Long Beach City College Professor Emad Faltas found his passion at Cairo University in Egypt where he studied the development of humanity.
With 9 years of experience in archeology, Professor Faltas has led many tours for Cambridge, Oxford, and toured with popular, now retired UCLA professor, Bill Creasy.
“One of the worst experiences of my nine years of archeology, was being locked in a pyramid for 16 hours,” professor Faltas says.
19 years ago Faltas was on an expedition exploring an abandoned pyramid in Dashur, Egypt.
Faltas’ team had been investigating the first two chambers for hours.
As his team grew tired, Faltas decided to investigate the third chamber on his own.
Upon ascending into the third chamber, the ladder broke, leaving no safe way for Faltas to descend.
He proceeded to yell for help for hours, but no one could hear him, as his team had already left.
When 8pm rolled around the lights in the chamber shut off, leaving the room pitch black.
It wouldn’t be for another 16 hours that Professor Faltas was found.
A guard dog heard him yelling for help, a guard soon followed, who called a rescue team .
Despite this scarring experience, professor Faltas continues to spread his love for history through teaching.
A series of pro-democratic protests and uprisings known as the Arab Spring, occurred throughout the Middle East which caused professor Faltas to move to the United States out of concern for his family’s safety.
Professor Faltas now teaches at LBCC as well as Fullerton college.
Faltas’ peers speak fondly of him.
“He has an amazing backstory on how he got to where he is today. He’s a very popular professor in our department, and he engages students’ interests in his topic” professor David Lehman said.
“We are very lucky to have an egyptologist professor here, his passion for ancient Egyptian history is contagious,” professor Mary Marki states.
Students interested in learning more about Egyptology and other archeological ventures can register for Professor Faltas upcoming Spring 2020 classes.