Vanessa Hillman

2009 Student Awards and Scholarships

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Circle Award

"I chose to attend ASU because it is one of the best universities for anthropology, especially for paleoanthropology. ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change is a personable and welcoming school."

 — Vanessa Hillman

Vanessa grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Before arriving at Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, she attended high school in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Her interest in anthropology stems from her curiosity about where humans come from, how they work, and why that is, through evolutionary ancestry. Vanessa is focusing on paleoanthropology and hopes to move into the teaching profession so that she can share her knowledge with others.

A high academic achiever, Vanessa is referred to by professor Thomas Hudak as a creative and motivated student who has displayed "excellent critical thinking skills, ranging from analysis and synthesis to generalization and organization." And associate professor Kaye Reed offered the following on Vanessa: "I experienced (yes, that is the right word) Vanessa every morning for five weeks as we had breakfast in the Afar. Not only is she brilliant, she is funny, thought-provoking and exhilarating — and this just scratches the surface during breakfast.  I know that Vanessa will be a force in whatever she does in life."

Special thanks to:

The ladies in the front office, who are always willing to lend a hand—especially Chelle.

The following "interesting and wonderful" instructors: Kaye Reed, Thomas Hudak, Bill Kimbel, Chris Campisano, Curtis Marean and Gary Schwartz.

These "super helpful" graduate students: Luke Delezene, Amy Shapiro, Terry Ritzman, Sarah Hampton and Emily Hallet.