Congratulations to HIAA Assistant Professor Gretel Rodríguez who will serve as the next Director of the Classical Summer School at the American Academy in Rome beginning in Summer 2027. Rodríguez' research focuses on the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Roman Empire, investigating the relationship between art and society and issues of viewership, identity, and acculturation in relation to ancient artistic production.

She has conducted research across Rome, the Bay of Naples, Southern France, and Chiapas, Mexico. Her scholarship has appeared in American Journal of Archaeology, Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, and Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal. Most recently, she was a Spring 2026 Faculty Fellow at Brown's Cogut Institute for the Humanities, where she worked on a project titled Water Sanctuaries of the Roman World.

"I am deeply honored and excited to join the American Academy in Rome as Director of the Classical Summer School," said Rodríguez. "This long-standing program offers students the unique opportunity to learn about Roman art and architecture with the city itself as a living backdrop and, therefore, it will also be a special type of pedagogical experience for me."

"I look forward to incorporating some of my past research on Roman honorific arches and viewer experiences into the design of the course, but I am especially excited about sharing my new research on Mediterranean water cults with the participants. I see this program as a wonderful chance to test and develop new ideas, and I hope this will, in turn, make a meaningful contribution to the students' growth as future scholars and teachers."

The Classical Summer School, founded in 1923, is an intensive five-week program exploring the history, archaeology, art, and material culture of ancient Rome through seminars, site visits, discussions, and student presentations. It is designed for middle school, high school, and university educators, as well as qualified graduate students, who wish to study the development of Rome through its material remains and literary sources.

Congratulations, Gretel!