Professor McDonnell is a Classical archaeologist interested in various aspects of Italian archaeology, particularly the material culture and archaeology of the Roman Empire. She co-directs the excavations at San Martino in Torano di Borgorose, Italy. Her research interests include Roman tombs, the archaeology of non-elites, the archaeology of gender, Latin epigraphy, and historical and Roman slavery. She will be teaching a graduate seminar on slavery in the spring of 2008.