Robert J. Gorman
Assistant Professor
Department of Classics and Religious Studies
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0337
(402) 472-5034
rgorman1@unl.edu
Education:
- B.A. 1984, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- M.A. 1988, University of Pennsylvania
- Ph.D. 1995, University of Pennsylvania
Research and Teaching Interests:
- Cicero
- The Idea of Decadence in Ancient Historiography
- Greek Prose fragments
- The popularization of philosophy
My principal area of research is the socio-cultural context of Hellenistic and Roman philosophy. More specifically, I am interested in the ways in which a place was found (or made) for Greek philosophy in the world of the Romans. I have so far concentrated on how modes of discourse particular to philosophy--primarily, but not exclusively, dialectic--were characterized in late republican Rome. In 1995 I finished my dissertation on Cicero and the Socratic Method, in which I explore the significance of the dialectical method par excellence for Cicero's program for the Romanization of the teachings of the Hellenistic schools. My next step is to widen my focus to include the place of dialectic in the works of Seneca and to trace and collect the evidence for the practice of dialectic--that is, actual philosophizing by question and answer, not the development of the science of logic--in the Greek philosophical schools themselves.
Dissertation:
- "Cicero and the Socratic Method" directed by James J. O'Donnell
Languages:
- Latin
- Ancient Greek
- French
- German
- Italian
Academic Appointments
- August 2005 - present, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Classics & Religious Studies
- 1998-May 2005, Lecturer, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Classics & Religious Studies (half-time appointment, Fall 1998-Spring 2003, full time since Fall 2003)
- 1995-1998, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Classics & Religous Studies (half-time appointment)
Fellowships and Awards:
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
- 2005, Layman Fund Award
- 2004, UNL nominee for NEH Summer Stipend
- 2001-2003, Certificate of Recognition from Parents Association and Teaching Council
- 1984, Glenn Gray Memorial Award for Outstanding Undergraduate History Major
- 1984, Steckelberg Latin Scholarship
- 1981-1984, Nebraska Regents Scholarship
Unversity of Pennsylvania
- 1984-1988, William Penn Graduate Scholarship
Publications: Books
- The Socratic Method in the Dialogues of Cicero, (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005
- The Historiography of Luxury in Ancient Greek Literature, co-authored with V. Gorman (under contract with University of Michigan Press)
Publications: Articles
- "The Tryphe of the Sybarties: A Historiographical Probem in Athenaeus," Journal of Hellenic Studies, 127 (2007) 38-60
- "Polybius and the Evidence for Periphrastic HOI PERI TINA Mnemosyne: A Journal of Classical Studies 56 (2003) 129-144
- "HOI PERI TINA in Strabo,"Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 136 (2001) 201-213
- "The Tyrants around Thoas and Damasenor" at Plutarch Quaestiones Graecae 32," Classical Quarterly 50 (2000), 526-30
Publications: Conference Papers (all refereed)
- "Luxury, effeminacy, and ubpic in the Lives, of Clearchus," accepted for annual APA meeting, 2010
- "'Soft Peoples' in Herodotus," annual APA meeting, 2009
- "Populus and the Common Good: Cicero de Re publica 1.39," annual APA meeting, 2006
- "Non responebo ad singula: Cicero on the Limits of Dialectic," annual CAMWS meeting, 2000
- HOI PERI TINA in the Histories of Polybius," annaul CAMWS meeting, 1999
- The recusatio scholarum and Cicero's Romanization of Philosophizing," annual APA meeting, 1997
- "Dialectic and perfecta philosophia in the Tusculan Disputations," annual CAMWS meeting, 1997
- The Socratic 'Say What You Believe' Rule in the Dialogues of Cicero," annual CAMWS (Classical Association of the Midwest and South) meeting, 1996
Works in Progress:
Book:
- A detailed study of luxury and decadence (i.e. TRYPHE and related concepts) as characterized in Greek philosophical and historiographical traditions (in collaboratin with V. B. Gorman). As noted above, the University of Michigan Press has given a prelimary contract for this work.
Article:
- An exegesis of a controversial passage in Cicero's de Re publica
Grants Funded:
- 2006-2007, Layman Fund Award: $2,986.00 for "The Historiography of Luxury and Decadence in the Greek and Roman World"
Teaching:
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Classical Studies
- Beginning and Intermediate Latin
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Classics & Religious Studies 1995-present
- Beginning Latin
- Intermediate Latin
- Accelerated Latin
- Advanced Latin: Vergil, Roman historiography, Cicero's dialogues, The idea of decadence in Latin literature
- Beginning Greek
- Graduate Seminar in Greek Literature: Greek Philosophical Prose
- Cicero and the Humanistic Tradition
- Classical Mythology
- Honors Program in Classics:
Classical Mythology
World of Classical Greece
World of Classical Rome - Alpha Learning Community:
Heroes, Harlots and Helots - Independent Studies directed in Cicero, Vergil, Seneca, Caesar, Ovid, Plato, and Tacitus
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of History
- History of Western Civilization to 1715
- History of the Roman Empire
MA Theses:
- Lisa Bunge, on Magic in Virgil and Apuleius (completed August 2007)
- T. Mathew Meyer (thesis topic: Diodorus Siculus and his sources)
- Kenneth Rolling, on the Stoic theory of education (completed August 2008)
Curricular Development:
- I am a member of the University's Peer Review Project and have been an active participant in pedagogy programs sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center and the office of the SVCAA
- In response to the Department's most recent APR, I have, after extensive research helped develop a plan for the reformation of our Greek and Latin curricula, in order to increase the number of students who may major and minor in these programs. The plan has been approved by the Department
- In the face of high attrition rates in elementary Latin, I have redesigned the part of the curriculum. As a result, retention has increased strikingly
- In accord with changes in student preparation, I have reworked Latin 201: From a remedial exercise for those with high school Latin the course has become an accelerated introduction to Latin for the motivated student. The class has provided a needed service for advanced students in other disciplines and has been a productive source of students for our intermediate and advanced courses.
- In the summer and fall of 2007, I developed and taught a section of Classical Mythology for the Advanced Scholars Program. This process entailed putting the class in a form that could be delivered over the Internet for distance education
Service:
To the Department:
Administrative Duties
- Fall 2004-Spring 2008, responsible for scheduling of Classics courses
- Fall 2006-present, Chief Advisor, Classical Languages Major
Committee Appointments
- Spring 2006-present, Undergraduate Scholarship Subcommittee
- Fall 2006, Acting Head of Graduate Committee (Graduate Advisor)
- Fall 2006, Web site committee
- Spring 1996-Fall 2006, Spring 2009-present, Department Assessment Committee
- Fall 2007-present, Committee for reorganization for Graduate Program
To the College:
- Fall 2005-Spring 2008, Member, Arts & Sciences Assessment Committee
- 2005-2009, Member, Arts & Science Advising Committee (ad hoc)
- 2002-2009, Vice President, President, Membership Committee, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Nebraska
To the University:
- 2001-present, Assistant Marshal, University Marshal Corps
- 2007-present, Member, University, Academic Standards Committee
- 2008, Faculty Reviewer of application for Layman Awards
To the profession:
- 2006, anonymous referee for Transactions of the American Philological Association
