Position and Home Institution

Chair of History, Archaeology and Latin teacher, Archer School for Girls

Research Interests

Institutionalized violence, gender studies, Italy, North Africa

Research Summary

In addition to being a Research Associate at the Cotsen Institute, since 1999 I have taught archaeology and Latin at The Archer School for Girls (grades 6-12), where I am also chair of the History Department. In my classroom my outreach to children on archaeology and an interest in gender studies have come together. At Archer, all ninth graders study archaeology as an adjunct to their Ancient Civilizations classes. As the first Vice president of Education and Outreach of the Archaeological Institute of America from 2000-2004, I helped design classroom lessons and teacher educational seminars on archaeology and create an education website as I worked with my own students in archaeology and Latin classes. Much of what I teach my students involves critical thinking skills of the sort fostered by the Cotsen Institute, including in its former “Archaeology for Educators” seminars for K-12 teachers and currently through graduate student outreach to schools. Aside from archaeology in the K-12 classroom, a major research interest of mine is institutionalized violence; I am particularly interested in ways societies isolate their own members or identify outsiders whom they may legally mistreat. This theme unites such seemingly diverse topics as Phoenician child sacrifice, Roman arena games, and gender studies.

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