May 18, 2009

Dr. Honora Howell Chapman, associate professor of classics and humanities, has been selected as director of the Smittcamp Family Honors College at California State University, Fresno.

She succeeds Dr. Stephen Rodemeyer, who is retiring after serving as the honors college’s director for its first 10 years.

Chapman received her Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Classics from Stanford University. She joined the California State University, Fresno faculty in 2002 and became the coordinator of classics. She received a Provost’s Award for Promising New Faculty in 2006.

Chapman is an acknowledged expert on Josephus, the first-century Jewish priest and general who moved to Rome after the Jewish War and wrote the history of his people. She was the co-chair of the Josephus Seminar/Group of the Society of Biblical Literature from 2000-2008 and co-author of “Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary,” a multivolume collection of all of Josephus’ works.

In 2006, she helped to organize the Fresno State College of Arts and Humanities Honors Program and taught its first cohort.