Siena College
11/15/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/15/2024 09:26
The Untold Story of... Dan White, Ph.D.
- I'm an anthropologist. A person who studies people. By that definition, you're probably an anthropologist too. Welcome to the order.
- I can ride a unicycle. Back in ancient times when families received Sears catalogs at about this time of year, children would circle items to create a wishlist for Christmas. I think I was about 10 when I circled the cheapest and most uncomfortable unicycle ever invented. I learned to ride it in my parent's basement over one winter. Once my folks figured out that I could really ride it, they took pity on me and bought me an upgraded model.
- I've run exactly one marathon. Slowly. There might be another in my future.
- Like many of my students, I started off as a biology major with the intention of teaching high school biology. I took a class with a professor who studied the fossils of early humans and a new path was set. That professor ended up being the chair of my dissertation committee.
- I lived in France for many years when I was a graduate student so my français is pretty ok.
- While living in France, I spent a summer in Sclayn, Belgium digging in Scladina Cave for the remains of Neandertals. The site is best known for the 130,000-year-old remains of a Neandertal child. In my one meter by one meter square, I found a stone tool produced about 40,000 years ago. It was still sharp. Better than Ginsu.
- My interpretation skills bought me a rare opportunity at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, France. I helped the French-speaking staff communicate with some American graduate students for a week while visiting on a research trip. At the end of the week, the curator took me into the basement archives to show me the original La Ferrassie Neandertal skull and the Venus of Lespugue (a 24,000-year-old figurine carved from tusk ivory). So what, right? For me it was like meeting Taylor Swift. How many of you have met Taylor in person, huh?
- I've done archeological and human biology research in Costa Rica and traveled throughout Colombia and Spain so my español is pretty ok too.
- I survived a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in 2009 in the region around the Poas crater in Costa Rica. We were 20 miles from the epicenter when the tremor occurred. A 6.2 magnitude earthquake is considered strong. I'd have to agree.
- I have dual Irish-US citizenship which is helpful when living in and traveling around Europe. I've only actually been to Ireland once so like any good tourist, I made the pilgrimage to Blarney Castle to kiss the stone. As a public health practitioner, this seems like insalubrious behavior however the reward is great skill at flattery, the famous Gift of Gab. If you've read this far, you're a gem.