Established in 2011, the Open Graduate Education program builds on the traditions of free inquiry and collaborative research at Brown.  The program allows select Brown doctoral students to pursue a master’s degree in a secondary field.  Originally a PhD student in the Classics Department, Clare Kearns will now pursue an MA in Comparative Literature, focusing on Ancient Greek, Latin, English literature.  Clare’s research interests include Imperial Greek literature, the ancient novel, Greco-Roman tragedy and its reception, narrative theory, gender and sexuality studies, and Classical reception in 20th and 21st century anti-colonial literature.

Clare came to Brown in 2020, after receiving her BA with a double major in Classics and Comparative Literature from The University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on representations of raced and gendered social marginality in Greek fiction written under the Roman Empire. She has a secondary interest in moments of Classical Reception in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa. These two projects are conceptually united by the common threads of identity and empire.

Clare is also pursuing Brown’s graduate certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies through the Pembroke Center. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and exploring New England.