What does Homer’s Greek hero Odysseus have in common with J.K. Rowling’s wizard Harry Potter? The two protagonists are being jointly discussed and compared in a first-year seminar at William & Mary.
On the surface, it may seem like these characters — separated by generations thousands of years apart — would lack mass collective appeal.
However, when William & Mary classical studies professor Vassiliki “Lily” Panoussi introduced the topic “When Odysseus Met Harry” for the seminar, students flocked to sign up this fall for its initial offering.
“The course name really intrigued me,” says Elizabeth “Bitsy” Dipert ’17. “And when I read the course description, I recognized a lot of the books I loved, as well as classic texts.”
“I was immediately sold when I read the course description,” says Matt McGuinness ’17. “I loved the idea of Greek myth and Roman myth combined with Youth Literature.”
The first-year seminars, formerly known as freshman seminars, began at William & Mary in 1993. Class size is limited to 15 students, which enhances interactions between professor and student.
About 100 first-year seminars are offered at William & Mary and cover a broad range of topics. In addition to Panoussi’s course, recent topics have included Astrophotography, Anthropology and Food, and Physiology of the Marathon.
“First-year seminars are geared toward helping students write better and think critically,” says Panoussi, who is the Robert and Sara Boyd Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Classical Studies. “By its very nature, the course is comparative. From comparing, you can focus on different aspects of the texts, you can express opinions, you can make arguments. So, it’s a very fruitful ground for comparing the ancient and modern literature examined in this course.”
These types of courses embody a core of liberal arts strengths that were a source of inspiration for Hunter J. Smith ’51, who made a $10 million commitment to the seminars in January 2013.
“The seminars fit the profile of William & Mary very well and give freshmen important experiences that develop independent thinking and writing skills,” she said.
“What is great about this first-year seminar is that I am building skills that are specific to the Classics and the humanities. Yet at the same time, I also am learning about things like sentence structure and citations that I can build on through my other courses. This seminar will really help me be successful no matter what type of writing is required,” said McGuiness.
Dipert offers a similar perspective. Now that she is several months through the course, she has noticed her writing skills improve.
“This class is discussion based, which has helped as we ease into writing longer papers,” she says. “The skills I’m acquiring here are serving me well in my other classes.”
That’s a goal of these seminars, according to Panoussi.
“When Odysseus Met Harry’ is a first-year course and, in that sense, it serves as a building block for students’ entire careers here.”
Ancient and Modern Fiction Connect in First-Year Seminar
What does Homer’s Greek hero Odysseus have in common with J.K. Rowling’s wizard Harry Potter? The two protagonists are being jointly discussed and compared in a first-year seminar at William & Mary.
However, when William & Mary classical studies professor Vassiliki “Lily” Panoussi introduced the topic “When Odysseus Met Harry” for the seminar, students flocked to sign up this fall for its initial offering.
“The course name really intrigued me,” says Elizabeth “Bitsy” Dipert ’17. “And when I read the course description, I recognized a lot of the books I loved, as well as classic texts.”
“I was immediately sold when I read the course description,” says Matt McGuinness ’17. “I loved the idea of Greek myth and Roman myth combined with Youth Literature.”
The first-year seminars, formerly known as freshman seminars, began at William & Mary in 1993. Class size is limited to 15 students, which enhances interactions between professor and student.
About 100 first-year seminars are offered at William & Mary and cover a broad range of topics. In addition to Panoussi’s course, recent topics have included Astrophotography, Anthropology and Food, and Physiology of the Marathon.
“First-year seminars are geared toward helping students write better and think critically,” says Panoussi, who is the Robert and Sara Boyd Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Classical Studies. “By its very nature, the course is comparative. From comparing, you can focus on different aspects of the texts, you can express opinions, you can make arguments. So, it’s a very fruitful ground for comparing the ancient and modern literature examined in this course.”
These types of courses embody a core of liberal arts strengths that were a source of inspiration for Hunter J. Smith ’51, who made a $10 million commitment to the seminars in January 2013.
“The seminars fit the profile of William & Mary very well and give freshmen important experiences that develop independent thinking and writing skills,” she said.
“What is great about this first-year seminar is that I am building skills that are specific to the Classics and the humanities. Yet at the same time, I also am learning about things like sentence structure and citations that I can build on through my other courses. This seminar will really help me be successful no matter what type of writing is required,” said McGuiness.
Dipert offers a similar perspective. Now that she is several months through the course, she has noticed her writing skills improve.
“This class is discussion based, which has helped as we ease into writing longer papers,” she says. “The skills I’m acquiring here are serving me well in my other classes.”
That’s a goal of these seminars, according to Panoussi.
“When Odysseus Met Harry’ is a first-year course and, in that sense, it serves as a building block for students’ entire careers here.”