Earl Ertman

Title: Professor Emeritus
Dept/Program: Art History
Email: earl2@uakron.edu

Biography

After serving in the US Navy and Air Force for 10 years, Earl Ertman attended and graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in Drawing and Painting and a minor in Art History. While working part-time in the Department of Art History and Education at the Cleveland Museum of Art, he completed his graduate studies at Case Western University and then joined the faculty of the University of Akron in 1967. He taught every art history class offered by the art department and instituted new additional art history courses on a variety of subjects. During his first ten years at the University, he also taught drawing, 2-D design, and watercolor painting along with art history.

His focus changed to include an emphasis on ancient art. He and a colleague won a Smithsonian Research and Development Grant in 1971 traveling to Egypt to determine a location for exploration. He excavated with The Johns Hopkins University Mission to the pyramid area of Giza, Egypt in 1972 and '74. He continued in 1978 working at Tell el Rataba in the Egyptian Delta. Since 1992 he has excavated exclusively in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, initially in the western branch of the royal valley and then in the main valley under the aegis of the University of Arizona, and then the University of Memphis along with assisting the Canadian Institute in Egypt's re-excavation of tomb KV55 (May-June 1993). He first served as the assistant director of the Amenmesse Project excavating the royal tomb of King Amenmesse (KV10) and then in 1994 he was made Associate Director. In 2006 the team uncovered the first tomb (KV63) discovered in the Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922. After the discovery and excavation of KV63 his duties and responsibilities also included this newly found tomb and its objects.

Professor Emeritus, Earl L. Ertman retired in 1998 with over 30 years of full-time and several additional years of part-time teaching at the University of Akron. Besides teaching and excavating, he served as the Director of the School of Art for over 10 years. He has authored over 50 articles on Egyptian and ancient art.

Education

BA, University of Southern Mississippi, Drawing and Painting and a Minor in Art History