Updated August 7, 2009

What is the UC Tri-Campus Program? Inaugurated in 1998, this innovative program brings together faculty members in Classics and related disciplines from the three southernmost University of California campuses (Irvine, Riverside, and San Diego). The Tri-Campus Program, housed on the Irvine campus, features a rich curriculum and program of study that unites the main currents of modern literary, cultural, and social-scientific theory with the traditional skills and methodologies of Classical philology.

What are the Program's Goals? The aim of the Tri-Campus Program is to provide an educational environment for pursuing a graduate career in Classics that is closely integrated into the main currents of humanistic and social scientific scholarship. The Program's faculty recognizes that today and in the future teachers of the Classics must possess and develop expertise beyond the standard specialties of the traditional Classics Ph.D. degree.

To achieve these goals, the Program and curriculum are designed around five principles:

• Study the ancient texts and objects in their wider social, cultural, and historical contexts.
• Bring the culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans into the purview of contemporary literary and sociological theory.
• Examine the reception of ancient literature and culture by later cultures and the appropriation of the ancient world by the modern world.
• Pay particular attention to the intersections of Greek and Roman society and culture with each other and with the other cultures of the ancient world.
• Utilize to the fullest the potential of new computing technologies as tools for research and teaching.

These five interdisciplinary principles are embodied in the four Core Courses (Classics 200A, 200B, 200C, and 201). Graduate seminars (Classics 220) round out the program of study.

Where do I apply? Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the Graduate Advisor before beginning the application process. Because instruction and administrative functions take place on the Irvine campus, students will normally apply to UC Irvine, but the Graduate Advisor may encourage some applicants to apply to UC Riverside or UC San Diego, for reasons of academic interest or to take advantage of particular funding opportunities. All applications to the Tri-Campus Graduate Program are reviewed by an admissions committee composed of members from all three campuses.

Where is the Tri-Campus Program located? UC Irvine is located five miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, fifty miles south of metropolitan Los Angeles, forty-five miles southwest of UC Riverside and seventy miles north of UC San Diego. In addition to its beaches, mountains and deserts, Southern California offers excellent cultural amenities such as museums, theater, dance, opera, and music.