Erica D'Elia

“My favorite part about attending Ramapo College was the opportunity to work with so many great professors in the History department who were always enthusiastic and passionate about their classes. This motivated me to explore my own passions and follow a career path that allows me to pursue History, get my hands dirty, and teach.” – Erica D’Elia ’09 is an archaeologist whose interest in the field was sparked by an archaeology internship she held in her senior year at the Mahwah Museum. She learned how to identify and catalog historic artifacts including nails, glass, ceramics, and bone. This knowledge allowed her to attend archaeology field school at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s private retreat in Virginia, where she learned excavation techniques at an antebellum slave site. She then earned a Master’s degree in anthropology, with a specialty in historical archaeology and public outreach, at Western Michigan University. She is currently the archaeology laboratory manager at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia.