Alumni/Departmental News

2008

Below: view from the fourth floor of Olmsted as the William Ridgeway Center is being constructed.  More on the floor plans here.

1/2008

2/2008: This is pretty much the complete frame of the building. A shallow bay goes on the south side. It is supposed to be completely closed in by the end of February.

4/2008: The exterior is almost complete. Most of the work has turned to the interior. I do enjoy the use of red tile for the pitched roof, which echoes the east wing of Olmsted. The brick colors and the strange use of limestone panels on the upper story of the east facade are puzzling, though.

Matt Slaats (1999) has an MA and MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and works as an artist.

A. J. Iovanna (2000) co-authored an article, "Using Geoinformatics to Examine Residential Radon Vulnerability," Southeastern Geographer 48.1 (2008). A.J. is a GIS specialist at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Whitney Bair-Sneed (2003) is the director of the art gallery at IU-Kokomo and is a member of the Fine Arts faculty, teaching two courses per semester in art history in adiition to her gallery duties.

Kelly Burke (2004) has an M.Sc. in Osteoarchaeology from the University of Edinburgh. She now works for the Central Identification Laboratory of the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.

While working at Mitrou this summer, Jerry Rutter, Bartek Lis, and I went down to Mount Lykaion in Arkadia for a day to look at some prehistoric pottery from the ash altar of Zeus there. Who should I run into but Arvey Basa (2005) and Phil Griffith (2005)? Both are working for David Romano's excavations there. Arvey is finishing at MA in the Dept. of Classics at the University of Arizona and Phil an MA in Philosophy at Florida State University.

Angela Boutwell (2000) has completed an MA in Art History at Penn State and is hitting the job market this fall. Angie is on the left above; Ilenia Colon Mendoza (1998), on the right side, also graduated from Penn State with a Ph.D. in Art History. She is a faculty member at IUPU-I.

Erin O'Connor (2002) a Biblical Studies major & archaeology fellow traveler has been a missionary in Malawi.

Nicole Stutzman (1997) is the Head of Learning Partnerships with Schools at the Dallas Museum of Art. Nicole was also a very good softball player.

Melissa Eaby (1996) defended her dissertation on the Cretan Iron Age at UNC-CH last fall.

Candace (Hansen) Summers (2002) is the director of education at the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, Illinois.

Karen (Houghton) Gillenwater (1998) is moving to become a curator at The Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany. She was formerly Director of Art Galleries at Georgetown College.

The newest alums graduated on 5/10/2008: Ann M. Chartier, Lisa M. Dretske, Yvette F. Evans, Erin M. Heckman, Andriana Keplar, Karen Markle, Brandon S. Reynolds, Danielle J. Riebe, Tyler J. Smoot, Misti J. Spillman, Deanna B. Taylor, and Shannon Weiss. December graduates were Eliza Guyol-Meinrath, Andrea Wannemuehler, Kirsten Payne, and Ashley Metzger.

Tiffany Cochran (2007) stopped by last week. She has been working for a contract archaeology firm in Ohio and had a few days between jobs.

Not alumni news, but here is what some current students are up to this summer:

Tori Carter, Indiana University’s Excavations at Angel Mounds; Erica Conn, Excavations at Castell Henllys, UK; Britt Ehrich, Tell Megiddo Expedition, Israel; Eliza Guyol-Meinrath, Huari-Ancash Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Project, Peru; Lierin Holly, Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, Mackinac City, Michigan; Amanda Lean, Flagg Ranch Resort, Yellowstone National Park/Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; Stephanie Lee, Collier Lodge Excavation Project, Indiana; Christina May, Excavations at Johnson’s Island, Ohio; Jessica McCowin, Huntsville Museum of Art Internship, Alabama; Andrea Offdenkamp, Mitrou Archaeological Project, Greece; Danielle Riebe, The Baga Gazaryn Chuluu Survey in Middle Gobi, Mongolia; Matthew Schueller, Excavations at Tel Dor, Israel; Cassie Shuherk, Mitrou Archaeological Project, Greece; Lisa Stenten, Flagg Ranch Resort, Yellowstone National Park/Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; Heather Stone, Angel Mounds State Historic Site Internship; Lauren Talley, Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science Internship; Colleen Westmor, SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park, Ohio; and Hilary Wolkan, Lincoln Archaeological Field School, Lincolnshire, UK

Hillary Conley (2007) reports that she and Andrew McFeaters (2006) are engaged. Hillary will be working for the Southeastern Archaeological Center (SEAC) in Tallahassee.

