Ruth Scodel

Ruth Scodel is an American Classics scholar, and the D.R. Shackleton-Bailey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan.[1] She specialises in ancient Greek literature, with particular interests in Homer, Hesiod and Greek Tragedy. Her research has been influenced by narrative theory, cognitive approaches, and politeness theory.[2]

Ruth Scodel
Born	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Awards	Gildersleeve Prize Michigan Humanities Award
Academic background
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley (BA) Harvard University
Thesis	(1978)
Academic work
Discipline	Classics
Sub-discipline	Greek Literature
Institutions	University of Edinburgh University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Harvard University

Career

Ruth Scodel studied at University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1973). She was awarded her PhD by Harvard University (1978), with a PhD thesis entitled The Trojan Trilogy of Euripides.[3] From 1978–83 she was an assistant professor at Harvard University, and an associate professor from 1984–5.[4]

Scodel joined the faculty of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1984,[5] where she became Professor of Greek and Latin in 1987. In 2005 Scodel was elected the D.R. Shackleton Bailey Professor of Greek Language and Literature. Scodel was the seventh A. G. Leventis Professor in Greek at the University of Edinburgh in 2011–12, and under these auspices held the conference 'What's Greek about Ancient Greek Narrative' from 27–30 October 2011.[6]

Among other prizes for teaching and mentoring,[7] Scodel won the Michigan Humanities Award (1997–98) and the Gildersleeve Prize (1998).[8][9] She has been active in service to the Society for Classical Studies (formerly the American Philological Association) - she was president of the Society in 2007, and has served on the Editorial Board for Monographs (1982–5), as Vice President for Publications (1996-9), and on the Nominating Committee (2008–14).[10][11] She was honoured in 2018 with the "APA/SCS Distinguished Service Award", in recognition of the service to this organisation which she had carried out throughout her career.[12] Scodel was president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South from 2014–5.[13][14] In 2017 Scodel was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by Eta Sigma Phi, the national Classics honorary society.[15]

Research

Scodel's research focuses on Homer, Hesiod and Greek tragedy, and is particularly significant in her innovative applications of theoretical approaches such as narrative theory[16] to ancient literature. She has also written more introductory works such as her Introduction to Greek Tragedy,[17] which was well received.[18]

In 1998 Scodel's article “Bardic Performance and Oral Tradition in Homer,”[19] won the Gildersleeve Prize (American Journal of Philology), for work described as "an important contribution not only to the reading of Homer but also to narratological theory".[20]

Selected works

Single-authored books

• The Trojan Trilogy of Euripides. Hypomnemata 60. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1980.
• Credible Impossibilities: Conventions and Strategies of Verisimilitude in Homer and Greek Tragedy. Beiträge zur Altertumswisssenschaft 122. Suttgart: Teubner. 1999.
• Listening to Homer. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Press. 2002.
• Epic Facework: Self-presentation and Social Interaction in Homer. Classical Press of Wales. 2008.
• An Introduction to Greek Tragedy. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2010.

Co-edited volumes

• Theater and Society in the Classical World. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor 1993.
• Defining Greek Narrative, with Douglas Cairns. Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
• Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity. Brill, Leiden, 2014.

References

1. "Ruth Scodel". Edinburgh University Press Books.
2. "Research | Ruth Scodel". sites.lsa.umich.edu.
3. "Summaries of Dissertations for the Degree of Ph. D.". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 83: 407–9. 1 January 1979. JSTOR 311107.
4. "Ruth Scodel CV" (PDF).
5. Gregory, edited by Justina (2006). A companion to Greek tragedy (1. publ. ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. p. xiv. ISBN 9781405107709.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
6. "Past Chair-holders, conferences and publications | The University of Edinburgh". www.ed.ac.uk.
7. "Ruth Scodel Will Present McKibben Lecture in Classical Studies at Grinnell College April 25 | Grinnell College". www.grinnell.edu.
8. Arts, University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the (1996). LSAmagazine. UM Libraries. p. 34.
9. Hansen, Marie R. (1 September 1999). "The Gildersleeve Prize For The Best Article Published In The American Journal of Philology In 1998 Has Been Presented To Ruth Scodel, University of Michigan". American Journal of Philology. 120 (3): iv. doi:10.1353/ajp.1999.0035. ISSN 1086-3168. S2CID 162191503.
10. "Ruth Scodel CV" (PDF).
11. "Ruth Scodel Will Present McKibben Lecture in Classical Studies at Grinnell College April 25 | Grinnell College". www.grinnell.edu.
12. "Ruth Scodel wins APA / SCS Distinguished Service Award | U-M LSA Department of Classical Studies". lsa.umich.edu.
13. "Ruth Scodel | CAMWS". camws.org.
14. "CAMWS Newsletter Spring 2014-5".
15. "Nuntius" (PDF).
16. "Bryn Mawr Classical Review: 2015.02.47". www.bmcreview.org.
17. Scodel, Ruth (2010). An introduction to Greek tragedy (1st published. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87974-3.
18. Heath, Malcolm (1 April 2012). "Greek Literature" (PDF). Greece & Rome. 59 (1): 108. doi:10.1017/S0017383511000283. ISSN 1477-4550.
19. Scodel, Ruth (1 January 1998). "Bardic Performance and Oral Tradition in Homer". The American Journal of Philology. 119 (2): 171–194. doi:10.1353/ajp.1998.0027. JSTOR 1562083. S2CID 161072518.
20. Hansen, Marie R. (1999). "The Gildersleeve Prize For The Best Article Published In The American Journal of Philology In 1998 Has Been Presented To Ruth Scodel, University of Michigan". American Journal of Philology. 120 (3): iv. doi:10.1353/ajp.1999.0035. S2CID 162191503.

External links

• Personal Webpage
• Faculty Webpage