Marco digitizes medieval sources and welcomes new faculty in its ongoing mission to elevate the connections between—and make purposeful sense of—the past and the present.
UT’s Marco Institute is an internationally acclaimed center for the study of the history and culture of the premodern world. Directed by Associate Professor of French Anne-Hélène Miller, the center keeps momentum with a rich schedule of lectures, workshops, and symposia and offers multiple fellowship opportunities for faculty and graduate students. Award-winning faculty from across the College of Arts and Sciences work with Marco, representing a wide range of disciplines, an interdisciplinary approach, and collaborative enterprises that contribute to the intellectual life of the UT campus, the Knoxville community, and beyond.
For summer 2026, Marco continues its non-credit Summer Language Program.
“This year, we are offering three levels of Latin courses as well as two levels of Syriac,” said Ryan Goodman, Marco program manager. “Our Latin classes have near-record enrollment, and this year marks our first ever Intermediate Syriac course. We are planning future languages to add in coming years, including Old English, Byzantine Greek, and Cherokee.”
A new Marco benefit offered for students is the institute’s recently established Laura Howes Graduate Student Research and Travel Endowment, in honor of Professor Emerita Laura Howes.
“This fellowship will allow students more opportunities to travel to Europe to conduct research in libraries and archives as part of their doctoral dissertation work,” said Goodman.
Search the online TOMES
Marco also launched a new online digital resource this year for teaching premodern studies. The TOMES—the Toolkit of Online Medieval Educational Sources—website includes lesson plans, media assets, handouts, assignments, assessments, and more for educators looking to lead a lesson or unit on a range of medieval and Renaissance subjects.
“TOMES draws on the experience and expertise of our faculty and graduate students to provide teachers with materials developed by subject experts in an easy-to-use format ready to be taken right into the classroom,” said Goodman.
English major Sam Gleason, Marco’s Public Humanities Graduate Fellow, and history master’s student Nick Robinson, Marco/History Graduate Research Assistant, were instrumental in developing these lesson plans.
“We are hoping to host a one-day teacher professional development workshop with middle and high school teachers from around Tennessee to officially launch and promote TOMES during the fall semester,” said Goodman.
New Faculty and Continued Programming
Two new faculty members join Marco this year. Duncan Hardy, a specialist of the Holy Roman Empire and high/late medieval German history, will join the Department of History as an associate professor. Allison Hardy will join as a teaching assistant professor of medieval and Renaissance studies. She will also serve as Marco’s undergraduate program coordinator, teaching the 200-level medieval and Renaissance survey classes and helping to advise undergraduate students and develop new undergraduate curriculum over the coming years.
Looking ahead to the fall semester, Marco will host the Southeastern Renaissance Society’s conference in October and the annual Riggsby Lecture in November.
“The conference will feature scholars from around the southeast presenting on Renaissance history, literature, art, music, and more,” said Goodman. “We will be announcing the Riggsby speaker soon.”
Through these engaging activities and resources, the Marco Institute keeps the history, culture, and insight of the medieval and Renaissance world alive and relevant for Vols who look to build deep, interdisciplinary foundations for their academic pathways.
by Randall Brown