FOUNDED IN 2000, Grand Valley’s Department of Classics offers a strong undergraduate major and works closely with students to encourage success in all walks of life.

The Department of Classics is a unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Classics faculty are highly qualified specialists who contribute to the program in Classics and other programs, pursue active research agendas, and offer leadership and service to the University, the profession, and the community.

The program in Classics is large enough to offer a complete preparation for students seeking a wide range of postgraduate and career opportunities. Yet it remains small enough to allow our faculty and staff to get to know all of our students individually and to work with them closely.

This student-centered approach is something we encourage: it fosters collaboration and mutual respect and promotes cooperation, discussion, and intellectual interaction. These are the hidden elements of a first-rate education.  Students profit from a practical education that offers valuable pre-professional training and marketable job skills: 

• Classics students acquire and refine analytical and communications skills that make them better able to approach any problem creatively and successfully; 

• They distinguish themselves as scholars, work on archaeological excavations, participate in cultural events, demonstrate leadership and committed citizenship, and travel and study abroad;

• The study habits and work ethic they develop are those needed for success in demanding graduate and professional programs and in real-world careers.

The Classics Department collaborates with numerous other units as a partner in the Interdepartmental Minor in Archaeology; the Medical Humanities Certificate; the minor in the History of Science; and various courses cross-listed with the Departments of History and Philosophy.

Through the department, Grand Valley State University holds institutional memberships in The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, The American Academy in Rome, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and The Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome.