Joan Burton, Ph.D.

Executive Summary

Joan Burton, Professor Emerita of Classical Studies, received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and was part of the Trinity faculty from 1988 until her retirement in 2009. She is the author of Theocritus’s Urban Mimes: Mobility, Gender, and Patronage (Univ. of California Press, 1995) and A Byzantine Novel: Drosilla and Charikles (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2004), as well as several important articles and book chapters on ancient Greek and Byzantine cultural history and literature.

At Trinity, Dr. Burton taught courses on ancient Greek culture, history, and literature, ancient and modern narrative, and ancient Greek and Latin language.  Courses taught included Classical Mythology, The Ancient and Medieval Novel, Greek and Roman Epic, Greek and Roman Drama, Greek Literature, Latin Literature, Travel and Displacement, Ancient Greece and Rome, Archaic and Classical Greece, Gender and Identity in the Ancient World, and Ancient Greek and Latin language at all levels. She served as chair of the Classical Studies department from 2000–2008. She was also the co-founder and first director of Trinity’s interdisciplinary program in Comparative Literature.

Areas of Expertise

• Hellenistic cultural history and literature
• Byzantine cultural history and literature
• Ancient and medieval narrative

Professional Achievements and Contributions

• John Rogers Faculty Fellowship, Trinity University, 1990–92
• President, Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, Trinity, 1992–94; Vice-President, 1991–92
• Guest Curator, “Recovery of the Ancient World,” Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, 1994–95
• Board of Directors, Phi Beta Kappa Association, San Antonio, Texas, 1996–2000
• Mellon Lecturer, Associated Colleges of the South, Sunoikisis, 2002