I’m Alex Holbrook, assistant professor in the Department of History and Archaeology. I’m from across Lake Erie, more or less, since I grew up and went to university in southern Ontario. While finishing my undergraduate degree, I discovered I really enjoyed the opportunities I had to lead seminars or teach others about topics of interest to me, especially in the academic setting, so off I went to grad school to get the credentials that would allow me to keep doing that as a career.
My training is in Classics – but not, as I so often have to tell people, Shakespeare or Mozart or Jane Austen (although they are great too). The field of Classics focuses particularly on the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. My specialty is in Roman social history – family, slavery, and gender in the historiography and literature of Republican and Imperial Rome. I also have interests and experience teaching broader courses in World History with special interests in the Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s!
After getting my PhD, I was a part-time adjunct at the University of Texas-Pan American in the Rio Grande Valley region of deep-south Texas. In 2014, our family relocated to Western New York. I started adjuncting at Gannon University in 2015, and was so pleased to be hired full-time in 2019. Friendly staff, talented colleagues, and great students make this a fun, stimulating place to work and learn.
Courses Taught
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At Gannon:
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History Without Borders
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Roman Republic
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Ancient Greek History
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Slavery in the Ancient World
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Women in the Ancient World
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The Space Race
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At McMaster and UTPA:
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Civilizations through the Centuries
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Roman History
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Elementary Latin I and II
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The Roman Family
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History of Greece and Rome
Educational History
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McMaster University, PhD in Classics, "Constructions of the Family in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita." (2009)
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McMaster University, M.A. in Classics (2003)
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University of Guelph, B.A. in Classical Languages (2001)
Professional Experience
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Assistant Professor, Gannon University (Fall 2019-present)
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Adjunct Faculty, History, Gannon Unversity (Spring 2015-present)
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Part-time Lecturer, History & Modern Languages, University of Texas-Pan American (2010-2014)
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Sessional Instructor, Classics, McMaster University (2008-2009)
Scholarship-Research
Conference presentations
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Invited panellist, “Teaching Classical Languages via Untraditional Methods”, Classical Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, May 2015
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“Impar coniunx: Attitudes Towards Intermarriage in Livy”, Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Waco, Texas, April 2014
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“Two Weddings and a Funeral: The Marriages of Syphax, Sophoniba, and Massinissa in Livy’s History”, Classical Association of Canada Annual Conference, St. John’s, Newfoundland, May 2007
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“The sacramentum in the late Republican Roman army”, Classical Association of Canada Annual Conference, Quebec City, Quebec, May 2004.