This semester, the Core 100 Program is using the lecture series to address current events. Our theme this semester is: The Pandemic and Racism.
Lecture 1: Pandemic, Epidemic, and Plague in Ancient Greece
Description: In this lecture, Dr. Sarolta Takács is providing a historical background to better understand three ancient Greek texts (Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, and Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War), which feature descriptions of “plagues” that befell a besieging army (at Troy, Iliad) and a city (Thebes, Oedipus Rex) and Athens (The History of the Peloponnesian War).
Bio Sketch:
Dr. Takács holds a BA in Classics from the University of California, Irvine, and an MA and PhD in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. As a graduate student, she was a recipient of the DAAD, a German Academic Exchange Service fellowship, that allowed her to do her PhD research at the university in Heidelberg and at the Free University in Berlin. While a professor at Harvard, she was a recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany, which allowed her to spend a research year at the University of Heidelberg.
Before coming to the College of Staten Island – CUNY, she taught at the University of Oregon; at the University of California, Los Angeles; Harvard University; and Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Dr. Takács held decanal positions at Harvard University, the Russell Sage College, and Rutgers University. At the latter institution, she served as the Director of the Modern Greek Studies Program and also was the founding dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. Dr. Takács is a tenured professor in the Department of History and is Dean of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Staten Island.
By the Division of Academic Affairs
