Timothy Johnson

Timothy Johnson was appointed dean of the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs (LCWA) in 2018, after serving as interim dean the previous two years.

Johnson is the fourth dean in the history of the school, which has as its mission to prepare students to become discerning, knowledgeable and engaged citizens in an ever-changing, interconnected global world. The school exemplifies internationalism, offering degree programs in African American studies; archaeology; Classics; French, Francophone and Italian studies; German and Russian studies; Hispanic studies; international studies; Jewish studies; Latin American and Caribbean studies – not to mention seven stand-alone minors. These programs together encompass 13 different languages.

Prior to his appointment as dean, Johnson served as professor and chair of the Department of Classics, a position he held since coming to the College of Charleston in 2011. Before joining the College, he was a member of the faculty at Truman State University, Baylor University and the University of Florida. He holds a doctoral degree in classical philology from the University of Illinois and also studied at the University of Kentucky and the University of Pennsylvania. A specialist in Classical lyric poetry, his research is centered on the relationship between literature, politics and community. He has authored award-winning books on the Roman lyricist Horace, A Symposion of Praise: Horace Returns to Lyric in Odes IV (University of Wisconsin Press) and Horace’s Iambic Criticism (Mnemosyne Series, Brill), which have established him as a leading international voice in Horatian studies. Along with scholarly journal articles on poets of the Augustan period, he has been a member of editorial boards for Classical Journal and Bryn Mawr Classical Review, and served as editor for a special issue on Homer for Classical World and editor for the Religious Studies Review, publishing more than 900 book reviews.

Johnson’s teaching career covers a variety of courses dealing with Greek and Latin languages and cultures. He has studied internationally at the Vatican Library and lived in Rome. He has frequently led study-abroad programs in Rome and southern Italy as well as Greece.