Deborah Beck
PhD 1997, Harvard University
Associate Professor

Contact
- E-mail: deborah.beck@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: (512) 232-5834
- Office: WAG 21
- Office Hours: Spring 2022: W 2-4 p.m. (on Zoom) and by apppointment
- Campus Mail Code: C3400
Interests
Formulas and oral aesthetics in early Greek poetry; cognitive theories of reading and image processing; speech and speech representation in Homeric epic; representations of art and interpretation in Augustan Latin poetry
Biography
How did I get here?
I began my study of classical antiquity as a small child enjoying the D'Aulaires' collections of Greek myth (this was way before there was Percy Jackson). I had a wonderful Latin teacher in high school, and a brief hesitation in my first year of college between majoring in Classics or majoring in Biology ended in favor of Latin and Greek. When I left college, I had no interest in going on in Classics. But I had so much fun writing my senior thesis, entitled "Family and Warrior Values in Homer's Iliad", that eventually I changed my mind and went back to school for a Ph.D. at Harvard University. My dissertation, a study of Homeric speech formulas under the direction of Gregory Nagy, was my first major project on the issue that has anchored my research for my entire career: how to tell a good story that connects emotionally with its audience(s), especially in a literary genre with the scope and grandeur of epic poetry.
I first came to Texas straight out of my Ph.D. program as a short-term lecturer at Rice University, where I bought my first (and so far only) pair of cowboy boots. After stops at Colgate University, the Pennsylvania State University, and Swarthmore College, I came back to Texas in 2009. At the University of Texas, I love the variety, the enthusiasm, and the commitment of our students, both our undergrads and our graduate students. Working with them has made me a better writer, a better thinker, a better teacher, and a better human being.
In my spare time – when I have any – I enjoy mystery novels, the rich classical music resources of Austin, and baking.
Select awards and honors:
- Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics at the College and University Level, Society for Classical Studies (2021)
- Provost’s Teaching Fellow, University of Texas at Austin (2020 — 2022)
- Award for Excellence in Faculty Teaching, Eta Sigma Phi (Gamma Sigma Chapter), University of Texas at Austin (May 2019)
- Humanities Texas Grant Winner, “Orality and Literacy XIII” (Spring 2019)
- Plumer Visiting Research Fellowship, St. Anne's College, University of Oxford (2017 & 2019)
- Humanities Research Award, University of Texas at Austin Graduate School (2017 — 2020)
- National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend and Summer Research Assignment (SRA), University of Texas (2014)
Work in progress:
The Stories of Similes (chapters on Homer Iliad, Odyssey, Apollonius Argonautica, Vergil Aeneid, and Ovid Metamorphoses), forthcoming with Cambridge University Press.
“Iliad Book 16” (approx. 7500 words), in Oxford Critical Guide to Homer’s Iliad, invited book chapter in preparation.
“Odyssey Book 16” (approx. 7000 words), in Oxford Critical Guide to Homer’s Odyssey, invited book chapter in preparation.
Books:
Repetition, Communication, and Meaning in the Ancient World (Editor), (Brill, 2021).
Speech Presentation in the Homeric Epics (University of Texas Press, 2012)
Companion database: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/DeborahBeck
Homeric Conversation (Harvard University Press, 2005 [Hellenic Studies 14]).
Select recent articles and book chapters:
“Prophecy in Greek Epic,” in Volume II, Part V “Communication” of Epische Bauformen – Strukturen epischen Erzählens, C. Reitz and S. Finkmann, eds. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019), 597-614
“Emotional and Thematic Meanings in a Repeating Homeric Motif: A Case Study,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 138 (2018): 150-72
“Odysseus Polyonymous,” in Homer in Performance: Rhapsodes, Characters, and Narrators, Ready, J. and C. Tsagalis, eds. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 205-229
Recent opinion and advocacy essays:
“Leaders Who are Silent Toward Hate Tacitly Condone It,” December 2021: Austin American-Statesman, Yahoo! News, Waco Herald-Tribune, Abilene Reporter News, Bryan College Station Eagle, Amarillo Globe-News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
“Sorrow Needs a Seat as We Head Back to School,” August 2021: Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Abilene Reporter News, Amarillo Globe-News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Honest Austin, MSN.
