• John Gruber-Miller

    John Gruber-Miller

    Edwin R. and Mary E. Mason Professor of Languages


Biographical Sketch

 John Gruber-Miller, Edwin R. and Mary E. Mason Professor of Languages, teaches a range of courses in classics, Greek, and Latin and is the advisor for Cornell's interdisciplinary classical studies program. Gruber-Miller is the editor of the book When Dead Tongues Speak: Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin, published by Oxford University Press, and the author of the online educational site, Ariadne: Resources for Athenaze. He was the founding editor of Teaching Classical Languages, a peer-reviewed, online journal dedicated to Latin and Greek pedagogy. He received the Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics at the College Level from the American Philological Association. His latest project is Imagining Ancient Corinth: An Introduction to Greek Literature and Culture, designed for intermediate Greek students. 

Academic History

  • Edwin R. and Mary E. Mason Professor of Languages, Cornell College, 2015-
  • Professor of Classical Studies, Cornell College, 2000-
  • Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Cornell College, 1993-2000
  • Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, Cornell College, 1987-93
  • PhD in Classics, The Ohio State University, 1987
  • Regular Member, American School of Classical Studies in Athens, 1983-84
  • MA in Classics, The Ohio State University, 1982
  • Honors AB, Xavier University, 1979

Publications

  • Imagining Ancient Corinth: An Introduction to Greek Literature and Culture, a born digital textbook that probes the intersection of spatial humanities, online commentaries, material culture, and second language acquisition (forthcoming).
  • Visual Latin Reading Library, a collection of short, illustrated stories, both heard and read, with activities to consolidate and extend student comprehension.
  • The Labors of Hercules (with Rachel Renaud), a game-based approach to reading Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles (in development).
  • “Reading in a Multisensory Environment: The Visual Latin Reading Library.” Classical Outlook 98.1 (2023) 22-25.
  • “Latin Vocabulary Knowledge and the Readability of Latin Texts: A Preliminary Study” (with Bret Mulligan). New England Classical Journal 49.1 (2022) 80-101.
  • "'The Classics Tuning Project': Competencies, Value and Visibility of the Classics at Small Liberal Arts Colleges" (co-authored with Clara Hardy, Lisl Walsh, Sanjaya Thakur, and Angela Ziskowsky). Classical Journal 115.3-4 (2020) 481-505.
  • "Careers for Classicists: Undergraduate Edition" (co-authored with Adriana Brook and Eric Dugdale). Society for Classical Studies 2020.
  • “The Standards as Integrative Learning.” Teaching Classical Languages 9.1 (2018) 19-38.
  • "Six Categories for Assessing the Representation of Women in Textbooks," Cloelia n.s. 4 (2014) 24-27.
  • "Engaging Multiple Literacies through Remix Practices: Vergil Recomposed," Teaching Classical Languages 4.2 (2013): 141-60.
  • Ariadne: Resources for Athenaze, an online textbook for beginning Greek students that offers images, audio files, oral scripts, readings, writing activities, and cultural essays.
  • "Exploring Relationships: Amicitia and Familia in Cicero's de Amicitia," Classical World 103.1 (2009): 88-92.
  • "Teaching Culture in Beginning Greek," CPL Online 4.1 (2008) 1-10.
  • Editor, When Dead Tongues Speak: Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin (Oxford University Press 2006)
  • “Developing Listening and Speaking Skills: Practical Ways to Implement the Standards with the Oxford Latin Course,” Classical Journal 101 (2005) 87-98.
  • "Seven Myths about Latin Teaching," Syllecta Classica 15 (2004): 193-215.
  • "How Do You Say 'MOO' in Latin: Assessing Student Learning in Beginning Latin," with Cindy Benton. CALICO Journal 18.2 (2001) 305-38.
  • "Toward Fluency and Accuracy: A Reading Approach to College Latin." Latin for the 21st Century. Ed. R. LaFleur (Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley 1998) 162-75.

Courses Taught

  • Beginning Latin I-III
  • Beginning Ancient Greek I-III
  • Introduction to Latin Literature and Culture
  • Introduction to Greek Literature and Culture
  • The Age of Cicero
  • The Age of Augustus
  • Roman Historians
  • Ancient Greek Politics, Society, and Culture
  • The Greek Hero
  • Tragedy and Catharsis (First Year Seminar)
  • Big Screen Rome (First Year Writing Course)
  • Contesting Citizenship (Second Year Seminar)
  • Classical Mythology
  • Sport and Spectacle in Greece and Rome
  • Women in Antiquity (Gender Studies)
  • Social Justice (Gender Studies)
  • Lost Christianities (with Chris Hoklotubbe)
  • Gods, Emperors, and Philosophers (with Chris Hoklotubbe)
  • Comedy: Greece and Rome to Hollywood
  • Love and Sexuality in Greece and Rome (Gender Studies)
  • Epic Tradition
  • Greek Archaeology (Taught in Greece: 1992, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2018)
  • Roman Archaeology (Taught in Italy: 2000, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015)
  • Junior-Senior Seminar: Ancient Slavery
  • Junior-Senior Seminar: Literacy, from Papyrus to Digital Book
  • Junior-Senior Seminar: Who does Classics belong to? Race and Ethnicity in Antiquity and the United States (2020)

