Nicole is an MA student in the Classical Studies program. She works within the intersection of classics and Roman history, with an emphasis on provincial and non-elite history. She has employed various approaches to these topics in her time at Columbia. Using GIS, she has analyzed the connection between Gallia Narbonensis and Rome through five centuries with topography maps, trade routes, cult and imperial centers, and later pilgrimage routes. She also explored the complex negotiations of Gallic identity during the Tetrarchic period through the Panegyrici Latini and Laudes Domini, and, likewise, the "negotiation" involved in the donation and decoration of the Arch of the Argentarii at Rome.
Nicole received her BS in Civil Engineering from Tufts University in 2017 with a minor in History. After realizing her interest in the subject, she remained at Tufts to pursue an MA in History, which she received in 2019. At Tufts, Nicole worked as a teaching assistant for Byzantine and European History classes. Following her degree, she spent a year working at the Old North Church Historic site, where she taught about eighteenth-century Colonial American history and religion. In January 2020, Nicole worked as a teaching assistant on the Institute of American Universities' traveling Mediterranean Basin seminar, which visited museums and archaeological sites in Greece, Italy, and France.
Nicole is currently working with Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library to organize their collection of epigraphy stones and ostraca–with her particular interest being in funerary epigraphy and guild donations. She also works as a peer Mentor with Columbia's first-year MA cohort, serves as the MA representative for Classical Studies on the Arts and Sciences Graduate Council, and is a member of the Quality of Life committee. Nicole hopes to continue exploring her research interests at a PhD program in Fall 2022 and looks forward to the teaching opportunities it will bring. Email Nicole Allora.