ECU picks Greek and Roman expert for Endowed Humanities Post

Dr. Roger Allen Hornsby, a professor at the University of Iowa, has joined the East Carolina University faculty as the Whichard Distinguished Chair of the Humanities for the 1997-98 academic year.

Hornsby is the third professor to hold the Whichard Chair. He will teach in the classical studies interdisciplinary program in the ECU College of Arts and Sciences.

Hornsby holds an international reputation as a Latin scholar and literary critic whose interests extend to the study of coins and to Greek and Roman archaeology. He is the author of several books and numerous articles whose subjects range from Platonic philosophy and the epic poetry of Vergil, to Byzantine and early Christian art and architecture.

He received his doctorate from Princeton University in 1952, and is an alumnus and fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

“Noted scholars like Roger Hornsby are an excellent source of enrichment for East Carolina and the College,” said Nancy Spalding, assistant dean of undergraduate studies of College of Arts and Sciences. “Through this endowed chair, we fulfill our commitment to providing students with a strong liberal arts education.”

As a member of ECU’s classical studies program, Hornsby will offer a seminar this fall on the figure of Socrates as a literary model of the fifth century Greek hero. In addition to his teaching duties, he will present public lectures on a variety of subjects, both classical and modern.

The Whichard family of Greenville endowed the chair in honor of the late David Julian and Virginia Suther Whichard. David Whichard was editor and publisher of The Daily Reflector for nearly 60 years. His wife, Virginia, graduated from East Carolina in 1917 and taught school before joining her husband in the management of the newspaper.

Hornsby, the latest holder of the Whichard Chair, succeeds John F. Post, a philosophy professor, who held the position during the 1996-97 academic year.