Marc Mastrangelo, professor of classical studies, was born in Boston and raised in Framingham, Mass. He attended Amherst College as a first-generation student, where he majored in classics, with minors in religion and philosophy. He then studied at Oxford for his MA and at Brown for his Ph.D.

Mastrangelo said that his interest in classics really started when he took a Latin class in undergrad. His professor, a “very intimidating Englishman, who had studied at Oxford” looked at him and said “you know, you’re actually pretty good at this.” which gave him the confidence to pursue becoming a classicist.

When he was at school, Mastrangelo said that professors did not care if students went to class and that there was no attendance. He said all that mattered was taking the tests and writing the papers.

An example of this was when Mastrangelo had a football related injury his sophomore year of college and had to go to Boston for an operation.

“I returned to campus, but didn’t go to class for the rest of the semester; four weeks.” Mastraneglo said “Then finals came along and I realized I had to finish all the classes. In the fourth week, I went to my Latin class, and [my professor] saw me walking in with crutches and a big brace. He exclaimed ‘Marc, Marc, what on earth have you done?’ I told him I blew my knee out playing football. He said, ‘Haven’t I told you many times before, exercise is bad for you.’”

Mastrangelo played for his college’s football team, which went undefeated his senior year. He was also a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, “We got closed down my senior year.” said Mastrangelo “I had nothing to do with it.”

At Dickinson, Mastrangelo researches the transition from Pagan Europe to Christian Europe under the Roman Empire. Although he used to be involved in student life, he is now the faculty liaison to the football team and is the co-founder of the humanities collective, which runs the “Ideas the Shaped the World” first-year seminar.

Even his free time, Mastrangelo likes to read about politics. He also enjoys going to sporting events and musical performances. He coaches a youth basketball team and likes spending time with his wife and two kids.