
With over 40 courses under her belt, Katerina Zacharia, professor and Chair of Classics and Archaeology at Loyola Marymount University, is an experienced instructor with a proven track record of excellence and innovation in pedagogy. For this reason, the Society for Classical Studies announced her as a winner of the 2023 Awards for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics at the University Level.
In courses such as “Greek Tragedy in Performance”, and “Classical Hellenism, Race, and Ethnicity,” Professor Zacharia vividly interrogates both past and present, connecting passionate and scholarly explorations of the ancient world with modern receptions and relevance, the results of not only a restless pedagogical process of revision and iteration of existing courses, but also strategic re-envisioning of courses and development of new courses to address the changing landscape and needs of higher education at LMU and beyond.
Regarding nuts and bolts, Professor Zacharia’s syllabi and assignments provide abundant evidence of the detailed approach to every activity; students are given exceptionally clear instructions, reading questions, rubrics, and articulations of desired outcomes. Those with more and less Classics experience benefit from her clarity and detail, which minimizes the invisible curriculum and thus supports learners with diverse experiences. Her interrogation of identity in both classical texts and in the connections between the ancient and modern world provides students with helpful models for grappling with questions of identity and diversity in the contemporary world. Outside of class, Professor Zacharia has also served as an inspirational mentor for those aiming to join the field of Classics, connecting students with internships working with the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival.
In Professor Zacharia’s courses, careful scaffolding regularly leads to intensive active and applied activities, including Reacting to the Past modules. She is also responsible for co-developing the classroom game “Enthralled,” in which students engage with the plot of Euripides’ Bacchae by questioning major characters at the end of every scene. Add in a bit of randomness, and a healthy dose of deliberation, and students are given robust opportunities to engage with Euripides in ways that are not only engaging and fun, but also support thoughtful grappling with the play’s most important themes, and the particular manner in which Greek tragedy wrestles with questions of fact and belief.
Professor Zacharia has found the sweet spot of holding students to high standards while supporting them to achieve those standards. It is a rare and remarkable achievement to have students testify both to the harshness of an instructor’s critique of their work and also describe that instructor as “sweet” and “caring” and praise her willingness to help. As one student said, “Professor Zacharia’s projects always force you to go above and beyond and keep the information stored in your memory after class is over. Her teaching style can be tough, but it is always rewarding.” Another student echoes the sentiment: “Even though her teaching method could be tough at times, it brings out the best in each student. Her harshness does not spring out [of] insecurities about the student’s ability, but rather a confidence that they will be a better scholar from then on.”
As Brad Stone, associate dean in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, describes: “Prof. Zacharia is a perfect example of what the instruction of Classics can be in a 21st-century university,” noting that she “continues to show our University that the field Classics is living, vibrant, and accessible to all of our students.”
“I am profoundly honored to have been bestowed this national award for Excellence in Teaching Classics at the University level by the most prestigious professional Society for Classical Studies founded in 1869,” said Zacharia. “As a teacher-scholar of Classics and its reception, my work interrogates classical texts and modern representations of classical antiquity in visual culture, theatrical productions and film adaptations of the ancient world, and the uses of antiquity in Greek identity formation. The SCS citation recognizes my academic and professional trajectory. It validates the directions taken for expanding our curriculum and serving our students, while it also garners prestige and recognition for our University, my academic home for the past 25 years.”
This announcement originally appeared on the SCS website, and has been slightly modified for the LMU Newsroom.