Professor Gesine Manuwald appointed as Deputy Dean for A&H

Hello Gesine. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at UCL. 

I teach and research on Latin literature and have been at UCL since 2007; since 2012 I have also been Head of Department of Greek and Latin. Thus, my time is split between running the Department, looking after students, teaching modules on Latin language and literature, doing research on Latin texts by myself and together with others, editing book series and journals as well as contributing to various initiatives of national subject bodies.

What are you most excited about going into the Deputy Dean role?

I was delighted to take on the Deputy Dean role since it will enable me to work more closely with colleagues in the Faculty who I have known for some time from the perspective of a Head of Department, to learn even more about other parts of the Faculty (and the Joint Faculties) and to be able to contribute to shaping Faculty policy and to getting the Faculty through this still challenging period.

Where would you like to go abroad once our way of life has returned to normal?

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, to combine looking at exciting ancient ruins with the experience of nice weather, excellent food and beautiful landscape.

If you could develop a new skill - and reach an advanced level within a week - what would it be?

Ideally, I would learn another modern foreign language, to balance my engagement with ancient Greek and Latin. But as a language teacher, I am aware that it would not be realistic to assume that one could achieve an advanced level in any new language within one week.

Which famous person in history would you want to spend the day with?

People probably expect me to answer Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator and politician, since I spend so much of my time reading his works. But I am not sure how much I would have liked his company as a person. Perhaps Quintus Ennius, the early Roman writer of dramas and an epic, on whom I have also worked, would be a more interesting companion. According to the poet Horace (Epistles 1.19), Ennius never ‘leaped up to speak of arms unless he had had a drink’!

What's your favourite city, and why?

London, of course: it has so much to offer in all sorts of ways. And I agree with Samuel Johnson (1777): ‘When a man [in the sense of "individual"] is tired of London, he is tired of life.’

• View Professor Gesine Manuwald's UCL staff profile
• UCL Department of Greek & Latin