Kimberly Bowes Named BFC Presidential Professor of Classical Studies

Kimberly Bowes has been named BFC Presidential Professor of Classical Studies. Bowes has been a professor in the School of Arts & Sciences since 2010. Her research interests include Roman archaeology and economic history, with a particular focus on the lived experiences of the ancient poor.

In her forthcoming book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent (Princeton University Press 2025), Bowes proposes a new economic history of the Roman world, one centered on working people. Bowes is also the author or editor of seven previous books, most recently The Roman Peasant Project 2009-2015: Excavating the Roman Rural Poor (Penn Museum/University of Pennsylvania Press 2021), the first systematic study of the lifeways and experiences of Roman peasants, of which Bowes was the co-director. The publication received the Archaeological Institute of America Anna Marguerite McCann Award for Fieldwork Reports.

Bowes has received support for her research from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Loeb Foundation, the 1984 Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Packard Humanities Institute. Bowes was also the 22nd director of the American Academy in Rome.

Having served on several committees and working groups since joining the Penn community, Bowes is currently Director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars program, Chair of the Curriculum Committee of the School of Arts & Sciences, Undergraduate Chair of the Department of Classical Studies, and a member of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility.

The BFC Presidential Professorship was established anonymously in 2019.