06), Phi Beta Kappa
studied some German in Vienna and helped excavate a Roman garum factory in Troia, Portugal. She recently completed her M.A. in Classics at the University of Kansas (full scholarship). In the summer of her graduation, she was able to spend a few weeks in Rome, accompanying Kansas undergraduates. Now in the Ph.D. program in Classics at Indiana University, she attended the last two CAMWS meetings. In 2009, she presented a paper there called "By the Light of the Moon: Medea and Agrarian Magic in Ovid's Metamorphoses." In March 2010, her paper was entitled "Secrecy and Silence: Revealing the Character of the Roman Lares." Currently, Mariah is preparing for her oral qualifying exams. (4/2010). 

James Timbrell (Classical Studies '06)
attended Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management on a merit-based scholarship and graduated with an MBA in May 2008. While a Classics major and Mathematics minor at the College of Liberal Arts, James was a NWC Cross Country Academic All-Star, acclaimed food critic for the Willamette Collegian, and sometime free-lance writer for the Statesman Journal. As a graduate student, he co-authored an article for the Journal of Advertising with AGSM Dean and Professor of Marketing Debra Ringold. After working in business for a while and, on the side, co-founding his own organic honey business, the San Francisco Honey Co., and continuing to write, e.g., for Culinary Trends, James is now attending law school at Northwestern University in Chicago.


Class of 2005:

Kate A. Alsobrook (McClendon) (Classical Studies & Religious Studies '05)
researched traces of Shamanism in ancient Greek religion with the help of a Lilly Grant. She graduated in 2007 with an M.A. in Greek Philology from Florida State University (full scholarship) and now works in real estate in Philadelphia while she is applying to Ph.D. programs.


Class of 2003:

Travis Larsen (Classical Studies & Religious Studies '03)
has completed an M.A. at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.


Class of 2002:

Rachel R. Standley (Classical Studies '02)
was planning to teach high school Latin; she now lives in Cave Junction, OR.

Class of 2001:

Matthew H. Schrumpf (Classical Studies & Religious Studies '01), Phi Beta Kappa
spent the first two years after graduation in Japan where he taught English with the Kawagoe Exchange and Teaching (KET) program. He has since obtained a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law and is now an Assistant Attorney General in Consumer Protection for the state of Massachusetts (4/2010).

Julie C. Sparks (Ford) (Classical Studies & English '01), Phi Beta Kappa
researched and recreated the illumination techniques in medieval manuscripts with the help of a Carsons Undergraduate Research Grant. Her impressive results are on display on the second floor of Eaton Hall. Since graduation, she has been working as an Administrative Assistant II at Willamette University’s Hatfield Library where she is busy digitizing, e.g., Willamette's fifteenth-century Book of Hours (view). She and her husband Jeremy Sparks (Computer Science, '01) now have a little son, born in 2008. Julie's long-term goal is to become an art conservator.