The Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies is a new department designed to explore what is sometimes called the birthplace of Western civilization. It builds on the strengths of Brown’s former Department of Egyptology, widening the intellectual focus from ancient Egypt to all of Ancient Western Asia, also known as the Ancient Near East, where and when societies first began exhibiting more complex forms of organization such as writing. As a field of higher learning, Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies is represented at most of the world’s great universities. Its establishment at Brown, beginning the 2005-06 academic year, is a product of Brown’s Plan for Academic Enrichment, a commitment to higher learning in the humanities and the sciences.