Dean's Office

After receiving her B.A. and Ph.D. in Classics at Stanford University, Dr. Honora Howell Chapman came to Fresno State in 2002 as an Assistant Professor of Classics and Humanities, and soon became the Coordinator of Classics in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures. From May 2009 to June 2014, she served as the Director of the Smittcamp Family Honors College.  Dr. Chapman became associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities in January 2016 and began serving as interim dean in July 2019. She was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities in May 2021.

In 2013, Dr. Chapman received the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. She also inaugurated the university lecture series Fresno State Talks in Spring 2013 and delivered the first Fresno State Convocation faculty address in August 2014. 

As a scholar, Dr. Chapman has focused especially upon the crossroads of cultures in the Greek texts of Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian. Dr. Chapman contributed both translation and commentary to the Brill Josephus Project volume Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, ed. Steve Mason, vol. 1a: Judean War 2 (2008); she is currently working on Judean War 5. Her latest publication is the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Josephus, co-edited with Zuleika Rodgers (Trinity College Dublin), 2016.

Dr. Chapman currently serves on the boards of San Joaquin Valley Town Hall and California Humanities.

Dr. Chapman’s family has roots in the San Joaquin Valley stretching back to the 1860s, making her a fourth-generation resident. She looks forward to helping the College’s faculty and staff ensure that future generations of Fresno State students enjoy a superior, enriched education in the Arts and Humanities so that they may help this Valley continue to grow more culturally and intellectually vibrant.

Dr. Sergio La Porta has returned as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities after serving as the Interim Dean of the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Prior to assuming the position of Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, he was the Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies. His most recent book publication, co-authored with Dr. Alison Vacca, is entitled, An Armenian Futūḥ Narrative: Łewond’s Eighth-Century History of the Caliphate (Chicago: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, 2024). In addition, Dr. La Porta has published on the Armenian commentaries on the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, and numerous articles on medieval Armenian intellectual history and cultural interactions with the Islamicate, Byzantine, and Latinate worlds.