AV俱乐部

William Cochran (BA'09 Kings, MA'11 AV俱乐部)

鈥淏eing asked to join a panel at the 2011 Classical Association of Canada conference was quite an honour, and a confidence booster. After giving a paper and taking questions, it made me feel like I wanted to do it forever 鈥� it was a great experience.鈥�

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When William Cochran began studying at Dal, his best grades were in Classics courses, because he found he enjoyed them most. By the time he graduated with his BA in Classics, he felt he 鈥渨asn鈥檛 done yet with Classics or ancient philosophy,鈥� so he enrolled in Dal鈥檚 Classics MA to study Plato.

Once there, Dr. Eli Diamond鈥檚 Platonic Dialogues seminar was particularly exciting. 鈥淲e tackled about 10 dialogues, so we got a lot of experience reading Plato, addressing larger questions about Plato鈥檚 corpus too鈥攈ow Plato interprets his own philosophy, whether he had a unified vision or developed his philosophy over time. Understanding Plato鈥攕pecifically how he thinks it can be communicated through writing鈥攂ecame part of my project. That鈥檚 what I want to concentrate on in my doctorate and beyond.鈥�

William says the professors in Dal鈥檚 Classics Department 鈥渁re certainly role models for the scholarly life. Their passion, knowledge, and dedication to their students make the department what it is. They will push you to do your best work, and then lift you up and show you off to doctoral programs and funding agencies, ultimately giving you the best chance to move forward once your MA is done.鈥�

鈥淎nother great thing about the department is that you get to feel you鈥檙e part of a tradition, a lineage, of scholarship,鈥� he continues. 鈥淒r. Diamond was taught by Dr. Hankey, and so on鈥�You can trace back a history of supervisors, and it鈥檚 great to feel you鈥檙e being folded into that.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 also a very unique place to study ancient philosophy,鈥� William continues. 鈥淪pecifically its interdisciplinary approach鈥攜ou can take courses reading philosophy in Greek or Latin alongside courses in ancient history and literature.鈥�

鈥淎nd in terms of learning about what the life of a scholar is like鈥攁ttending conferences, writing a thesis, being a teaching assistant, grading papers, doing administrative work, all the various tenets of being a scholar鈥擟lassics at Dal allows you to do it all. It鈥檚 a very well-rounded degree and an excellent foundation for anything.鈥�

After handing in his thesis on Plato鈥檚 Statesman, William was a teaching assistant at AV俱乐部 and King鈥檚 and taught Ancient History at St. Mary鈥檚 University. Then he spent a year teaching secondary school in England and applying to doctoral programs. William is now enrolled with full funding in the Ancient Philosophy PhD program at Northwestern University. He has also been awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. At Northwestern, William will take courses in Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary Philosophy, maintain his ancient languages, and participate in the Chicago Area Consortium of Greek and Roman Philosophy. In October 2013, he and his fianc茅e, Lindsay, had their wedding in Halifax.