Beth McMurtrie, “Frustrated and Exhausted by a Year of Remote Teaching? You’re Not Alone,” 24 June 2021: Chronicle of Higher Education weekly Teaching newsletter profile of me and my work in CC 303, Introduction to Classical Myth.
“Lifting the Mask Mandate a Cop-out,” March 2021: featured in San Antonio Express-News
“Every Voter is Good for All of Us,” November 2020: featured in MSN, Amarillo Globe-News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
“There is No Freedom without a Common Truth,” September 2020: featured in the Austin American-Statesman
“Picking Kamala Harris Shows that Progress is Never Perfect,” August 2020: featured in The Hill
“Protests and Voting are the Building Blocks of Change,” July 2020: featured in The Hill, MSN
“Let’s Salute Teachers with a Deeper Understanding of What Education Means,” June 2020: featured in Austin American-Statesman, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Waco Herald-Tribune
Courses taught:
- Beginning Greek and Latin
- Intermediate Greek: Homer, Plato, Lysias, Herodotus, Euripides
- Intermediate Latin: Cicero, love elegy, Ovid, Catullus
- Advanced Greek: Homer, Greek drama, Aristophanes, Sophocles
- Advanced Latin: Petronius, Ovid, Horace, Vergil
- Graduate courses: Survey of Greek literature; LAT 398T (Latin pedagogy)
- Graduate seminars: Homer (both Iliad and Odyssey), Archaic Poetry, Apollonius Argonautica, Latin predecessors of Vergil
- Courses in translation: Classical Mythology (with Ethics flag); Ancient Epic; Epic Tradition; Introduction to Western Literature; first-year seminars "Visionary Women" and "Odysseus' Odysseys"
Courses
GK 390 • Apollonius
34075 • Fall 2022
Meets T 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33730 • Spring 2022
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM WEL 1.316
EGC
VP
GK 324 • Apollonius
33890 • Spring 2022
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM WAG 10
GK 390 • Homer
34615 • Fall 2021
Meets W 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
UGS 302 • Visionary Women
62460 • Fall 2021
Meets MW 11:00AM-12:30PM WAG 112
GCWr
ID
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mytholgy-Wb
33900 • Spring 2021
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
EGC
VP
GK 383 • Survey Of Greek Literature-Wb
33105 • Fall 2020
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM
Internet; Synchronous
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33505 • Spring 2020
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM
EGC
VP
GK 312K • Intermediate Greek II
33685 • Spring 2020
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM WAG 10
GK 324 • Sophocles
33085 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM WAG 112
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33400 • Spring 2019
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM JGB 2.324
EGC
VP
GK 390 • Apollonius
33605 • Spring 2019
Meets M 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
GK 365 • Homer Iliad
33760 • Fall 2018
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WAG 208
IIWr
(also listed as GK 385)
GK 383 • Survey Of Greek Literature
33780 • Fall 2018
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM WAG 10
GK 507 • First-Year Greek II
32640 • Spring 2018
Meets MTWTHF 10:00AM-11:00AM WAG 10
GK 390 • Homer
32695 • Spring 2018
Meets TH 2:30PM-5:30PM WAG 10
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33095 • Fall 2017
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM BEL 328
EGC
VP
GK 383 • Survey Of Greek Literature
33325 • Fall 2017
Meets MW 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 2.124
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
32150 • Spring 2016
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM WEL 1.316
EGC
GK 365 • Homer Odyssey
32410 • Spring 2016
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM WAG 112
IIWr
(also listed as GK 385)
GK 506 • First-Year Greek I
32355 • Fall 2015
Meets MTWTHF 1:00PM-2:00PM WAG 10
GK 383 • Survey Of Greek Literature
32395 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM WAG 112
