A Class(ics) Act
Passion for learning wins Chrol T.A. award
By Christine E. Shade, USC Chronicle
Chatting with E. Del Chrol, it’s easy to understand why his students are so taken with his teaching style and why the university has honored him with the 2003 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. When Chrol, a classics doctoral candidate, talks about teaching, he wraps you in his enthusiasm, love of learning and offbeat style.
As part of his training, Chrol has been a teaching assistant under the supervision of professor Thomas Habinek and assistant professor Phiroze Vasunia in the department of classics at USC College. His professors and students describe him as knowledgeable, witty, unassuming and generous in sharing his own experiences to explain class concepts.
“The students really respect him,” says Vasunia, for whom he taught Classical Mythology. “The scores on his teaching evaluations were amazingly high.” Vasunia adds that Chrol once gave a guest lecture on Euripides’ tragedy “Hippolytus,” and the students wanted him back for additional lectures.
“I enjoy classics,” says Chrol. “It’s extremely useful for exploring the hierarchy we find in our society and for finding out about the nature of power.”
Chrol, who also is an assistant lecturer for Latin I and Latin II, enjoys teaching the broad mix of students he works with in his classes—young people whose views are still forming. “There are those who have not yet thought about the world or their place in it, be they random, cool or indifferent about it,” he says. His goal is to help broaden his students’ consciousness.
Junior Chris Koontz took Latin I, Latin II and Diversity in the Ancient World with Chrol. “He has a real enthusiasm for the material,” says Koontz. “His classes are challenging enough for the brightest student, but still helpful to the struggling student.”
In addition to this newest teaching honor, Chrol has garnered several Graduate Student Teaching Awards from the department of classics, among other awards. “I’m a classicist, not used to the limelight,” Chrol says. “But it’s gratifying to be recognized for doing something that you love.”
Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Chrol earned his B.A. in Greek and Latin from Rutgers University in 1995, and his M.A. in Greek and Latin from the University of Maryland in 1997.
When not immersed in the classics, he writes poetry and fiction and is a member of USC’s fencing club.
Upon graduating, Chrol plans to continue doing exactly what he loves most—teaching.
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