Rate My Professor Susan Alcock

Susan E. Alcock, widely known as Sue Alcock, is the inaugural Barnett Family Professor of Classical Archaeology and Professor of Classics and Letters in the Department of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma, where she also directs the Center for Mediterranean Archaeology and History. She earned a B.A. summa cum laude, double majoring in Archaeology and History, from Yale University in 1983; a first-class honours B.A. in Classics from the University of Cambridge in 1985; and both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Classics from Cambridge in 1989, with a dissertation titled 'Greek Society and the Transition to Roman Rule.' Alcock's extensive career trajectory includes her start at the University of Michigan in 1992 as Assistant Professor of Classical Archaeology and Classics, advancing through roles such as Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, John H. D’Arms Collegiate Professor of Classical Archaeology and Classics (2002-2005), and Curator of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. At Brown University from 2006 to 2015, she served as Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology, Professor in the Departments of Classics, Anthropology, and History of Art and Architecture (by courtesy), and inaugural Director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. She later returned to the University of Michigan for positions including Presidential Bicentennial Professor (2017), Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Michigan-Flint (2018-2019), and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Michigan-Dearborn (2020-2021), alongside her role as Arthur F. Thurnau Professor.

Alcock's research specializations include the Hellenistic and Roman East, landscape archaeology, archaeological survey, archaeologies of memory and imperialism, food in antiquity, and Mediterranean landscapes. She has directed major fieldwork projects such as the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project in Greece, the Vorotan Project in Armenia, and the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project in Jordan. Her influential publications encompass authored monographs like Graecia Capta: The Landscape of Roman Greece (Cambridge University Press, 1993; revised paperback 1996), Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscape, Monuments, and Memories (Cambridge University Press, 2002; Modern Greek edition 2006); and edited volumes including Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece (with R. Osborne, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History (with T.N. D’Altroy et al., Cambridge University Press, 2001), Archaeologies of Memory (with R. Van Dyke, Blackwell, 2003), Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean World (with J. Cherry, Oxbow Books, 2004), Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology: Classical Archaeology (2nd edn., 2012), and Beyond Boundaries: Connecting Visual Cultures in the Provinces of Ancient Rome (with J. Frakes and M. Egri, Getty Publications, 2016). Among her major honors are a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2001-2006), Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2013–), Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (2007–), Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute (2012), Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2002-2003), and Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge (2012–). Alcock's scholarship has shaped classical archaeology through pioneering interdisciplinary methods on landscapes, memory, and imperial dynamics.