Steve Reece, Professor of Classics
O.C. and Patricia Boldt Distinguished Teaching Professor
in the Humanities (2015-2018)
(has taught at St. Olaf since 1994)
E-mail: reece@stolaf.edu
Office: Tomson Hall 347
Office telephone: 507-786-3378
B.A., M.A. (Classics), University of Hawaii, 1982, 1984
Ph.D. (Classics), University of California-Los Angeles, 1990
Steve Reece grew up in the town of Niigata on the west coast of Northern Japan. He taught at UCLA, Texas A&M University, and Vanderbilt University (Mellon Fellow) before coming to St. Olaf. He has published a wide variety of articles and book chapters on Homeric studies, New Testament studies, comparative oral traditions, historical linguistics, and pedagogy. He is the author of a book about the rituals of ancient Greek hospitality (The Stranger’s Welcome: Oral Theory and the Aesthetics of the Homeric Hospitality Scene, published by University of Michigan Press) and a book on early Greek etymology (Homer’s Winged Words: Junctural Metanalysis in Homer in the Light of Oral-Formulaic Theory, published by E.J. Brill Press), for which he received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. He has just finished a monograph on ancient letter-writing techniques and is also engaged in a long-term project on allusions to classical literature in Luke-Acts and the letters of Paul, for which he received a FaCE grant through the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.
Reece has done research at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (Lord Fellowship), the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri (NEH Fellowship), the American Academy in Rome (Fulbright Fellowship), and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He has lectured broadly, is called on frequently to act as referee for professional journals and university presses, and has been a consultant for IBM, E.J. Brill Press, and the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition. He has chaired the St. Olaf Department of Classics for two years and served a term as President of the Classical Association of Minnesota. In the summer of 2010 he participated in the archaeological excavations at Tel Megiddo in northern Israel (see photo at right for proof).
In his spare time Reece is a hopeful fisherman, a “wannabee” basketball player, and an indolent bike-rider. Besides being able to speak Japanese with a Tennessee accent, his greatest claims to fame are having climbed a dozen active volcanoes and having served as a consultant for the Hollywood production of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures. He is married to Rhonda Reece, Minister of Music at Bethel Lutheran Church in Northfield; the photo (left) shows them exploring petroglyphs in Colorado. They have a son Taylor, married to Kayli, and a daughter Hannah
Courses in 2015-2016: Semester I = Greek 111 A & B (Beginning Greek I), Greek 375 (Homer and Greek Epic); Interim = Classics 124 (The Many Faces of Homer); Semester II = Greek 112 (Beginning Greek II)
You must be logged in to post a comment.