Contact Information
Biography
I serve as Undergraduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Classics. While the formal transactions of registering for majors are handled by Humanities Academic Services, I am happy to speak any time with students considering or pursuing majors, minors, or coursework in the department. I can assist with course planning, discuss the capstone project for majors, the senior essay, and share information about scholarship opportunities and opportunities for study abroad.
Research areas of special interest include the representation of nature and geography in Greek and Roman literature, the study of women in Greek and Roman antiquity, and the adaptation and transformation of classical texts, especially the ancient Greek and Roman novel. Several recent projects explore ways that women interacted with classical Greek and Roman texts during the centuries when women were generally excluded from formal study of the classics.
In addition, I have worked closely with many students who have gone on to pursue careers in K-12 teaching, and I maintain an active interest in outreach projects that promote the teaching of Classical subjects in k-12 settings. Recent and ongoing projects include developing materials for teaching Latin in elementary school classrooms, serving as course coordinator for UWHS Latin 103 and Latin 307, facilitating afterschool Latin courses at the middle school and high school levels, and working with teachers on strategies for teaching classical literature in translation.
Awards and Honors
Research
Selected Research
- Connors, Catherine. ‘Classical Outlooks, the CAPN Archive, and Histories of Women in the Study and Teaching of Greek and Roman Classics,’ Classical Outlook 100.2 (2025), 79-83.
- ‘Endless Pleasure: Congreve’s Semele and her Classical Past,’ in Antony Augoustakis, Stavros Frangoulidis, and Thea S. Thorsen. eds., Classical Enrichment: Greek and Latin Literature and its Reception (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 2025), 365-380.
- Connors, Catherine , 'What could a feminist perspective on Proba look like?' Calíope: Presença Clássica 47 (2024.1), 4-22.
- Connors, Catherine. ‘A Feminist Abolitionist reads Plutarch, Euripides, and Plato: Periclean Athens and Nineteenth Century America in Lydia Maria Child’s Philothea (1836),’ Eugesta 13 (2023), 141-76
- Catherine Connors, "To Hell and Back: Comedy, Cult and the House of the Meretrix," G. F. Franko and D. Dutsch, eds. A Companion to Plautus (John Wiley and Sons, 2020), 151-63.
- Catherine Connors 'A river runs through it: Waterways and narrative in Strabo' in Daniela Dueck, ed. The Routledge Companion to Strabo, 207-18.
- Catherine Connors and Cindy Clendenon, "Mapping Tartaros: Observation, Inference, and Belief in Ancient Greek and Roman Accounts of Karst Terrain," Classical Antiquity 35.2, 147-188 Download PDF
- Catherine Connors, ‘Nothing to do with Fides?: Female networks and the reproduction of citizenship in Plautus’ Casina’ Roman Drama and its Contexts: Trends in Classics 34 (2016) , ed. S. Frangoulidis, S. Harrison, G. Manuwald, 275-88.
- 'In the Land of the Giants: Greek and Roman Discourses on Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields,'llinois Classical Studies Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2015), pp. 121-137
- Reading the Odyssey: A Workshop for Teachers
- Catherine Connors, 'The Sobbin' Women: Romulus, Plutarch, and Stephen Vincent Benét' Illinois Classical Studies 38 (2013), 127-48.
- Catherine M. Connors, Cindy Clendenon. "Remembering Tartarus: Apuleius and the Metamorphoses of Aristomenes." Trends in Classics 4. Walter de Gruyter: 2012.
- Catherine M. Connors. "Eratosthenes, Strabo and the Geographer's Gaze." Pacific Coast Philology 46.2 Special Issue: Literature, Culture and the Environment (2011): 139-52.
- Catherine M. Connors. "Politics and Spectacles." The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel. Cambridge University Press: 2008. 162-181.
- Catherine M. Connors. "From turnips to turbot: allusion to epic in Roman satire." The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire. Cambridge University Press: 2005. 123-45.
