ASOR FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

We asked some former recipients of ASOR exacavation fellowships how their lives and careers were impacted by their experience in the field. Click on the names below to learn more. More profiles coming soon!

Chris Hays “Now that I take students to the Middle East myself, I tell them the same thing: It will transform the way you teach.”

Katie Kearns “The Heritage scholarship helped me travel to Cyprus in 2010, which instilled in me a great fascination for the island, its history, and its people.”

Alex Ratzlaff “This moment was more meaningful to me than all of the discoveries we made that season because I remembered when I first had that same realization years earlier and now I playing a part in introducing students to archaeology and how it felt it to interact with the past.”

Michele Stillinger “[I found] a Nile perch fish otolith (inner ear bone) while screening.  A rare and small find with potentially big implications.”

Juan Manuel Tebes “It would have been impossible for me to participate in archaeological excavations without the ASOR grants.”

Russel Gentry “The fellowship allowed me to continue to work in Jordan which has lead to my appointment on the Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project as a square supervisor.”

Robbyn Lanning “The hands-on experience I gained in the field as a result of the Platt Fellowship informs my daily work as the administrator of a well renowned interdisciplinary and globally-focused research centre.”

Caroline Carter “Experience is essential for everyone pursuing a career in the field of archaeology. Sometimes we need a little help to get there.”

Adam Bean “There is no substitute for being ‘on the ground,’ amidst the material remains of the ancient cultures we try to understand.”

Zeljko Rezek “It was a very nice experience to find and see contexts of other periods and influences in the same area, offering an insight into the deep-time changes in the culture, behavior and adaptation to the environment of human societies during the last 15,000 years.”

Sarah Costello “I had never driven on the left side of the road, and the windy, narrow Troodos roads were a trial by fire. Now I’m a seasoned Cypriot driver!”

Monique Vincent “I had taken some Arabic courses before the 2011 season, so one of the more memorable experiences during that season was having discussions with some of our workers at ‘Umayri.”

Patrick Clark “Archaeologists can serve as ambassadors of their country in Jordan and as ambassadors of Jordan and its people back home.”

Robert Stark “The experience of lowering myself down into and excavating in the crypt is the most memorable moment of my time at Mt. Nebo.”

Heather Pillette “Although my emphasis is not in archaeology, this trip served as a critical and foundational turning point in my scholarship, one which will have lasting effects.”

Emily Wilson “My most memorable moment was when we finally were able to identify the building we had been digging – a temple!”

Paul Michael Kurtz ” I would say digging—in the heat of summer especially—is a love–hate relationship, depending on the day.”

Allison Mickel “It was the feeling of a challenge even within my comfort zone, of being around experts, and of the uncertainty and hope that I’d become one of them.”

Amanda Lanham “I continue to participate by attending the Annual Meetings and hope to present my own research later this year.”

Check back often for new fellowship recipient interviews!