Instructors
Georgia Sermamoglou, Ph.D.
Director of Greek Studies on Site
Instructor: Ancient Greek Philosophy in Context
Georgia Sermamoglou is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Patras, Greece. She holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Virginia. She is the author of Playful Philosophy and Serious Sophistry: A Reading of Plato's "Euthydemus" (De Gruyter, 2014) and co-editor of Wisdom, Love, and Friendship in Ancient Greek Philosophy (De Gruyter, 2020). Her current research focuses on the relation between knowledge, virtue, and happiness in Plato's early dialogues.
Alexia Zotou, Ph.D.
Instructor: Greek Mythology
Alexia Zotou holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Göttingen. She is the author of Carmina Anacreontea 1-34: Ein Kommentar. She has received scholarships from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst and the Graduirtenkolleg der philosophischen Fakultät Göttingen, as well as awards from the Greek National Scholarship Foundation and the Heinz-Maier-Leibniz Institute for Outstanding Research in the Humanities.
Vasko Demou, Ph.D.
Instructor: History and Archaeology of Athens
Vasko Demou holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Southampton, UK. His doctoral thesis aims to communicate the long and turbulent history of the Acropolis (and Athens) from the Neolithic to the present. He has worked as an archaeologist in Eleusis, Thrace, and the island of Delos, conducted archaeological ethnography for several research projects in Athens, Thrace, Crete, and the Cyclades, and taught archaeology at the University of Southampton. His current research investigates the therapeutic and relieving potential of archaeological sites for individuals of atypical mental health and others with chronic pain.
Mary Hamil Gilbert, Ph.D.
Mary Hamil Gilbert holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Virginia. Her academic interests include early Greek and Roman drama, mythology, and reception and translation studies. Her dissertation entitled "Jean Racine Reads the Ancients: Classical Allusions and Ancient Poetics in Andromaque, Britannicus, and Phèdre" examines the early modern reception of Attic and Senecan tragedy in 17th century France. She is an Instructor of Classics at Birmingham Southern College.
Benjamin Jasnow, Ph.D.
Ben Jasnow is an Assistant Professor at William Jewell College and the co-recipient of the 2013 Fortier Prize for his work on "Mapping the Catalogue of Ships." He holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Virginia, where he has taught classes in ancient languages, Greek Civilization, Greek Mythology and Comparative Literature. His dissertation, entitled "What the Shepherds Sing: Popular Culture and Local Identity in the Bucolic Idylls of Theocritus", investigates the relation of the poet to the culture of his native Sicily.
Edith Gwendolyn Nally, Ph.D.
Gwen Nally is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she teaches courses in the history of philosophy. She has also taught at Skidmore College and the University of Richmond, and holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia. She writes about Plato's epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophical methodology.
Konstantinos Pattakos
Instructor: Modern Greek
Konstantinos Pattakos studied Greek Philology and Linguistics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He received his MA in Applied Linguistics from Birkbeck College, University of London. He has worked as a teacher of Greek as a Foreign Language for the British public sector and for the European Commission. He has a standing collaboration with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and the British School at Athens. In his spare time he sings in a choir and designs board games.
Costas Nilsen
Instructor: Documentary Film-Making for Beginners
Costas Nilsen is a Greek-Norwegian freelance videographer based in Athens.
He received his BA in Film from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, in 2019.
As part of the course he spent an exchange semester at San Diego State University, CA.
He received his MA in Photography and Visual Language from AKTO College in Athens in 2022.