Biography
Joseph J. Walsh received his A.B. from Fairfield University, the M.A. from the State
University of New York at Buffalo, and the Ph.D. from the State University of Texas
at Austin. He is currently professor of classics and history, previously served a
long and fruitful period as chair of the department of classics. He is a fellow of
the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and of the American Academy in
Rome, as well as a recipient of a DAAD fellowship. At Loyola he has taught introductory,
intermediate and advanced Greek and Latin, literature in translation, and many courses
in the history department and Catholic studies program.
He won the 2007 Excellence in Teaching at the College Level Award from the American
Philological Association (the principal learned and professional society for classical
studies in North America). He has been a frequent member of Loyola's honors program
faculty. At various times he has served as director of Loyola's Humanities Symposium,
honors program, and study abroad program at the Katholike Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium.
Professor Walsh has published in both American and European journals on the classical
tradition, the Roman conquest of Greece, Charles Dickens, and early Christianity.
His book, Were They Wise Men or Kings? The Book of Christmas Questions, appeared in summer 2001. His article, "Newman's Idea of a Classical University,"
Renascence 56.1 (2003): 21-41, won the Joseph M. Schwartz Memorial Essay award for
best article published in the journal Renascence the past two years. His most recent
article, "Washington Irving's Comic Aeneas and the Apotheosis of Santa Claus," appeared
in Classical and Modern Literature 26.2 (2006): 22-49.