Despite Dr. DiBiasie Sammons is fairly new to the atmosphere of Sewanee, having only been here for 1.5 years thus far, she has gained popularity among the Classics department, teaching Latin and Archeology courses. Dr. DiBiasie graduated from Washington and Lee with a degree in Classics before heading to U.T. Austin for her M.A. and Ph.D. She is a visiting Professor of Classics here at Sewanee and is Field Director of the Herculaneum Graffiti Project, a project dedicated to documenting the graffiti of Herculaneum, which was buried along with Pompeii at the eruption of Vesuvius. I interviewed her to give non-classics students a look into her mind.
What brought you to Sewanee? Teaching; I wanted to teach at a Liberal Arts school because of my background with it.
What’s your favorite place on Campus? The Barn
Dr. DiBiasie is an avid Equestrian for those who didn’t know.
What’s your typical Stirling’s order? Monster Cookie definitely and the Great Pumpkin drink
Did you already have an interest in Archeology or did you develop it in college? It was developed in college after I went to on an excavation to San Felicie in Southern Italy over the summer.
A lot fo students don’t understand what the term “visiting professor” really means; can you explain it for us? Visiting Professors are not on a tenure-track. They generally stay on the campus for 1-3 years.
What is your favorite part about Archeology? I love the experience of connecting with the past. There is always continuity between ancient civilations and our own as the past is often similar to today.
Besides Herculaneum and Pompeii, what other dig sites have you worked on? Iklaina in Southern Greece and Ostia, Rome’s port city.
Dr. DiBiasie takes a group of Sewanee students with her on her archeological field school in Herculaneum every other summer. So if you’re interested in documenting graffiti from antiquity, which is her specialty, Dr. DiBiasie is who you should talk to.
Who is your Archeological here? Is it Indiana Jones or Laura Croft? Definitely love Indiana Jones. But Michael Ventris, Alice Kober, and John Chadwick are my archelogical heroes. They translated Linear B, which a lot of people thought was impossible, and Ventris did it at a really young age.
What song would play when you entered a room? Clare de Lune is my favorite song