Michael Barnes, Ph.D.

Michael Barnes is a professor in the Honors College of the University of Houston. Before joining the Honors College in 2018, he was on the faculty of the University of Missouri’s Department of Classical Studies, having earned his Ph.D. in classical languages and literature in 2003. Prof. Barnes’ areas of specialization are Greek and Roman epic poetry, Hellenistic literature and culture, and the classical tradition. He is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the Matthew B. and Tamara Steele Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019 and, in 2010, the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching. He has taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses in Greek and Latin and Greek and Roman literature, history, and culture. He also designs and leads the Honors College’s summer study abroad program in Greece, “A Greek Odyssey.”