Student Spotlight: Tobias Robert Philip
Ph.D. Candidate, Classics
Fulbright U.S. Student Program Fellow
This story includes content originally published by Rutgers Today. Read the full article by Mike Lucas: “Doctoral Student Explores Ancient Critiques of Roman Spectacles in Germany” (July 29, 2025).
A Lifelong Love of Latin
Tobias began studying Latin as his first foreign language and quickly fell in love with it. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Greek and Latin from Swarthmore College before joining Rutgers in 2020. At Rutgers, he completed his M.A. in Classics and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field.
“… what I value most in classical philology is the special ability it gives us to engage with people from the ancient past on their own terms—and the ancients saw the world incredibly differently from the way we do.”
At Rutgers, Tobias has also enjoyed teaching courses on Plato, ancient athletics, and intensive language instruction in both Greek and Latin, experiences that have sharpened both his scholarship and teaching practice.
With support from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Tobias is currently in Heidelberg, Germany, where he is researching and writing his dissertation, Tertullian and the Philosophical Tradition of Anti-Spectacle Thought.
New Ideas in a New Place
Tobias credits his study-abroad experience with shaping his thinking in profound ways. Being part of a different academic department, especially one in another country, has exposed him to new perspectives on ancient texts and a different pedagogical culture in the classics.
“That benefit is very hard to quantify, but it’s been the greatest boon to my research and my formation as a scholar holistically.”
Heidelberg’s rigorous emphasis on close textual study, combined with the insight and feedback from his local academic supervisor, has helped advance his dissertation and overall scholarly growth.
Tobias Robert Philip, who began his studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 2020, sits in the café of the Museum of Romantic Life in the summer of 2023. Courtesy of Tobias Robert Philip
Looking Ahead
Living abroad has given Tobias fresh insight into both his field and himself. He now has a clearer sense of what he values in American academia, and what he might change.
He also notes the importance of the scholarly and personal connections he has made in Germany.
“I’ve also made scholarly and personal bonds that I value very much and hope to maintain long into the future.”
Fun Fact
A fan of opera and early music, Tobias has taken full advantage of Heidelberg’s proximity to world-class opera companies. He also enjoys exploring Romanesque and Baroque architecture throughout southwest Germany.
GradFund’s Role in the Journey
The School of Graduate Studies GradFund Office provides fellowship advising support to graduate students through a peer mentoring model that is designed to complement and to be value-added to the support the graduate student receives from their faculty mentors in their graduate program. The GradFund Fellowship advising team worked with Tobias through a collaborative editing and peer mentoring process to support the development of his application materials.
In Tobias’s case, advisors encouraged him to fully engage with Fulbright’s core mission of cultural exchange and helped him articulate why conducting research in Germany was essential to the success of his dissertation. Together, they refined his narrative to highlight the specific resources he would access abroad, the scholarly community he would engage with, and the value of what he would bring back to the U.S.
When Tobias advanced to the semi-finalist stage, GradFund continued to provide support by helping him navigate the next steps and fulfill additional application requirements. His success is a testament to both the strength of his project and the collaborative advising process.
GradFund is a service of the School of Graduate Studies with the mission of assisting graduate students in applying for external, merit-based, research-focused funding opportunities. We offer several types of individual appointments designed to help students navigate the process of applying for externally funded fellowships and grants successfully. In addition to individual advising appointments, the team provides workshops and webinars on the best practices in fellowship advising and offers students the opportunity to enroll in our Self-Paced Guide to Fellowships and Grants on Canvas. To learn more or to make an appointment, please visit http://grad.rutgers.edu/gradfund.