Prize Possession

Professor Koloski-Ostrow won the university's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer '69 and Joseph Neubauer Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring in 2006.

Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow

Associate Professor and Chair, Classical Studies
Ph.D., University of Michigan

Current research
I have two forthcoming books: "The Archaeology of Sanitation in Roman Italy: Water, Sewers and Toilets (University of North Carolina Press) and "Pompeii and Herculaneum: Roman Daily Life in the Shadow of Vesuvius" (Cambridge University Press). I am in the planning stages of a new book project with physics professor Robert Meyer on how to think like the Romans. This project developed out of a course we co-teach, Roman Technology and Art.

Favorite classroom experience
Watching the faces of my students when it dawns on them (as it does every semester) how valuable and important studying the world of the Greeks and Romans is for understanding our world around us.
 
What makes Brandeis special
Students who are bright and inquisitive and willing to challenge themselves and their professors. Colleagues who care about each other in a way that makes Brandeis a real community.

Last book read for pleasure
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling.

Favorite world city to visit
Rome. A blend of past and present, religious and secular, old and new — plus it has the best gelato on the planet.