More than 100 staff members work in the Division of the Humanities. We'll introduce you to our staff in this continuing series.

Amanda Young
Department Administrator, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

What do you like most about your job?
NELC is a large area studies department with more than 40 faculty and lecturers and 100 PhD students. Our students and faculty are working on topics that run the gamut from the archaeology of ancient Egypt to modern Arabic literature. I appreciate the opportunity to work with so many different people studying such diverse questions, and I enjoy the administrative challenges of NELC’s size, structure, and academic breadth. I’ve always felt valued by the NELC community, and I’ve learned a lot in the three years I’ve been here about how to support faculty and students as an administrator.

I also really enjoy having borrowing privileges at UChicago libraries.

What was the last good book you read?
I get most of my books from the library, so I only buy books that I’ve loved enough to want to earmark and underline and have on hand whenever needed. In the past year, I’ve felt compelled to buy Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy and Sally Rooney’s first two books, Conversations with Friends and Normal People.

You might work with me if you...
…if you have any questions about NELC, or if you’re working with students who have questions about studying one of the more than 20 languages we teach.

What is your New Year's resolution for 2019?
One of my goals for this year is to be more conscious of the amount of time I spend in front of screens. I’m increasingly nostalgic for life before smartphones.