Hi, I’m Suzanne and I’m a professor in the History and Archaeology Department, as well as in the Theology Department. I am an archaeologist who directs a dig in Jordan at a site called Khirbat Iskandar, about 30 miles south of the capital city of Amman. Our most recent season of excavations was in the summer of 2019. I am also a co-director of the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project, which had field seasons in May 2016, 2017; and 2018 and is currently working to build a state-of-the art storage and research center before concentrating on the erection of the new museum in Madaba, Jordan..
As director of the Collins Institute for Archaeological Research, I direct students who help in the processing of materials from the dig, as we prepare them for publication. It’s a great opportunity for students in the History and Archaeology program, as it allows them to receive “hands-on” training in a variety of skills. They learn to draw by hand and then on the computer in order to finalize drawings and plates for publication. There are tons of materials (well at least a ton) that need to be worked on, as well as the continued digitization of all the documentation of the dig. I also teach classes in the “lab,” such as the Arch 202 course in Laboratory Techniques (Science and Archaeology). It is a great course for those going on the dig.
I am also the director of The Archaeology Museum Gallery at Gannon, which is located on the first floor of the new School of Communication and the Arts, at 7th and Peach. This new museum is a great teaching resource for the Archaeology and Public History concentration and the Archaeology Minor in the department. Students will be able to take classes in Museum and Archival studies and have numerous experiential learning opportunities, for example as interns in the Museum.
Aside from all of these various activities and teaching classes, I am a working scholar with a number of publications, many articles, as well as three books published and one book in progress--Vol. II of the Khirbat Iskandar Expedition. We are doing a lot of new and exciting things in the History and Archaeology Department to prepare students for graduate school and/or a career.