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The College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) has appointed Anthony Tuck, professor of classics and associate dean for faculty and academic affairs, as the inaugural Caroline H. Horvitz Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology.

The appointment is made possible by a $1.5 million gift from Jeffrey Horvitz to endow the professorship in memory of his late daughter, Caroline H. Horvitz, who served as a lecturer in the college’s Department of Classics. 

Tuck, who has taught at UMass Amherst since 2006, was a pivotal figure in Horvitz’s academic career. Tuck directs the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Field School in Murlo, Italy, where Caroline spent her summers cataloging Etruscan finds from 2015 to 2017. He subsequently hired her to join the classics department as a lecturer in 2023.

“I am grateful to the Horvitz family for their generous gift to endow the Caroline H. Horvitz Professorship in Mediterranean Archaeology,” says Maria del Guadalupe Davidson, dean of HFA. “Anthony Tuck’s appointment as the inaugural Caroline H. Horvitz Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology is a fitting tribute to Caroline’s legacy and to the field she loved. A distinguished scholar and the person who first brought Caroline to UMass Amherst, Tony embodies the spirit of excellence, mentorship, and commitment to students that this professorship was created to honor.”

Horvitz, born in Miami, Florida, in 1988, had severe cerebral palsy and profound deafness. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College and two master’s degrees from Simmons College, where she wrote her thesis on Etruscan fibulae. A linguistic savant, she could read in English, Latin, Italian and French, and understood several sign languages. She died on April 24, 2025, at age 36. 

“There was a purity to Caroline’s vocation that was obvious from the first moment we met. She embodied a commitment to see the ancient world more clearly and share that vision more completely than nearly anyone I’ve ever known,” Tuck says. “The opportunity to work with her, first as a teacher and then as a colleague, was a constant reminder of just how fortunate I am to do this kind of work. To continue Caroline’s work through this Professorship is also a chance to do so with the same joyfulness and determination she radiated. I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity to do it in her name.”

Tuck’s research focuses on social, economic, and political development in early urban Italy, with a particular emphasis on the Etruscan site at Poggio Civitate (Murlo), where he serves as director of excavations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College and a doctorate from Brown University.

The appointment carries a three- to five-year term, with the option for renewal. More information about the Caroline H. Horvitz Professorship in Mediterranean Archaeology can be found here and on the Accelerate UMass Amherst website.