Ismini Lamb | Department of Classics

Ismini Lamb is a Full Teaching Professor, the Director of the Modern Greek Studies Program, and the 2026 recipient of the Faculty of Literatures, Cultures, and Language Studies Distinguished Faculty Service Award. She has been teaching Greek language, history, literature, and culture at Georgetown for over thirty years. Ismini loves sharing the continuity of Hellenic civilization from antiquity to the present with her students. In addition to language courses, she offers diverse electives such as 20th Century Greek Literature, World Visions of Modern Greece, Greek Society and Popular Culture, Byzantine History and Civilization, and The Orthodox Faith in Greek Culture. In 1979, she founded Georgetown's student Hellenic association, and for the past 15 years, she has mentored the organization as the Director of the Modern Greek Program.

Ismini’s research interests include Hellenic identity and expression, national and ecumenical Hellenism, and social, political, and humanitarian issues in contemporary Greece. Besides researching new courses, she has conducted research as a C.S. Lewis Fellow, Doyle Faculty Fellow, and as the recipient of research grants from both the FLL Summer Academic Grant program and the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her latest research project was a collaborative undertaking to create a prototype of a community of interest that would share information on all things Hellenic throughout the Greek diaspora.

Ismini speaks frequently to audiences on Greek history, culture, and current affairs and regularly sponsors events on all aspects of Hellenism for the Georgetown and wider Washington, D.C. community. She has published books, articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces in both English and Greek. Her articles have been features in the Journal of American Diplomacy, The Mediterranean Quarterly, The New European, Kathimerini, Naftemporiki, The National Herald, and other periodicals. She is the authorized biographer of George Horton, the American philhellene, classicist, poet, best-selling author, diplomat, ethnographer, and humanitarian. After a decade of research, she co authored The Gentle American: George Horton's Odyssey and His True Account of the Smyrna Catastrophe (Gorgias Press, 2022). In 2025, she and her co-author published an abridged Greek-language edition of the biography: Η Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης μέσα από την Οδύσσεια του Αμερικανού Προξένου (Govostis Publishing).

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A partial list of her recent publications that are available online includes the following:

Greek Academics & Truth about Asia Minor Atrocities, Aug 2026

George Horton, Pontic Genocide, & Historical Revisionism, Jun 2026 .

The Road to Auschwitz Began in Smyrna, Jan 2026

One Jeer and Two Cheers, Dec 2025

An Incredible Event Forgotten, July 2025

Honoring History, Hellas, and Hellenic Veterans, Nov 2024 .

The Lausanne Treaty and the Middle East, Nov 2023

George Horton's Truth on Genocide and Smyrna and Why it Matters, Summer 2023

Honoring Diplomats Punished for Doing Their Job Well, May 2023 .

Replacing the Invisibility of Genocide Remembrance with Indivisibility, 5 19 2023