Wilbour Hall was named after Edwin Wilbour after its construction in 1888. Located not too far from the Keeney Quad, Wilbour Hall is the Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies. It is relatively a newer department, expanding in the 2005-2006 academic school year. It is part of Brown's plan to developing a background in the humanities and sciences.
The Department of Egyptology was implented in 1948, but just recently did they decided to enrich it. Undergraduate and graduate students can take a wide variety of courses including Archaeology of Ancient Europe, Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic, Selections from Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia. This is just to name a few. A handful of courses are designed specifically for graduate students. Although their are no prerequisites to majoring in this particular field, students should be familiar with the German or French language in order to be more familiar to the material.
When I attended the Partnership Supper, a first-generation student Alex, majored in this field and she mentioned how it is a pretty uncommon major in the nation. Brown is fortunate to have a solid undergraduate and graduate program, and now with a little effort, students can fulfill their dreams with a degree in Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI guess there isn't as much of a need for Egyptologists these days as there might have been during an earlier time--especially if they're infidels. Studying a subject from a distance can only get you so far but with a subject like this, a true academician would need to be in Egypt seeking out the hidden mysteries still buried in the desert. In these times, access to these areas is limited to some people and restricted to others so studying that discipline might seem like a fool's errand for Americans.