Egyptology Student Wins 2018 UCLA Grad Slam Competition

Published: March 8, 2018

Professor Kara Cooney (left) and Marissa Stevens (right)

Marissa Stevens, Egyptology Graduate Student in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, won UCLA’s 2018 Grad Slam Competition last night, Wednesday, March 7, 2018.

Grad Slam is a campus-wide competition that showcases and awards the best 3-minute research presentations by graduate students. The competition not only helps foster the important career development skill of articulating graduate research in an understandable and engaging way to those inside and outside the academic community, but it also highlights the excellence, importance and relevance of UCLA graduate students and their research.

Marissa’s talk Social Identity from Ancient Egypt to Modern Times focused on the display of social identity through material culture in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians used many objects – in particular funerary objects – to make a social statement about their wealth, status, and role within society. This display of possessions in the ancient world is not unlike our own modern showcasing of personal property and its use in constructing social identity.

Marissa will be representing UCLA at the UC Grad Slam Competition in San Francisco on May 3, 2018 and will compete against the 9 other UC campus winners.