Dr. Jane Hill, instructor of Anthropology at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ.
Egyptologist and professor of anthropology Dr. Jane Hill develops courses that allow her to take Rowan University students to Egypt to study how archaeologists use modern techniques to learn more about the cultures of this early civilization.
Beth Dombkowski:
Hello. My name is Beth Dombkowski and I'm coming to you from the office of admissions at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.
Beth Dombkowski:
Welcome to Rowan Confidential. Today I am joined by Dr. Jane Hill. Hello.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Hello.
Beth Dombkowski:
Thank you for joining us today. An instructor in Rowan's sociology and anthropology department, Dr. Jane Hill is an anthropologist and Egyptologist who specializes in the study of pre-dynastic Egypt. She holds advanced degrees in anthropology, art history and Egyptology and has written and edited numerous volumes and articles on the archeological cultures of Ancient Egyptians, the Maya and the Mississippian cultures of the American Southeast. Currently, Dr. Hill is engaged in developing courses which would allow her to take Rowan students to Egypt to study the ways in which archeologists use modern techniques to learn more about the culture of this early civilization. So happy to have you here today.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Thank you for having me.
Beth Dombkowski:
Now your departments, you have some new things coming on the horizon, right? I hear that there is a new major.?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Yes. Just this fall we've introduced a new major in anthropology at Rowan and so it was the first time ever that we've had that here. We're excited about it because it has numerous career tracks that students can potentially take through the major in the areas of our museum studies, archeology or cultural resource management, medical anthropology and forensic anthropology.
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, so interesting. But we're here to talk to you about you, today. So Dr. Hill, what wakes you up in the morning? What's your inspiration or passion?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Many of my students have told me in the past that one of the things I like about my classes is that I'm very, very passionate about the subject of archeology. It's something that gets me very, very excited. So doing what I do, both in the research and communicating that with students, is something that that is a big motivator for me.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay, great. You're about to take some students abroad?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Well, that's my hope. We introduced a class through the curricular process, this fall, it's called Field Methods in Egyptology and if it's approved, hopefully next year, in the intercession between the fall and spring semesters, it can take students to Egypt to visit various archeological digs that are in progress and so that they can see how archeologists do that kind of work and also to go to museums. This is important and exciting now in particular because Egypt is just about to open the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is a brand new facility they just completed a construction on. It's right near the Giza Plateau and so you can combine the trip to this big, gorgeous new museum with a trip to the pyramids as well.
Beth Dombkowski:
So are you going to let faculty and staff come on these things as well?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
The class is open to anyone who wants to come.
Beth Dombkowski:
Excellent. All right, sign me up.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
All right.
Beth Dombkowski:
So doing this, what's one thing that you wish people knew about your research or your discipline?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
One thing that students are surprised when they take my archeology course is how many similarities there are between the cultures of the Americas and ancient cultures in the old world, so to speak. So one of the things I do is draw parallels between the Ancient Egyptians and the Mississippian cultures of the Southeast US because they have a lot of geographic and similarities between them. I think in the absence of European contact, we would have seen similar cultural developments in the Mississippian as we see in Egypt. That's one of the things that got me interested in Egypt in the first place.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's one of the things that got you interested. Tell me about you. Where are your degrees from? What type of experiences do you have?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Oh, okay. Well, I'm currently on my second or third life right now.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Initially when I got my BA, did my BA work, I was a journalism major with a minor in English literature and I had a career for about 10 years as an investigative journalist.
Beth Dombkowski:
Really?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Yeah.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
I decided to go back to graduate school and got my first master's degree in anthropology and studying the cultures of the Mississippian period. Then I got a second master's degree in art history Egyptology and then I got accepted to University of Pennsylvania in their Egyptology program there and that's where I earned my doctorate.
Beth Dombkowski:
I assume that in all of this you've spent some time over in Egypt?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Yes.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
I've been privileged to go on many digs all over the country basically. I've done a lot of work in the Abydos region, which is where Penn has most of its projects, but I've also worked at Karnak Temple in Luxor to the south and I've also been privileged to work with Dr. Ann Macy Roth at Giza. So we'd done some excavations there.
Beth Dombkowski:
So I know that you're taking your students or you're hoping to take your students over as well, here on campus and in the United States, how are they engaging in pre-professional activities?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Well, the point of this particular class that we're talking about is actually to demonstrate how professionals do this kind of work. Here at Rowan, in conjunction with a new major coming in, we've gotten a field school course approved, which will train students in how to do excavations, which would be useful if you were wanting to do an excavation in Egypt for instance, because that is part of my evil plan is to return to Egypt and do excavations at my site and in Southern Egypt, it's called El-Amrah and hopefully involve students from here in that project. But also, those kinds of skills can be transferred to other jobs in this region because there are multiple cultural resource management firms here who hire archeologists and people who are trained in anthropology to work for them.
Beth Dombkowski:
I know that you have the museum in Robinson. Are you involved with that? What's your...
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
I am. I'm one of the co-curators of the Museum of Anthropology at Rowan University, which we call MARU. I teach a class called museum studies, in which the students learn how to teamwork on different aspects of installing a new museum exhibit every time I teach this. So this semester for instance, we're doing a class on domestication of animals. It's called Unnatural Selection, is the name of the exhibit. So students are learning how to choose objects, research them, right panels and informational tags for them and how to market their exhibit for its opening, which is going to be later this semester.
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, when is it that you said that...
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
December 11th is going to be the day that the grand opening of this exhibit, yeah.
Beth Dombkowski:
And the public is invited to that, correct?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Definitely.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay, all right.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
We'll have cheese, not wine, but we'll have cheese and other nice things at the opening and the students will give a presentation on how they developed that particular exhibit.
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, wonderful. And it's free?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Yes.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's great. So what's something that your field has allowed you to do that either you didn't think you'd ever get to do or maybe something you dreamed of doing?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
The biggest one of the things that I would have never expected I've done is being able to go to Egypt and do so much field work there. I remember my first trip, I was just absolutely dazzled by the fact that I was walking through Karnak Temple every day in order to go copy hieroglyphics off the walls, that kind of thing. But even if it's not something that grand, just going out and being able to excavate a site and interpret the evidence that you find there, it's a wonderful privilege.
Beth Dombkowski:
And lastly, why Rowan? Why Rowan for you? Why Rowan for students? What brought you here?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
I was brought here for two different reasons. My husband was first an adjunct professor here in the anthropology department, he kind of lured me in when I was still a graduate student.
Beth Dombkowski:
And here you are, still here.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
And here I am, still here. Also the people I work with here are fantastic and they're so supportive and every time I've come up with a new idea or a project or a course that I want to propose and stuff like that, I get the utmost support from them. The students are great too.
Beth Dombkowski:
So if you were a student, why you come here to study rather than anywhere else?
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Here I think there are so many new opportunities that are coming in every year. Our curriculum is expanding almost exponentially. Each one of those new programs has embedded in it a possible career path for somebody. So if you do your research and you look at what's available, there's just about nothing you can't do if you come to Rowan and study here.
Beth Dombkowski:
Dr. Hill, thank you so much for joining us today.
Jane Hill, Ph.D.:
Thank you for having me.
Beth Dombkowski:
This has been Rowan Confidential.