Dr. Darius Arya, archaeologist, professor, documentary host and co-founder and CEO of the American Institute for Roman Culture, will present “How can we tell stories successfully about history through social and digital media?” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Shawkey Dining Room in the Memorial Student Center.
A Huntington native, Arya said he developed a passion for history, Latin and the Romans in none other than our city’s schools. That passion would take him on a journey from Huntington, across the United States, to Rome and back a couple of times, and finally back to Rome where he works with AIRC to tell Rome’s story, in part through social and digital media.
Having been overseas for the majority of this century, Arya said he is happy to be coming back to his hometown to speak about his work in Rome. He said he is looking forward to exploring ways to engage the Huntington community, as well as students from many disciplines, including history, the classics, mass communications, journalism, and art and design.
“It’s all in order to talk about how we can preserve our common history and heritage through new media outlets,” Arya said.
Arya has appeared as a guest lecturer, expert and host for numerous documentaries, including ones for the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and the National Geographic Channel, while AIRC’s social media sites have more than 50,000 followers, likes and pins.
Arya received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He first studied in Rome in 1992, and returned to the city in 1998 on a Fulbright Fellowship. He is a Rome Prize recipient from the American Academy in Rome in 2000 and received a fellowship from the university.
For more information about AIRC, visit www.romanculture.org.
