Joy Connolly

Joy Connolly is a scholar of ancient Roman rhetoric and political thought and their influence on modernity, with a doctorate in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she serves as the president of the American Council of Learned Societies and serves on multiple boards, including those of the National Humanities Alliance and the Journal for the History of Ideas. Connolly spent much of her career as an educator, including a position as the City University of New York’s provost and interim president, where she established a major initiative to transform doctoral education. She is the author of two books on ancient Rome, the writer of over seventy articles, book reviews, and essays, and a strong advocate for the public funding of higher education as a keystone of democracy.