Academic Affairs engages, empowers and educates the ACG community through transformational approaches to impact students learning and develop global citizens of the world. It provides leadership and resources to support the intellectual and professional growth of students, faculty and staff.
Professor Nick Antonopoulos
Vice President, Academic Affairs
The American College of Greece
Nick is currently the Vice President Research & Innovation as well as the founding Dean of the School of Science & Technology at The American College of Greece. Nick is responsible for all research & commercialisation activities of the College as well as its graduate studies provision. He is also leading the School of Science & Technology operations and forming its strategy for the future. Nick is a research Professor in the field of distributed systems and applied AI with over 200 peer reviewed papers published and a current h-index of 30.
From January 2019 to May 2025, Nick was Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research & Innovation and Merchiston Campus Principal at Edinburgh Napier University. His Key responsibilities included the line management of three Deans of School as well as leadership & responsibility for all the University’s research, innovation and commercial engagement activities including Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Prior to this role, Nick was Pro Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation at the University of Derby since March 2017. Between April 2014 – March 2017, Nick was the founding Dean of the College of Engineering & Technology and since December 2015 the University of Derby Technical Coordinator of the framework collaboration with CERN.
Until April 2014, Nick was Head of School of Computing & Mathematics and Assistant Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Business, Computing & Law in the same University. Prior to joining the University of Derby in March 2009, Nick was a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) and Director of the MSc Degrees at the Department of Computing, University of Surrey, UK. Nick holds a BSc in Physics (1st class) from the University of Athens in 1993, an MSc in Information Technology from Aston University in 1994 and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Surrey in 2000.
Prior to joining the academia he worked as a networks consultant for ICL and Fujitsu Services and was the co-founder and director of a company developing Web-based management information systems. He has successfully acted as expert witness in high profile legal cases involving email synchronisation systems. Nick has altogether 30 years of academic experience across multiple academic and senior leadership roles in British Universities
Nick is a Fellow of the Higher education Academy (FHEA), the British Computer Society (FBCS) and the International Academy, Research and Industry Association (FIARIA).
Loren J. Samons, PhD
Chief Academic Advisor
Executive Director, Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts
The American College of Greece
Professor of Classical Studies
Boston University
As an internationally recognized authority on ancient Greece, former associate dean and department chair, and winner of Boston University’s highest award for teaching, Loren J. Samons brings 30 years of experience as scholar, administrator and teacher to The American College of Greece. Focusing on Greek history in the fifth century B.C., Professor Samons has published numerous books and articles on Athenian democracy, imperialism, finance, national character and the relationships between these phenomena. His biography Pericles and the Conquest of History appeared in 2016 (Cambridge University Press); among previous works, Samons’ Empire of the Owl: Athenian Imperial Finance (2000), treated aspects of Athens’ political economy in the fifth century B.C. Other publications have treated the relationship between ancient and modern democracy and the works of Herodotus and Thucydides. Samons’ current research focuses on Homer and Athens as well as the historical poetry of C.P. Cavafy, and his scholarship continues to illustrate a firm belief in the relevance of ancient Greek culture and history for contemporary society.
Having earned his doctorate at Brown University, Professor Samons taught at Boston University for more than 25 years before joining ACG as Executive Director of the IHCLA and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives in 2019. In this role, and in his current position of Chief Academic Advisor, Professor Samons has helped to implement the college’s strategic plan to utilize education and research for economic and social impact in Greece. The plan’s initiatives include new institutes and centers of excellence designed to foster research, international collaboration, undergraduate and graduate programming, and educational outreach as well as providing policy recommendations aimed at improving Greece’s economy while emphasizing Greece’s important historical and contemporary role as an intellectual and cultural leader.
Professor Samons has lectured at numerous universities and other institutions including Oxford University, The University of Edinburgh, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Duke University, the University of Richmond, Tufts University, Baylor University and the Getty Villa. Samons delivered the Christopher Roberts Lecture at Dickinson College in 2013, the Harry Carroll Lecture at Pomona College (2016), the Elizabeth M. Hunter Lecture at Florida State University (2016) and the fortieth annual George Bancroft Memorial Lecture at the United States Naval Academy (2020). In 2018 Professor Samons was a Visiting Scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where he continued work on a book-length study of the Athenian general and statesman Kimon and the rise of classical Athens.