January 26, 2024
A newly published study of the paleoclimatic record presents a reconstruction of temperature and precipitation from approximately 200 BC to 600 AD, based on marine sedimentary archives from southern Italy. This is the first high-resolution (~3 years) climatic record from the heart of the Roman Empire, spanning from the so-called Roman Climatic Optimum (ca. ~200 BCE to ~150 CE) to the Little Ice Age of Late Antiquity (from ~536 CE).
September 05, 2023
Kyle Harper, University of Oklahoma professor of classics and letters, has been elected to hold the annual chair of the Collège de France’s Avenir Commun Durable (Sustainable Common Future) for 2023-24. Harper will be the third holder of the chair for this interdisciplinary project focused on addressing the challenge of climate change.
January 23, 2023
The University of Oklahoma’s Kyle Harper is no stranger to sharing ideas and asking large questions. His time at OU has been spent honing his craft as an educator in Classics and Letters and is widely regarded as a thought leader within the history community. Along with serving as provost emeritus, he is the author of several books ranging from topics on the Roman Empire to early Christian morality – the most recent being the 2021 release of Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History.
September 01, 2023
William Selinger, an assistant professor of Constitutional studies in the Department of Classics and Letters, has received the honor of being named the 2024 Quentin Skinner Lecturer in Intellectual History at Cambridge University. This is an extremely high honor in the field of Early Modern Studies, and Selinger’s tenure as lecturer will be during Cambridge Easter Term 2024.
October 11, 2023
A beloved University of Oklahoma teacher and professor of Classics and Letters is being memorialized with a library space that will share his extensive literature collection with the public. Dr. J. Rufus Fears was an OU Department of Classics and Letters faculty member from 1990 until his 2012 death. He taught some of the university’s most popular courses during that time and earned three OU Professor of the Year honors from his students.
