Classics Major Uses Skills in Unlikely Fields

By Lexi Combs

Students majoring in classics often aim for jobs as museum curators, ministers or college professors, but Josh Snyder has set his goals in a totally different direction.
Snyder, a University of Mississippi junior with a double major in classics and English, is using what he’s learned about Greek and Roman culture to help thwart modern criminal activity. He is pursuing a minor in intelligence and security studies and has interned at the Oxford Police Department, helping detectives obtain and analyze evidence.


“I was interested in classics and English because I did not want to be planted to one discipline but learn a variety of subjects,” said the native of Nashville, Tenn.


Snyder has been working under the guidance of Detective Jimmy Williams at the Oxford Police Department, where he recently helped examine evidence related to the infamous “Panty Bandit” case.
Williams describes Snyder as a “tremendous asset” to the police department, crediting his background in classics with helping him understand police work. The analytical skills gained by studying Greek and Latin have been a tremendous help, Snyder said.


“My critical thinking skills and attention to detail that I had learned in classics became a valuable asset to the Oxford Police Department,” he said. “I learned the first week working at the OPD that thinking outside the box was critical in this line of work.”


Snyder said he was attracted to the intelligence and security studies minor because of the academic challenges and opportunities the program offers.


“The average GPA for students selected into the cohort is a 3.6 and the interview process is quite extensive,” he said.

Carl Jensen, assistant professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, describes the interview process as intense. The program is very selective, requiring determined students with a superior work ethic, he said.
Jensen believes Snyder’s classics background has given him the ability to “look at information that is out there and try and make sense of it.” Being able to translate information to a variety of different sources in an understandable language is an important skill that students in the intelligence studies program must practice, he said.


“The courses refined the critical thinking and analytical reasoning that I had learned in the classics and showed me how to utilize them in the intelligence community,” Snyder said. “Learning how to think critically was the most important skill I have taken away from classics. Learning this concept enabled me to pay attention to the smallest detail and efficiently solve problems.”
Aileen Ajootian, chair and associate professor of classics and art, said she is not surprised by Snyder’s success.


“Classics students are incredibly determined,” she said. “From the time our students begin in the classics I can see them grow, including Josh."


The major provides a good foundation for a variety of career paths, she said.


“Students go in many directions: law school, medical school, library school, they teach Latin,” she said.
A graduate of Goodpasture High School in Nashville, Snyder is the son of Troy and Judy Snyder. He is a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and Eta Sigma Phi classics honor society.


Snyder plans to graduate in spring 2012 and then move on either to law school at Duke University or the graduate program in intelligence studies at Georgetown University. His academic background at UM gives him plenty of options for the future, Snyder said.


“You might not pursue the field of classics when you graduate, but you will apply concepts that you learned, such as logical thinking and problem solving skills, to any career you do,” he said.