Dr. Sara Orel

Honors and Recognition
Distinguished Research Service Award, Truman State University

Research Interests
My research focuses on Egyptian archaeology (burial customs, pottery, Middle Kingdom, Roman Egypt) and Southeast Asian art (Islamic architecture and traditional crafts and their translation into "tourist arts").

How do you involve undergraduate students in your research?
I have had students prepare illustrations of objects from archaeological excavations for publication. I’ve even had a student go as an artist on a dig to Egypt with me.

Students participated at all stages of the preparation of my gallery exhibit last fall on "Traditional Textiles of Indochina," and I am planning a gallery exhibit for spring 2009, which will also involve students in an exciting project - stay tuned!

What do you like best about teaching at Truman?
I enjoy the opportunity to teach really intelligent and talented students. I often get into discussions about my students at conferences, and as I tell people about the paper I am grading, or something we are doing in one of my classes, they almost invariably look sadly at me and say "I wish I had students like that" and I just smile.

What has been your most memorable experience at Truman?
Preparing my exhibit "Traditional Textiles of Indochina" (from the initial travel and collection of objects in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos) to the writing of the teachers’ manual (working with a student and faculty colleagues in English and Art) and designing of the exhibit - to the night of its opening. It was all very exciting, and very satisfying to see something through from beginning to end.

What has presented you with the greatest teaching challenge?
Developing an active program in non-western art has been my greatest challenge. When I came to Truman there were no courses that focused on the history of art beyond the western European and American tradition. I have dedicated a great deal of my time at Truman to building a course at the freshman/sophomore level that introduces our students to that material, and in doing so I have had the opportunity to travel to West Africa, Southeast Asia and Hawaii. I have also developed an upper level course in Islamic Art, which has been both challenging and really important as a way to introduce our students to the cultures of the Middle East and the broader Islamic world.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment?
Building the art history major. The major was proposed, just after I came to Truman, and I have been involved every step of the way. We have gone from just a few art history majors to between six and ten each year, They go on to the top graduate schools in the country, and to jobs at interesting museums and arts programs.

What graduate schools are some of your former students attending?
Either are attending or have attended:
New York University, University of Illinois (UC), Washington University in St. Louis, Case Western Reserve University, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of New Mexico, American University (Washington D.C.), Virginia Commonwealth University, Syracuse University, Johns Hopkins University

What careers have some of your former students entered?
Archival Librarian, Art conservator, Prof. of Art History (Cleveland Institute of Art), Manager at American Express Corporate Travel, Arts Administration (one graduate runs her own company, another works for a non-profit).

What do you like best about living in Kirksville?
The fact that even if my car is in the shop I can walk to/from campus, the grocery store, movies, town square, etc. Nothing (including the lake!) is too far away. And if I want to see a meteor shower or a comet, there is little problem with city lights - the night skies are wonderfully dark, even in the city. I had a friend visiting a couple of years ago who had never seen the Milky Way in the sky, and I could take him out on my front porch and show him that there was really a galaxy up there - I couldn’t do that when he visited me in the city I used to live in (or the city he lives in now).

How would you describe life in Kirksville to a friend?
Friendly, low-key, easy and inexpensive. It is a nice place to come home to.