Tara Welch

Tara Welch is an Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and a professor in the Department of Classics, which she served as chair from 2013 to 2022. Welch received a BA in Latin and Greek from the University of Southern California, completed an Honours BA in Literae Humaniores at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford, and earned her PhD in Classics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Welch studies Latin literature and ancient Roman culture, focusing particularly on the Augustan era. Her research examines the ways the Romans used discourse, such as poetic genre, myth, or historical examples, to mark, expand, or restrict membership in a desired community. Her articles appear in the American Journal of Philology, Classical Antiquity, and Transactions of the American Philological Association, among others. She is co-editor of Oxford Readings in Propertius and author of two books: The Elegiac Cityscape and Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth; her work for the latter was supported by a Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Most recently, Welch has authored introductory essays for new translations of Ovid Heroides and Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica.

As a faculty member in the Department of Classics, Welch has taught Latin language from the introductory through graduate level as well as varied courses in ancient culture, such as Greek and Roman Mythology and Roman Oratory in Theory and Practice. Professor Welch’s dedication to student success was recognized with the H.O.P.E. (Honor for the Outstanding Progressive Educator) Award in 2015—an honor bestowed exclusively by students for excellence in teaching.