- Catherine M. Connors. "Metaphor and Politics in John Barclay's Argenis." Ancient Narrative Supplement IV: Metaphor in the Novel and the Novel as Metaphor. 2005. 245-74.
- Catherine M. Connors. "Monkey Business: Imitation, Authenticity and Identity from Pithekoussai to Plautus." Classical Antiquity 23.2 (2004): 179-207.
- Catherine M. Connors. Petronius the Poet: Verse and Literary Tradition in the Satyricon. Cambridge University Press: 1998.
- Veni Vidi Emi: A Latin version of a familiar property game
- Fabulous Latin: Etymology in Stories
- Catherine M. Connors. "Babylonian Stories and the ancient Novel: Magi and the limits of empire in Iamblichus' Babyloniaka." Proceedings of the International Conference on the Ancient Novel 4, ed. D. Konstan and B.D. MacQueen.
Research Advised
- Somer Mayer, "He Said, She Said: Exploring the Roles of Feature Agreement and SPELL-OUT in Ancient Greek Indirect Discourse." Classics Senior Essay 2025. (Adviser Prof. Andrew Hedding, Linguistics)
- Shea Delphinidae, 'Ululant: Examining the Despair and Destruction of Troy in Liber Secundus of the Aeneid' Senior Essay 2024
- Madisson Wiebe, The Importance of Disability Theory in Classics (Senior Essay 2022)
- Yiru Luo, "The Representation of Rape Motifs in the Founding Narratives of Rome" Senior Essay 2020.
- Owen Coats, The Fallen Science: The Tradition and Skepticism of Ancient Astrology. Senior Essay 2020.
- Emily Zhang, "Timeless Journey: The Odyssey in a video game." (Senior Essay 2019)
- Konnor Clark, Giton’s Performance of Status in the Satyrica. Diss. 2019
- Sarah Barrie, “…Along with me you enjoyed fame as a medical practitioner”: The similarities and differences between midwives and female physicians in the ancient world (Senior Essay 2018)
- Rachael Clark. "Duality and Hair Movement in the Roman Imagination." Senior Thesis, 2016.
- Michelle Delcid, Ancient Female Agency and its LInk to my Feminism
- David Jekel, Narrative and Thematic Connections between Plautus' Amphitruo and Euripides' Bacchae
- Brittany Neiman, Mythological Weddings and Athenian Marriage
- Benjamin Ransom, Bringing the Gods on Stage: Anthropomorphic Deities in Plautus' Amphitruo and Molière's Amphitryon
- Laura Zientek. The Landscape of Civil War: Geography, Ecphrasis, and Philosophy in Lucan's Bellum Civile.
- Lissa Crofton-Sleigh. The Building of Verse: Descriptions of Architectural Structures in Roman Poetry. Diss., 2014
- Plautus' Casina: What the Women Knew, adapted and produced by Lauren Dudley.
- Malia Piper. "Bad Girls: The Role of the Mala in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature." Honors Thesis, 2013.
- Ashli J. Baker. Apuleius' Political Animal: A Socio-Cultural reading of identity in the Metamorphoses. Diss., 2011.
Courses Taught
Winter 2025
Autumn 2024
Spring 2024
Autumn 2023
Spring 2023
Winter 2023
Autumn 2022
Spring 2022
Winter 2022
Latin 475: Improvement of Teaching Latin. Cross listed with the College of Education as EDC&I 438. I teach this as an overload on demand for those preparing for a career in teaching Latin. Eleven students who have taken this class are now teaching or enrolled in teacher preparation programs. We focus on a task-based approach to world language instruction that combines study of the structure of language with hands-on activities and games.
Eucation 502: Advanced Practicum in Classroom Teaching and Management. This two credit practicum is required as part of the process of adding an endorsement in World Languages (Latin) to a Washington State Teaching Certificate. Taught as an overload as necessary for those pursuing the endorsement.