Faculty Profile: Meet Paul Archer
“I became interested in Latin and Greek because the literature was fascinating to me. Studying these languages brought me closed to the literature I loved. This close language study is what I try to bring to my students.”
A native Californian, Paul Archer studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and attended graduate school at Kings College in Cambridge. He considered becoming a journalist, and his first teaching job at the Crossroads School in California was, at first, simply a way to make a living. However, he found himself drawn to the profession. Paul then taught at the Laurel School in Ohio and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he served as chair of the classics department. He came to Milton in 2007, where he was delighted to find a passionate, engaged student body.
“Their independence is what makes Milton students unique,” Paul says. “From the first moment of their Class IV experience, they’re taught to use their voices. At orientation, their first drill is to stand in a giant circle, taking turns stepping out and shouting out their name and where they’re from. That becomes a refrain of their time here: They have a voice. Being at Milton, students come to understand that they are going to make things happen.”
Paul teaches several Latin courses in both the Upper and Middle School. In Latin Literature, the focus is Vergil’s Aeneid.
“Virgil is the poet who reminds Rome of its greatness and of what it can be. In some sense, his work is political poetry.”
Paul also teaches Roman Elegy, an advanced course offered some semesters.
“We read different poems about Rome from a lover’s perspective. It’s not the heroic Rome, the triumphant Rome, or the Rome with all the hoopla. It’s about relationships, and it’s very personal poetry. At times it appears simplistic, but it’s actually very sophisticated wordplay, with great themes worked into intimate language.”
Paul’s interest in journalism continues; he is the faculty advisor to The Milton Paper, one of Milton’s two student newspapers. He reviews the students’ copy weekly, in an advisory capacity, not as an editor. This fall, the student staff ran a series of writing workshops for over 60 students to focus on boosting the journalistic quality of the paper.
“The students gain so many valuable skills working on The Paper: choosing what to write about, getting it out every week, learning how to write and how to edit. They’re in charge of all of it, from start to finish. They’re quite dedicated to their work, and they take it seriously.”
Paul also shares Class I dean responsibilities with science faculty member Elizabeth Lillis.
“In my Latin courses, I’m dealing with a fairly small group of students. Being class dean helps me get to know more students, and in other ways—not only being in touch with their academic lives, but with their social lives as well. And that’s important.”
On his own time, Paul loves to travel with his wife, Andrea, and daughter, Rhiannon, who recently graduated from Oxford. This spring break he hopes to lead a student trip to Rome, Pompeii and Florence.