Jason Kovacs (2002) stopped by between CRM jobs. He was heading to Minnesota. He went to Europe last year and visited the site of Vinĉa; he may have an opportunity to excavate there in the future.

Sarah Burns (2006), a double in history and archaeology, is working on an MA in American History at Florida State.

Chris Cecil (2000) is a detective with the Indiana State Police

Rose Begalla (1997) is the regional director for Australearn, a study-abroad organization for Australia, New Zealand, and other South Pacific countries.

Pamela Hummert (2006) works for the Kroll Laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Mandy Gerth (2002) has an MFA from Southern Illinois University. She is an artist in Philadelphia.

Jessica Leston (2002) is completing a Masters in Public Health at the University of Alaska.

Latasha Richards (2004) has an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Washington. She has been working for the Manassas Museum in Virginia.

Rachel (Yarbrough) Rabb (2003) has an MA in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Memphis. She is the director of the Paris-Henry County Heritage Center in Tennessee. My great-grandpa, William Henry Thomas, was born in Paris, TN, by the way.

Samantha Simmons (2003) is completing her certification to teach French. She recently became engaged to David Greene.

Terrilyn (Sytsma) Wendling (2003) is a collections assistant at the Rogers Historical Museum in Arkansas. She has an MA in Museum Studies and American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Vincent Valenti (2004) is pursuing an MA in Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M.

Ciara Van Velsor (2003) is a curator at the Coos Art Nuseum in Coos Bay, Oregon. She has an MA in Art History for SUNY-Buffalo.

Emily Holloway (2002) has an MA in History and Museum Studies from the University of Delaware. She is the education director at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in New York, NY.

Trevor Gasper (2002) is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School and works for the law firm of May Oberfell Lorber in South Bend, Indiana

Laura Levinson (2001) completed (some time ago) an MA in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Glasgow.

Andrew McFeaters (2006) is hoping to finish an MA in historical/battlefield archaeology at the University of Nebraska by the end of the year. He worked as a field technician for the National Park Service last summer.

Susan (Pettit) Miller (2003) completed an MA in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool and is now working on a doctoral degree. She and her husband, Francis Bart Miller (2004) have a son, Kieran Anthony Miller, born in November, 2007.

Many UE archies were at the recent AIA meeting in Chicago:

Theodora Kopestonsky (2000) read a paper, "Dancing Outside the City: The Kokkinovrysi Figurine Deposit." Theo is completing a Ph.D. at SUNY-Buffalo and has been living in Greece for the last couple of years.

Nathan Elkins (2002) read a paper, "Late Roman Art and Symbolic Architecture on Late Roman Coins." Nathan is completing a Ph.D. at Missouri.

Andrew Reinhard (1994) was hard at work for Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, where he is an IT Development specialist.

Kate Barr (2002) completed an MA at the University of Memphis and now works as a curator at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma.

Stephanie Blue (2004) finished an MA at the University of Illinois in art history and is completing a year-long internship at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. She has another internship lined up for the summer of 2008 at the Art Institute of Chicago. She recently became engaged to boyfriend Chris.

Stephanie's sister, Micki, a UE history graduate was there, along with her husband, our own Chris Parr (2005), a graduate student in archaeology at the University of Arizona.

Theresa Huntsman (2003) is beginning a doctoral degree at Washington University, where she previously completed an MA.

Robin (Gonnam) Goodman (2004) and husband Jack Goodman (2004) are living in Kalamazoo, Michigan where Jack is working on an MA in Medieval Studies. Robin is planning to start a doctoral program next year; she completed an MA in art history at Penn State.

I did not catch up with Alexis Christensen (1994), who has been teaching at the University of Iowa for the last couple of years.

Debra Trusty (2005) an MA student at Florida State and Rob Wanner, a doctoral student at the University of Leicester were there too.

Former UE Profs. Steve Tuck and Tony Tuck were there and say hello. Steve is at Miami University of Ohio and Tony is at UMass-Amherst.

Did I forget anyone?