Popular, charismatic and award-winning teacher and Head of UQ�s Archaeology Program, Associate Professor Jay Hall, will shortly retire after more than 30 years at the University.
Dr Hall, also editor of Queensland Archaeological Research since he started the publication in 1984, won a Teaching Excellence Award in 2002 and was twice commended for his innovative teaching style in the awards rounds of 2000 and 2001.
His departure from the University did not go unheralded with a packed program of events held including a symposium at Women�s College attended by 100 people, a book launch, and a formal dinner at the University Staff and Graduates Club attended by more than 80 people on September 29.
Dr Hall was charged with developing UQ's archaeology courses on his appointment as lecturer within the then Anthropology and Sociology Department in 1976.
He is on Long Service Leave until his official retirement date in the middle of next year, describing his departure as 'bittersweet'.
"I'm not really retiring, just salary sacrificing to the University 100 percent as I'll still be conducting research and supervising postgraduate students in an honorary capacity," he said.
"I have really fond memories of the University especially the early days in the 1970s and 1980s and the field trips to places such as Moreton and Stradbroke islands, Wivenhoe and the Lamington Plateau. It's wonderful to see so many of my former students now in senior academic positions themselves."
Dr Hall's courses bridged a gap between archaeology and ancient history with him also establishing Australia's first on-campus archaeological teaching site, Teaching Archaeological Research Discipline In Simulation (TARDIS), to more effectively and responsibly train students in excavation and other archaeological field methods.
The 25-metre-square site contains elements of the African Lower Palaeolithic, the French Middle Palaeolithic, the Ukranian Upper Palaeolithic, the Mesoamerican Formative and generic European Bronze Age and Dr Hall's teaching awards largely stemmed from the initiative.
Thanks to Dr Hall, UQ also became only the second Australian university researching the Mayan civilisation in Mesoamerica (including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and El Salvador), working alongside international teams including those from the universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard.
Along with their team of local Honduran workers, and University of Queensland students, co-principal investigators Dr Hall and Dr Rene Viel completed a study of pre-Classic Mayan remains from about 1400BC, preceding the Classic Maya occupation in the Copan River Valley between 250 and 900AD.
Dr Hall and his wife, Alice, recently bought a half-share in a house in Copan, Honduras, near the Maya ruins from where he will conduct research three months of each year.
The couple is also owner-building a third floor on a house in Scarborough on the Redcliffe Peninsula north of Brisbane.
Another important contribution to the study of archaeology in Australia by Dr Hall was his establishment of the Moreton Region Archaeological Project involving the recording of thousands of sites and excavation of about 40 of these.
The project has provided data for many honours, masters and doctoral theses over the years.
Born in the United Kingdom and raised in New Zealand, Dr Hall received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1979. His thesis focused on human coprolites � fossilised excrement � from Antelope House, an ancient Anasazi Indian settlement in Arizona, from which he accessed their diet and diseases.
Media inquiries: Shirley Glaister at UQ Communications (3365 2339).
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