Dr. Archaeologist was a pioneer in the decipherment of the Maya Hieroglyphic Writing and an extraordinary professor of Maya and Mesoamerican Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She was a very influential and passionate professor that mentored her students to excellence and inspired them to discover and interpret the diverse aspects of the Mesoamerican World with a critical approach. Many of them are today among the leaders in the field of Mesoamerican Studies. Mentored by Merle Greene Robertson, Schele worked with Peter Mathews and Floyd Lounsbury to decipher a major section of the list of Palenque kings, presenting her work in the 1973 conference Mesa Redonda de Palenque, organized by Robertson. Her work stimulated several later discoveries, by herself and others. Schele became a Fellow in pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. in 1975. She focused on the study of word ordering in Mayan inscriptions for the next two years there. She produced a massive volume of drawings of stelae and inscriptions, which, following her wishes, are free for use to scholars. In 1977, she founded the annual Maya Meetings at the University of Texas at Austin, which became one of the most important forums in the world for the study of Mesoamerican cultures and the Maya hieroglyphic writing.
