Troy Leiland Sagrillo, Valedictorian and 1985 graduate of Columbine High School, recently completed his Doctor in Oriental Studies: Ancient Near East (Ph.D.) at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven located in Leuven, Belgium. He received his degree on January 31st following the defense of his dissertation "The Reign of Shoshenq I of the Egyptian Twenty-second Dynasty".

Defense committee members were: The Rector Mark Vernvenne - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Professor Harco Willems - Troy's Promoter, Professor Peter Van Deun, Doctor René Preys, Professor Mark Depauw - all from Katholieké Universiteit Leuven, Professor Eric Gubel - Vrije Universiteit Brussels, and Professor Anthony Leahy - Birmingham University, Birmingham, England.

Troy also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, a Masters degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and began his doctoral program at the University of Toronto. He transferred to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven following his marriage to Marleen De Meyer of Belgium (she is currently a doctoral candidate in Egyptology). On February 5th, Troy traveled to Beijing to be a visiting lecturer at Peking University teaching various Egyptian history classes until early June while his wife is at Professor Harco Willems' archaeological excavation in Egypt during March and April.

Immediately following his defense, a reception catered by Rudy De Meyer, brother-in-law, and Leen Michiels was held in his honor. Attending the defense and reception included Marleen, Troy's parents, Lee and Judy Sagrillo from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Troy's in-laws, Jack and Vigi De Meyer from Belgium, and many friends and colleagues including Doctor Benjamin Sass from the University of Tel Aviv.

That evening, Troy and Marleen hosted a dinner for members of the defense committee to show their appreciation to the committee for their work and dedication in reviewing his dissertation.