Faculty-Student Research

  • Cornell Summer Research Institute (with Lincoln Dalleska and Ryan Ringold) to annotate, illustrate, and create fun learning activities for the Visual Latin Reading Library and to research sculptural painting in antiquity and create a historical reconstruction of the Labors of Heracles on the Metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, 2021
  • Cornell Summer Research Institute (with Rachel Renaud) to develop grammar videos and interactive exercises, catalogue images, and enhance the mapping interface for Imagining Ancient Corinth, and write and annotate Latin stories for a digital Latin Reader, 2018
  • Cornell Summer Research Institute (with Caitlin Conlon) to create a geospatial interface for Imagining Ancient Corinth, add readings and essays to the website, and collect and annotate stories for a transitional Latin Reader, 2016
  • Cornell Summer Research Institute (with Miranda Donnellan and Joe Sterchele) to produce a teaching aid on Roman Food, create an animated version of Aulus Gellius’ “Arion and the Dolphin” in Latin, and develop a geospatial interface and new website for Imagining Ancient Corinth, 2015
  • Student-Faculty Research (with Chase McAdams, Jon David Stroud), to author a grammatical, historical, and cultural commentary on Pausanias, Books 2 (Corinth) and 3 (Sparta), write cultural essays, create classroom activities, develop image database, create GoogleEarth maps, online vocabulary activities (Quizlet), 2013
  • Student-Faculty Research (with Calla Holmes-Robbins), to create image database and Google maps for Imagining Greece: Pausanias’ Periegesis, image-driven vocabulary frequency database for Aeneid 1-6, research on integrating women in beginning Latin, 2012
  • Student-Faculty Research (with Phillip Gallagher), to author a grammatical, historical, and cultural commentary on Pausanias, Books 5-6 (Olympia), write cultural essays, create classroom activities, develop slideshows, 2010
  • Student-Faculty Research (with Emily Vinci), to author a grammatical, historical, and cultural commentary on Pausanias, Book 2 (Corinth), develop vocabulary frequency lists, write cultural essays, create classroom activities, 2009

Service to the Profession

  • Director, Resources for Excellence in Developing Instruction (REDI Professional Resources), American Classical League, 2022-
  • At-large member, Board of Directors, Society for Classical Studies, 2020-2023
  • Vice-President, American Classical League, 2015-2020             
  • Member, Editorial Board, Dickinson College Commentaries, 2014-
  • Founding Editor, Teaching Classical Languages, a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to Latin and Greek pedagogy (http://www.tcl.camws.org/), 2008-2019
  • Project Team Member, “Tuning the Classics,” Associated Colleges of the Midwest FaCE Grant 2017-2019
  • CAMWS Executive Committee, member at-large, 2007-10; ex officio 2010-2019
  • ACL/SCS Task Force for the Revision of the Standards for Classical Language Learning, 2015-2017
  • SCS Committee on Education, 2014-2018
  • Member, Editorial Board, Amphora, the outreach magazine of the SCS, 2008-2015
  • Member, ACL/APA Joint Task Force on Latin Teacher Preparation, charged with developing national standards for Latin teacher preparation, 2008-10

Academic Awards

  • Merens Award, for sustained and distinguished service to the Classics profession and to the ACL, American Classical League, 2023
  • Project Director, Visual Latin Reading Library, an Open Educational Resource for beginning Latin students, Iowa Private Academic Libraries grant, 2021     
  • Project Team Member, “Tuning the Classics,” ACM FaCE Grant, 2016-18
  • Project Team Member, “Translation for Global Literacies Across the Curriculum,” ACM FaCE Grant, 2015-17
  • Jerry and Carole Ringer Distinguished Professor, 2011-14
  • Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics at the College Level, American Philological Association, 2012
  • Ovatio for distinguished service and leadership, CAMWS 2012
  • Campbell McConnell Fellowship to travel to Greece and prepare materials for an intermediate Greek textbook “Imagining Greece: Pausanias’ Periegesis”
  • Core Faculty Member, VRoma Project:  A Virtual Community for Teaching and Learning Classics, funded by an NEH Teaching with Technology Grant.
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to attend a Summer Institute "New Perspectives on Classical Antiquity:  Classics and the 21st Century American Curricula" at the University of Arizona. Director: Bella (Zweig) Vivante
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to attend a Summer Institute, "Sappho and Lady Mary Wroth," at the University of Maryland. Directors: Judith Hallett and Jane Donawerth
  • Fulbright Fellowship (to attend the summer session of the American Academy at Rome and the Vergilian Society program at Cumae)

Service to the Cornell Community

  • Program Adviser: Classical Studies Program, 1987-2014, 2017-
  • Program Adviser: Archaeology, 2005-14, 2017-
  • Member, Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion, 2022-23
  • Chair, Diversity Committee, 2016-2019
  • Chair, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, 2015-17
  • Chair, Civic Engagement Advisory Committee, 2011-14
  • Chair, Student Engagement and Retention Committee, 2012
  • Chair, College Librarian Search, 2011
  • Chair, Academic Programs Committee, 2008-10
  • Chair, Committee on Administration, 2005-07
  • Chair, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2001-07
  • Coordinator, Diversity/Global Perspective Reading Group, 2006-07
  • Co-Director (with Michelle Mouton), Sophomore Writing Portfolio Pilot Study, 2004-05
  • Chair, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, 1998-2000, 2003-04
  • Co-Chair, Women's Studies Committee, 1996-99
  • Chair, Humanities Multimedia Classroom Planning Committee, 1997-98

Memberships

  • Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA)
  • American Classical League (ACL)
  • American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
  • American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
  • Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)
  • Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS)
  • Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO)
  • Iowa World Languages Association (IWLA)
  • AMICI, Classical Association of Iowa