C C 322 • Ancient Epic
32400 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM WAG 308
GC
(also listed as CTI 345)
GK 324 • Sophocles
32590 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WAG 208
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33210 • Fall 2014
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM WCH 1.120
EGC
LAT 390 • Latin Predecessors Of Vergil
33750 • Fall 2014
Meets MW 3:30PM-5:00PM WAG 10
GK 312K • Intermediate Greek II
33840 • Spring 2014
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM MEZ 2.102
LAT 398T • Supervised Teaching In Latin
34110 • Spring 2014
Meets F 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33255 • Fall 2013
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM WEL 1.316
EGC
GK 506 • First-Year Greek I
33475 • Fall 2013
Meets MTWTHF 11:00AM-12:00PM WAG 10
GK 312K • Intermediate Greek II
33385 • Spring 2013
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM CAL 21
GK 390 • Apollonius
33435 • Spring 2013
Meets W 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33010 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM JGB 2.324
EGC
UGS 302 • Odysseus' Odysseys
63685 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM BEN 1.106
Wr
C C 322 • Ancient Epic
33100 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CBA 4.326
(also listed as CTI 345)
GK 390 • Homer
33290 • Spring 2012
Meets TH 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
C C 303 • Intro To Classical Mythology
33285 • Spring 2011
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM WAG 101
GC
GK 507 • First-Year Greek II
33490 • Spring 2011
Meets MTWTHF 11:00AM-12:00PM WAG 10
GK 311 • Intermediate Greek I
32390 • Fall 2010
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM WAG 112
GK 390 • Archaic Poetry
32445 • Fall 2010
Meets W 3:00PM-6:00PM WAG 10
C C 322 • Epic Tradition: Homer-Tennyson
32527 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM ECJ 1.204
LAT 323 • Jr Rdng: Vergil's Aeneid
32945 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CBA 4.340
GK 324 • Jr Rdng: Sophocles
32850 • Fall 2009
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM WAG 112
GK 390 • Smnr: Homer
32905 • Fall 2009
Meets M 2:00PM-5:00PM WAG 10
Graduate student research supervision
I supervise both Masters' theses and doctoral dissertations on a wide variety of topics in Greek poetry. I have sat on committees for students writing dissertation in both Greek and Latin literature, on subjects ranging from Pindar to Livy to discourse analysis of Latin humor. Whatever the subject area, my supervisees and I work as much on process and developing professional-level research skills as we do on mastering the specific subject of the research project. These professional skills including note-taking, organization, stamina in a long self-directed project, etc., as well as constructing an effective argument and developing a personal writing style.
Dissertation supervision
- “Iliadic and Odyssean Heroics: Apollonius’ Argonautica and the Epic Tradition.” Rebecca van der Horst, completed December 2019. [Employment: Lecturer, Department of Classical Studies, Trinity University (San Antonio, TX). January 2020 – May 2021.]
- “Sense and Sensibility: The Experience of Poikilia in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought.” Amy Lather, completed May 2016. [Employment: Assistant Professor, Department of Classical Languages, Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC). 2016 – present.]
Dissertation committees
- “Animals and Popular Science in Classical Literature.” Colin MacCormack, completed August 2020. Director, A. Haimson Lushkov.
- “Pindar and the Enigmatic Tradition.” Kyle Sanders, completed May 2018. Director, T. Hubbard.
- “Narratology in Livy’s Third Decade.” Charles "Chuck" Oughton, completed May 2016. Director, A. Haimson Lushkov.
- “Ridicule in Ancient Rome.” L. Brooke Rich, completed December 2015. Director, A. Riggsby.
- “The Overburdened Earth: Landscape and Geography in Homeric Epic.” Christopher Lovell, completed August 2011. Director, A. Riggsby.
