Sarah Beal, a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Department of Classics, has won the Graduate School's Three Minute Thesis Competition. The competition challenges students to present their research in three minutes with a single PowerPoint slide. Sarah presented on her dissertation, "From Symposium to Convivium: Social Life in Roman Athens," which explores the locally-produced tablewares excavated from homes around the Athenian Agora dating to the 3rd century CE. Her dissertation prioritizes the function and utility of tablewares over typologies, allowing for a deeper examination of the social dynamics behind how people were eating their food.

In addition to the Three Minute Thesis, Sarah was chosen by the Graduate School as the Doctoral recipient of the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award. Sarah will now be nominated by the university to compete for both the Three Minute Thesis and Excellence in Teaching awards through the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools.