Using actual Egyptian artifacts and other resources, the Department of History will offer a new Certificate in Egyptology for Cal State San Bernardino undergraduate students and the community.

The artifacts, from the university’s Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), will be used along with primary archaeological data from surveys and excavations at the ancient Egyptian amethyst mining region of Wadi el-Hudi as part of the certificate program. 

Kate Liszka, CSUSB associate professor of history and the Benson and Pamela Harer Fellow in Egyptology.
Kate Liszka, CSUSB associate professor of history and the Benson and Pamela Harer Fellow in Egyptology.

In addition, students will have the opportunity to study from a variety of Egyptologists – the history department hosts an annual visiting professor as the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar in Residence and houses a full-time Egyptologist, the Benson and Pamela Harer Fellow in Egyptology, currently held by Kate Liszka.

Moreover, some students will also have the opportunity to go to Egypt to learn from a study or work abroad experience, or conduct Egyptological internships in museums or archives.

Students taking courses in Egyptology will not only learn about ancient Egyptian history and culture, they also will learn how to debate, interpret, research and write history from diverse and incomplete sources. It is a pedagogy that trains them to become critical thinkers in the world today, said Liszka. 

This certificate is helpful to people generally interested in ancient Egypt, K-12 teachers who want to bring ancient Egypt into the classroom, museum docents, students who eventually want to complete an advanced degree in Egyptology, and people who work with museum collections to understand the connection between object and history, Liszka said.

It is particularly well suited for students interested in history, anthropology and art history. Egyptology is inherently a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field that incorporates art, texts, archaeology, anthropological theory, sociological theory and science into the study of people in the past. Additionally, studies in Egyptology bring to the forefront issues of diversity, globalism, and the importance of the past in today’s world.