Masters' thesis supervision and directed research (a sampling of projects covering various topics)
- “Walls in Homer’s Iliad.” Zoé Elise Thomas, completed July 2021.
- “Intertextual Journeys: Xenophon’s Anabasis and Apollonius’ Argonautica on the Black Sea Littoral.” Margaret Clark, completed May 2014.
- “Exile in Euripides.” Kyle Sanders, completed May 2014.
- “Cooperative Commemoration: Simonides on the Persian Wars.” Amy Lather, completed May 2012.
Op-ed, opinion, and advocacy pieces
I regularly write for a general audience on a range of issues, both on higher education and on current issues for American public life.
August 2021, “Sorrow Needs a Seat as We Head Back to School,” Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Abilene Reporter News, Amarillo Globe News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Honest Austin, MSN.
24 June 2021, Beth McMurtrie, “Frustrated and Exhausted by a Year of Remote Teaching? You’re Not Alone,” Chronicle of Higher Education weekly Teaching newsletter profile of me and my work in CC 303, Introduction to Classical Myth.
March 2021, “Lifting the Mask Mandate a Cop-out,” featured in San Antonio Express-News
November 2020, “Every Voter is Good for All of Us,” featured in MSN, Amarillo Globe-News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
September 2020, “There is No Freedom without a Common Truth,” Austin American-Statesman
August 2020, “Picking Kamala Harris Shows that Progress is Never Perfect,” The Hill
July 2020, “Protests and Voting are the Building Blocks of Change,” The Hill, MSN
June 2020, “Let’s Salute Teachers with a Deeper Understanding of What Education Means,” Austin American-Statesman, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Waco Herald-Tribune
April 2020, "The Heroism of Doing Nothing," Psychology Today
December 2019, “’Star Wars’ Shows Us We Choose the Stories We Tell About One Another,” Austin American-Statesman, Waco Tribune-Herald, Abilene Reporter News, Amarillo Globe-News, Corpus Christi Caller Times
October 2019, “Podcasting, Performance, and Pedagogy,” guest blog post on Sententiae Antiquae (Classics blog with over 27,000 followers)
September 2019, "On Labor Day, Honor Work Done by Women," Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Abilene Reporter News, Go San Angelo, Corpus Christi Caller Times, Working Woman Report, Asian Age
May 2019, “The Value of a Liberal Arts Education is More than Most Know,” The Hill.
April 2019, "On Reading (and Writing) for Pleasure," guest blog post on Sententiae Antiquae (Classics blog with over 27,000 followers)
February 2019, "Presidents Day and Being on the 'Right' Side of History," Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News
October 2018, "Not Casting a Vote is a Vote Against Democracy," Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News, Waco Tribune-Herald, Abilene Reporter-News
July 2018, "Why We Need to Hear the Stories of the Border," Houston Chronicle
June 2018, "What Higher Education Access Really Means," Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio-Express News
April 2018, "Lawmakers, Stop Avoiding Your Voters," Houston Chronicle, San Antonio-Express News, Rivard Report
December 2017, "Invite a Greek Storyteller to Your Family Holiday Dinner," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Abilene Reporter-News, Amarillo Globe-News, Waco Tribune-Herald
December 2017, "Meeting Student Needs Amid Opposing Technology Bans," guest writer for SPARK: Reflections on Transforming Higher Education (blog), Faculty Innovation Center, University of Texas at Austin
Curriculum Vitae
Profile Pages
External Links
- Speech Presentation in Homeric Epic searchable on-line database
- Orality and Literacy XIII, Repetition: 27-31 March, 2019
- Podcast series by GK 365 (advanced undergraduate Homer class)
- Podcast series by GK 324 (advanced undergraduate class on Sophocles Antigone)
- Profile of CC 303, Intro to Classical Mythology with Ethics flag
- Open access to Homeric Speech database data and code, via GitHub