I am in the Geography Department, which I love.  I teach archaeology classes but I also do research that combines both geographical techniques and of course archaeological methods, right?  It is perfect for me, I felt that it was always the best fit.  I couldn’t ... lots of people are like ... oh, not to me.  But I am sure that they think a big research institute where you have tons of resources and great labs.  And sure, yes, that’s fancy an that’s great but me being in the department that I am and getting to have that mix between the two, from the very beginning, even as an undergraduate student.

But, certainly from the very beginning of having a position in the department, I have always felt that I am fortunate to be in such a mixture of great colleagues that are doing lots of different things in geography and archaeology.  But then to be surrounded by people in the History Department, because we are next door to them.  And Women’s Studies and NAS (Native American Studies) just down the other way.  Right?  And there is such a great collegiality I guess, and openness to other sorts of ways to do your research and to do different research trajectories.  And of course I have my colleagues in the Chemistry and Biology Departments who I am constantly knocking on their door.  Clearly, this morning and my email to John Eng in the Chemistry Department was 'please help me extract some phytoliths from Matrix.'  And that is good, right?  And it has been like that since the beginning I would say.  And it just continues to grow.

And it’s fun to see the change.  Right? I remember things like the Library being built, I remember all these changes.  And as much as the University’s footprint is different than when I was a student, I still get a sense that it is very similar.  That the students, especially my students in, that study archaeology, which by the way are not all majors, we are very much like, 'Come if you are interested, let’s all work together.'  I mean, they are such a close group and I mean you can’t help it you are working in the field with them.  So they live together for like five weeks straight.  But they become their own support network and so they have fun like I did when I was a student.  That makes me so happy because I remember all the things that I learnt but I also remember the world that opened up and I discovered myself.  And so, I see them changing, and discovering themselves and you can literally watch it happen from the very beginning.  And that I think is so satisfying being a faculty member here.  To know your students well enough to see them grow both academically and personally.  It is really awesome.

(Interviewed by Diane McKenzie)