Daily Archives: June 17, 2013

Sophomore, Professors Part of Archaeology Research Team in Greece

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College of Charleston sophomore Jami Baxley is the only student participating in an archaeological project in Greece during the 2013 summer months. She will join two College of Charleston professors and other researchers for a month in Greece collecting archaeological data on more than 1,400 objects from the ancient Palace of Nestor in Pylos. Over the next year, the team, led by Classics Professor Kevin Pluta and Dimitri Nakassis of the University of Toronto, will compile a traditional print volume and a searchable online database of their findings. Jim Newhard, College of Charleston Professor and Director of the Archaeology Program, will also be a researcher on the project.

“I am absolutely thrilled to accompany two of my professors on this project in which I will gain hands on experience that will directly relate to my career aspirations,” says Baxley, a classics and archaeology major from Beech Island, S.C. “Being the only student is a bit nerve-racking (and exciting!), but I am ready for the challenge and look forward to all I will learn.”

The project will document via Reflexive Transference Imagery (RTI), 3D imagery, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and traditional illustration the administrative archives of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, Greece. The publication and corresponding spatial database would effectively compile the scholarship of several generations of Linear B scholars into a concise, organized system, useable by scholars, students, and interested lay communities; and expand use of this dataset to broader cross-cultural comparative applications.

The online database, in development at the College of Charleston, will be searchable by tablet, fragment, word, or geochemical signature. The documentation via multiple imaging formats will also provide an archiving component to a valuable dataset that is of a fragile nature. The final images and data will reside at the College of Charleston on a dedicated server.

“This project is an excellent example of the ways in which the expertise and research of the faculty are leveraged for high impact experiences for students, while at the same time moving the discipline of archaeology forward in exciting ways,” explains Jim Newhard, Classics professor and incoming director of the archaeology program. “I am looking forward to seeing this collaboration develop for the benefit of all the cooperating institutions, researchers, and students.”

The project currently has funding from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Michael Ventris Foundation, and the College of Charleston.

For more information, contact Jim Newhard at newhardj@cofc.edu.

Chris Jackson to Study in Scotland as Part of the Fulbright Summer Institute

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Original article: http://news.cofc.edu/2013/06/17/student-to-study-in-scotland-as-part-of-the-fulbright-summer-institute/

College of Charleston Honors College student Christopher Jackson will spend his summer studying at the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde in Scotland on one of the most prestigious and selective summer scholarship programs operating worldwide. Jackson is one of 50 students from the U.S. and UK chosen to participate in the five-week Fulbright Summer Institute. This year is the first year a program in Scotland has been offered and the program is themed around identity formation via politics, technology, and the media.

“To be given such a rare and valuable opportunity reinforced my desire to give back,” says Jackson, a double major in political science and international studies. “As excited as I am to grow my intellectual and personal development, I look forward to sharing my experience with friends and family upon return to the U.S. It will be very rewarding to see how my experience in Scotland will connect to my work and studies back home.”

Jackson is minoring in Japanese studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies, while also a member of the International Scholars Program and William Aiken Fellows Society. He teaches Spanish and will tutor fellow students through the College’s REACH program. While at home in Huntersville, N.C., he still avidly teaches swim lessons at his life long swim club.

Created by treaty in 1948, the U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission is the only bi-lateral, transatlantic scholarship program, offering awards and summer programs for study or research in any field, at any accredited US or UK University. The Commission is part of the Fulbright program conceived by Senator J. William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations through educational exchange. Award recipients and summer program participants will be the future leaders for tomorrow and support the “special relationship” between the US and UK. Fulbright Summer Programs cover all participant costs.

The Commission selects participants through a rigorous application and interview process. In making these awards the Commission looks not only for academic excellence but a focused application, a range of extracurricular and community activities, demonstrated ambassadorial skills, a desire to further the Fulbright Program, and a plan to give back to the recipient’s home country upon returning.

College of Charleston students interested in Fulbright Scholarships or other nationally competitive opportunities, please contact Anton Vander Zee, director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards at nationalawards@cofc.edu.