Meet Our Students

 Jess Colvin received her B.A. in Classical Studies and B.S. in Biology cum laude from Virginia Tech in 2021. Her senior thesis explored ancient epidemiology and perceptions of diseases from classical texts. Post graduation, she worked as a Biologist for an in vitro toxicology laboratory researching and implementing new approach methodologies for non-animal testing. As of the fall of 2024, she is a Classical Studies Post Baccalaureate student at the College of William and Mary. She is excited to study Mediterranean archaeology, material culture, and horticultural spaces.

 Alex Dietrich graduated from William and Mary with a B.A. in history. He hopes to teach Latin and classical civilizations (especially in the Near East) and is currently aiming to get an M.A. in classical studies with an emphasis on history. His primary research interests are the socio-political developments in the Ancient Near East during the late Roman and early Byzantine periods,  as well as language and culture in Palmyra and Syria during the Roman era.

 Marie Gruver graduated with a B.A. from Hollins University in 2024, having double majored in Classical Studies (Ancient Civilizations concentration) and History. Their research interests include ancient Greece’s urbanism and architectural practices, the impacts of boundaries, and interdisciplinary studies, specifically of the historical and art historical facets of ancient Greek society and material culture during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Focusing upon the interplay between built and social spaces, they aim to look more deeply at how social and geographical boundaries define and influence how people interacted both with and within the world around them. Their dual-departmental senior thesis titled, “Permeable and Impermeable Boundaries: Inter-Deme Relationships and Borders of Ancient Attic Anagyrous from the Late Archaic Period” explored how the Kleisthenic Reforms instigated a fundamental shift within Attica’s built and social spaces, defining what was geographically “Athens,” and who was considered “Athenian.”

 Katie Powell received a BA in History from Christopher Newport University in 2023. Her main interest throughout her time in undergrad was ancient history, specifically the Civilization of Rome. Katie wishes to continue research further into the social histories of freedmen and slaves, alongside lower-class women and their elite counter parts. Her main interest is to find out how the Romans, who were often ignored by ancient authors, lived. She does this through examining archaeological evidence and legal documents to provide more inclusive histories of Roman society. She also really enjoys researching how Roman provincials navigated new legal systems under the Roman Empire. Katie’s main goal for the Post-Bacc Program is to gain further experience with Latin and Greek in order to pursue a MA/ PhD in Ancient Mediterranean Studies.

 Caroline Snodgress is in her second year in William & Mary’s postbaccalaureate Classical Studies program, and is currently enjoying Greek Historians, Medieval Latin, and supervised student-teaching in Elementary Ancient Greek. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia in 2022, with a minor in History. At UVA she focused on historical literary analysis, primarily of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, as well as fiction writing workshops and Classical Studies courses—including a particularly interesting course in Ancient Greek rituals. As such, her research interests in Classics lie primarily in Ancient Greek language and literature, especially as it pertains to gender and religious practices. Her research over the past year focused on reading Euripides’ Hecuba in terms of feminine religious life and female agency. Outside of the program, she enjoys working with children and tutors students of all ages in English.