From degree to a Turkish dig

Just twelve hours after graduating with a UQ Bachelor of Arts in ancient history and a Diploma in Languages, Latin, Johanna Qualmann will be jetting to her next adventure – archaeological digs in Turkey and Italy.

Her first stop will be Turkey’s Boncuklu Höyük site, where she’ll be getting her hands dirty for the next month and she can’t wait.

“I'm really looking forward to taking everything I've learned in my archaeology courses, especially the one I did in Turkish archaeology, and applying it myself,” Ms Qualmann said.

“It’s such a terrific opportunity to immerse myself in the artefacts and materials and seeing how everything fits together – or doesn't.

“It fascinates me how you get from something seemingly insignificant like a figurine, sherd of pottery or some charred grain to an idea about what life was like in the past.”

Between digs, Ms Qualmann will visit some of the ancient cities on Turkey’s west coast, including Ephesus and Troy. Then it’s off to Rome, Naples and the Pollena Trocchia dig site run by the Apolline Project.

“I’ll be excavating some Roman baths located inside a larger villa complex – a completely different culture and time period to Boncuklu,” she said.

“The dig takes students from all over the globe, so I'm really looking forward to meeting other archaeology students from around the world who are just as enthusiastic about Roman archaeology as I am.”

Europe is a far cry from the small town of Modenville in northern NSW where Johanna comes from, but she caught the travel bug after her study tour to Italy last year.

“My main interests are in Roman history and archaeology, so being able to walk around a corner in Rome and see the Colosseum or the Pantheon or Trajan's column was amazing,” Ms Qualmann said.

She said she had really enjoyed her undergraduate studies, and was so at home in the university environment that she was “a bit sad to have finished”.

“Three and a half years have flown by incredibly quickly. At the same time, it feels amazing to have a whole degree to my name, to be able to look back and say 'wow, I really have achieved a lot in my time here’,” she said.

Ms Qualmann has contributed as a student mentor and ambassador, a volunteer at the RD Milns Antiquities Museum and the archaeology labs, treasurer of UQ Women’s Collective, and president and secretary of the Classics and Ancient History Student Society.

She was also a valedictorian, a summer research scholar and had won an undergraduate research oral presentation award.

University life hasn’t ended, however, as she plans to return to UQ next year to study for Honours and then a Master of Philosophy in Classics.

“At some point in my career I'd also like to teach and help future students to critically engage with both the past and present, and ask questions that might not always be at the forefront of classical research,” she said.

This year marks 101 years of graduates at UQ, since the first degrees were awarded in 1913.

Queensland’s largest university has graduated more than 210,000 students, and has a proud cohort of alumni who have gone on to make their mark in more than 150 countries.

MEDIA: Johanna Qualmann, johanna.qualmann@gmail.com, 0401 459507. Kristen Johnston, k.johnston@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 61633

For more on UQ Graduations: UQ Communications, 3346 7887 or communications@uq.edu.au

July 2014 Graduation Schedule: http://www.uq.edu.au/graduations/july-2014-ceremony-dates-times

Live coverage of the graduation ceremonies available here: http://www.uq.edu.au/graduations/live-broadcast