David F. Elmer is the Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Department of Classics, the Eliot Professor of Greek Literature and Faculty Dean of Eliot House. He also serves as the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) and eligibility officer for intercollegiate sports.
Elmer is a scholar of ancient Greek literature, whose primary interests are divided between the Homeric epics and the much later prose narratives commonly referred to as the "Greek Novels." In his teaching especially, but also in his research, Elmer makes occasional forays into the millennium or so of literary history that intervenes between the epics and the novels.
Elmer grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began studying Greek and Latin as a student at St. Ignatius High School. He got his BA in Classics from Harvard College in 1998, a Masters of Comparative Literature from Harvard in 2002 and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard in 2005. Elmer's dissertation topic was "Homeric epaineo: The Politics of Reception and the Poetics of Consent", with examination fields in Ancient Greek (primary field), Latin and Croatian/Serbian.
