Bob Connor sometimes describes himself as a renegade classicist – someone trained in Greek, Latin and ancient history, a professor of Classics at Princeton who moved on to become Director of the National Humanities Center in North Carolina and later President of the New York based Teagle Foundation.
There is, however, a common denominator to his career - a strong belief in the value of an education grounded in the humanities and especially in the Greek and Roman classics. This derives to a large extent from his undergraduate education at Hamilton College, a Fulbright fellowship at University College, Oxford, and his graduate education in Classics at Princeton University.
He taught for several years at the University of Michigan, then returned to Princeton, where he taught in and chaired the department of Classics, and the Humanities Council. He was instrumental in developing Princeton’s seminar program for first year students, and in founding its Program in Hellenic Studies. The Humanities Council under his leadership strengthened the humanities in several ways, including by recruiting eminent scholars and writers for the university’s faculty, among them the novelist Toni Morrison.
Beginning in 1989 the National Humanities Center under his leadership developed new programs in areas of contemporary concern, notably its initiative on Civil Society. During his time as its president and director, the Center expanded its work to improve high school and college teaching, while also strengthening the endowment that supports its core fellowship program.
During his presidency (2003 – 2009), the Teagle Foundation developed programs re-affirming the Foundation's long-standing commitment to higher education and re-focused it on improving student learning in the liberal arts and sciences.
Bob now lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina with his wife, the Byzantinist Carolyn Connor. His best-known books are The New Politicians of Fifth Century Athens (1972) and Thucydides (1984). Many of his more recent publications explore ancient Greek thinking about politics and its ability to shed light on contemporary affairs. These essays include “A Vacuum at the Center” (on demagogy and populism), “When Hyperbole Enters Politics,” and “Pericles on Democracy.”