Thomas G Palaima

Interests

Biography

Tom Palaima, a MacArthur fellow for his work in Aegean prehistory and early Greek language and culture, is director of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP: see web page). He has held Fulbright fellowships/profesorships in Greece (79-80), Austria (92-93), and Spain (2007) and has been a fellow of the University of Wisconsin Humanities Institute (1983) and the University of Texas Humanities Institute (2002, 2010). In 2007, he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London.  For his public commentaries and service within the University, he was chosen one of three honorable mentions for Longhorn of the Year, Daily Texan, December 2010.

He has lectured, written and taught extensively on the subjects of ancient writing systems, the reconstruction of ancient culture, decipherment theory, Greek language, war and violence studies, ancient religion, ethnicity, feasting ritual and kingship ideology and practice, song as an important means of communicating social criticism, and Dylanology.

He is a regular commentary writer for the Austin American-Statesman and a regular reviewer and occasional feature writer for the Times Higher Education, The Texas Observer and Michigan War Studies Review. He has appeared on NPR, national and Boston, and on Wisconsin Public Radio.

He received the UT Alumni/ae Association's Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching for academic year 2003-2004 and the Plan II Chad Oliver Teaching Award in 2004-2005. He has taught in the Free Minds Program for poverty-level adults, the Odyssey program (one of UT's outreach programs), and many times at UT's annual open house, Explore UT, and in the summer Honors Colloquium.

He has taught UT's Summer Intensive Greek program many years 1997-present: http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/greek/index.html.

With Sara Kimball, he has taught for the Center for Middle Eastern studies and for Undergraduate Studies, courses on how to reconstruct Anatolian Hittite and Aegean Mycenaean cultures through textual, archaeological, art historical and traditional literary sources. He also has strong interest in ancient religion and how it is reconstructed and interpreted.

In public service, he is UT representative on the national Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA) and has given seminars on the experience of warfare, ancient and modern at the Smithsonian Institute, the USMA West Point, and as a Phi Beta Kappa National Traveling Lecturer. He has given seminars on the decipherment of Linear B at the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, MD and at the Smithsonian Institute.

From 2008-2011, he was UT representative on the national Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. His COIA reports for 2009, 2010 and 2011 can be found by searching the UT Faculty Council Web site.