Erika Harnett earned her B.A. in Classics from Temple University in 1974 and a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College in 1986. Her dissertation centered on the study of Roman sculpture in its civic context at the ancient town of Minturnae in southern Italy. She has worked as a field archaeologist in Israel, Romania, and at Franklin Court, the site of Benjamin Franklin’s house in Philadelphia. With over 40 years of teaching experience, Dr. Harnett has taught Latin at every level- from 4th graders to graduate students. For most of her career she was at Friends’ Central School, where she received an award for excellence in teaching.

Although Dr. Harnett was prepared to retire from teaching high school in June of 2018, she reconsidered after leading a group of her students on a tour of Italy at the end of the academic year and realized how much she was going to miss the enthusiasm and energy of this age group. Because her academic specialty is in classical archaeology, her method of teaching is multidisciplinary, incorporating archaeology, history, art, and music into the language curriculum. A number of her students over the years have been gold medalists for their performance on the National Latin Exam and, several who chose to continue their study of Classics at the undergraduate and graduate levels have been recipients of awards in Latin and related disciplines at their colleges.

Dr. Harnett is also an adjunct professor of Latin at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Her current hobbies are playing Baroque music on the viola and gardening. She has lived in nearby Glenside for thirty-one years and is excited to be part of the learning community at Martin Saints, a school that for the first time in her life is within walking distance.