Getting to know Bishop’s: Meet Dr. Lana Radloff

Getting to know your #Ubishops community is a must if you wish to fully immerse yourself into the BUbble! We decided to help you out by conducting monthly interviews with staff and faculty that contribute to the school’s success. This month we had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Lana Radloff, Assistant Professor in the Classical Studies Department.

Dr. Lana Radloff

Favourite book of all-time?
I’ve read a lot of great books, but most of them over the last 15 years have been academic. I wish that I had more time to read, because I love reading crime novels, such as Sandra Brown, James Patterson, and Lee Child.

Favourite group or singer?
Pat Benatar, Cher, Madonna! Any strong 80s/90s women! Secretly (not so secretly), I love country music: it’s my favorite genre. I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and the nearest city (only 5,000 people, but that’s all it takes to be a city in Saskatchewan) only had an AM country radio station. That’s right, I said AM radio: 1420 CJVR! It’s now an FM radio station, but I miss the good old days. Our farm was a little too far away from the city with a pop radio station (Prince Albert’s Power 99.1 FM), so we could only get reception when our boom boxes were in the right spot and the antenna was pointing in the perfect direction.

Pat Benatar Vintage GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Favourite movie of all-time?
The Sound of Music is up there. It was my grandma’s favorite movie. I can’t recall how many times I watched it with my family growing up, but those two VHS tapes were a little ragged by the time DVDs came in the 90s. I also love Top Gun and can’t wait for the sequel to come out! I’m hoping for some more diversity in flight school this time! Women? LGBTQIA2+?

Favourite spot on campus?
This is a tough one! Frankly, right now I would take any spot. I miss being on campus and seeing/feeling/hearing the hustle and bustle of the students, as they learn and grow. It’s part of what makes university campuses so magical!

Favourite spot off-campus?
I love a couple café’s in downtown Sherbrooke: Kaapeh and Pain Voyageur. I also enjoy the Saint-François River and the bike path. Really, though, all of the Eastern Townships is incredibly beautiful! When I moved here, I remember driving to Sherbrooke from the Montreal airport and being gobsmacked by the scenery. I’d been living in Turkey and working on archaeological excavations in Greece prior to moving to Quebec – plus I hadn’t lived in Canada for 7 years – so I was nervous about this big change. I felt (and still feel) very grateful to live in such an incredible area and community in Canada.

Favourite #Ubishops moment?
Probably in the Winter term 2019, when my students and I were wheeling their excavation boxes for CLA240 (“Signs of the Past”) across the Quad. These were large boxes (4ft x 2ft x 2 ft) filled with soil, rocks, and artifacts, so it was a real challenge to get them into the library. I designed the boxes, and we built them as a class, but I forgot to take into consideration the stress that the weight of the contents would put on the wheels. So, EVERY.SINGLE.ONE broke down! Long story short: we used a dolly from Buildings and Grounds and lifted, rolled, carried these darn boxes the rest of the way into LLC106 (in the Library Learning Commons). The good news was that all the contents were intact!!

Describe #Ubishops in three words.
Community, inquisitive, resilient

I’ve found the Bishop’s community so warm and welcoming, and the inquisitiveness of the students so inspiring. Amongst all the difficulties that everyone has been facing throughout 2020, I’ve also been amazed by the resiliency of the community and, particularly, the students. It’s their enthusiasm for learning that has kept me going through this difficult semester.

If you had to switch jobs with someone on campus, what would it be and why?
Hands-down, Buildings and Grounds. I think they have an incredibly tough job, but I love outdoor, physical work. Besides, they get to drive all that cool machinery!!

If you had to join a club or student group on campus, what would it be and why?
There are so many amazing clubs and student groups on campus, so this is a really tough choice. I’d probably join the Bishop’s Bees: it sounds really interesting, and beekeeping has a very long history. In fact, we read about it in ancient Greek literature and find ancient beehives in the archaeological record! It’s also a pretty big industry in Greece today. So cool!

Bishop’s Bees

If you had to go back to school, which program would you pick and why?
There are so many programs that I would love to do! If we’re talking about university degrees, it would be geology and geography. I use these disciplines in archaeology already, but I wish that I had the time to study them more thoroughly. Alternatively, I’ve always thought that if my career in archaeology and academia doesn’t work out, I would go back to school to be a heavy duty mechanic. I would love to work on massive machinery, such as combines and tractors! This was a regular part of my life growing up on a farm, and I was always impressed that my dad, uncles, and grandfather could do repairs on their own. Man, farmers are smart! It was also quite dangerous: one time a tractor was up on the ramps, while my dad (I think!) was underneath fixing it. For whatever reason, the tractor came rolling down off the ramps, almost crushing him, but he managed to roll out of the way just in time. So crazy! Don’t even get me started on the cultivator wings and the electrical lines! Farming isn’t for the faint of heart!

To learn more about the Classical Studies Department: https://www.ubishops.ca/classics

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