Dana L. Burgess

Dana L. Burgess, the Charles E. and Margery B. Anderson Endowed Professor of Humanities and Professor of Classics, received his Ph.D. in Ancient Greek in 1984 and his M.A. in Latin 1981, both from Bryn Mawr. He received an A.B. in Literature from Bard College in 1977. His doctoral dissertation treated the development of theatrical style through the long career of the tragedian Euripides. His early scholarly work addressed the Greek poet Pindar and the Roman poet Catullus. He came to Whitman in 1986 and began teaching in the First-Year General Studies program, eventually serving as the coordinator of that program.

Professor Burgess's work in the General Studies program led to new scholarly interests within and outside of the classical world.  He has worked on Dante, Nietzsche, Seneca, and, more recently, on Linguistics. Professor Burgess's work on ancient theatre led him to direct several productions of Greek tragedies at Harper Joy Theatre, on three occasions using his own translations. Professor Burgess worked with Whitman's administration, donors, and alumni to help create a Department of Classics, with support from a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In 1999 Whitman created a major program in Classics and in 2008 a major program in Classical Studies.  In recent years Professor Burgess has developed interests in serving students for whom English is a second language.  In 2013 he completed a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the School for International Training. His currently scholarly interests lie in Linguistics.