Department of Near Eastern Studies

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Alumni

Recent Graduates
Elizabeth Waraksa	2007. Egyptology CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow 11630D Charles E. Young Research Library UCLA - Box 951575 Los Angeles , CA 90025-1575 tel 310-206-2473 fax 310-825-3777 ewaraksa@library.ucla.edu
Lance Allred	2007. Assyriology Postdoctoral Associate Department of Near Eastern Studies Cornell University 409 White Hall Ithaca, NY 14853-7901 allred@jhu.edu
Alhena Gadotti	2006. Assyriology Postdoctoral Associate Department of Near Eastern Studies Cornell University 409 White Hall Ithaca, NY 14853-7901 alhena@jhu.edu
Yekaterina Barbash	2006. Egyptian Art Assistant Curator, Arts of Ancient Egypt Brooklyn Museum 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238-6052 T (718)-501-6285 F (718)-501-6140 yekaterina.barbash@brooklynmuseum.org
Nozomu Kawai	2006. Egyptology Visiting Associate Professor Research Institute for Science & Engineering Waseda University Project Room for the Research in Egypt 907 Measurement 55-S Waseda University, Okubo Campus 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo, 169-8555, JAPAN Phone/Fax +81-3-5286-3142 nozomu.kawai@aoni.waseda.jp
Yoo-Ki Kim	2006. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic Philology Lecturer Presbyterian Theological Seminary Seoul, Korea yk@jhu.edu
Tammy Krygier	2006. Egyptian Art and Archaeology takrygier@verizon.net
Ishwaran Mudliar	2005. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic Philology Assistant Professor of Old Testament Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary P.O. Box 22386 Fort Worth, TX 76122-0386 817-923-1921, ext. 4452 imudliar@swbts.edu
JJ Shirley	2005. Egyptology Assistant Professor (UK Lecturer) in Egyptology Department of Classics, Ancient History & Egyptology, School of Humanities University of Wales Swansea Singleton Park Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, United Kingdom j.j.shirley@swansea.ac.uk
Alice Petty	2004. Archaeology Lecturer Stanford University aapetty@stanford.edu damiqti@gmail.com
Violaine Chauvet	2004. Egyptian Art and Archaeology Assistant Professor, History Framingham State College 100 State Street Framingham, MA 01702
Ken D. Fentress	2004. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic Philology Dean of Intercultural Programs Assistant Professor of Old Testament The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2825 Lexington Road Louisville, Kentucky 40280 Office: 502-897-4863 kfentress@sbts.edu
Susanna Garfein	2004. Hebrew Bible Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Bible Coordinator of Hebrew Language Baltimore Hebrew University 5800 Park Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD 21215 410-578-6925 sgarfein@bhu.edu
John Nichols	2004. Near Eastern Archaeology kirmak@westinternet.net
Kathlyn Mary (Kara) Cooney	2003. Egyptology Lecturer Introduction to Humanities Stanford University kcooney@standford.edu
Daniel Kirsch	2003. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic Philology University of Maryland Baltimore County kirsch@umbc.edu
Bruce Wells	2003. Hebrew Bible, Ancient Law Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Gustavus Adolphus College 407 W. Nassau St., St. Peter, MN 56082, 507-933-6296 bwells@gustavus.edu
Ryan Byrne	2002. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitics Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible Department of Religious Studies Rhodes College 2000 North Parkway Memphis, TN 32112 901-843-3258 byrner@rhodes.edu
Simone Burger Robin	2002. Egyptology Independent scholar researching issues related to late Ramesside statuary, specifically iconographic issues, family deities and visual analysis. Teaching undergraduates at Parsons School of Design, Paris Campus. Avenue Prekelinden, 152 1200 Brussels , Belguim 32(0) 2 733 6534 snrobin@tiscali.be
Annalisa Azzoni	2001. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitics Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Cultures 228 Divinity School Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37240 615-243-3987 annalisa.azzoni@Vanderbilt.Edu
Kevin Wilson	2001. Hebrew Bible Professor of Biblical Studies Lithuania Christian College Klaipeda, Lithuania kwilson@lcc.lt
Joel Burnett	1999. Hebrew Bible Assistant Professor of Religion Baylor University Waco, Texas Joel_Burnett@baylor.edu
Chris Rollston	1999. Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic
Gonzalo Rubio	1999. Assyriology Work focuses on the languages and literatures of Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerian and Akkadian), Semitic linguistics, and cultural interaction in the ancient Mediterranean. Professor Departments of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and History and Religious Studies Pennsylvania State University 108 Weaver Bldg. University Park, PA 16802 814-863-4846 gxr18@psu.edu
Seth Sanders	1999. Hebrew Bible University of Chicago Chicago, IL sanders@uchicago.edu
Peg Boden	1998. Assyriology
Tawny Holm	1997. Hebrew Bible Associate Professor Department of Religious Studies Indiana University of Pennsylvania 452 Sutton Hall Indiana, PA 15705 724-357-2310 tholm@iup.edu
Philip Jones	1997. Assyriology

Alumni Notes

Simon Parker ('67)
Simon B. Parker, a graduate of the Department of Near Eastern Studies and professor at the Boston University School of Theology and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who specialized in the Hebrew Bible, died on April 29, 2006. His dissertation titled"Studies in the Grammar of Ugaritic Prose Texts" was written under the direction of Johns Hopkins University Professor Delbert R. Hillers.

Obituaries from may be found at the following links:
Boston University
The Boston Globe
Society of Biblical Literature

A Note from Evelyn Aye, wife of John Thompson ('43):
My husband, John Thompson, Jack to me, graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT in 1932; from Princeton University, majoring in History, in 1936 (Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior Year); received two graduate degrees from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, I think in 1939 & 1940; and his PhD from Johns Hopkins University, about 1943. At Hopkins he was in the Department of Middle East Studies and studied Old Testament Language & Literature under Dr. Albright. I became acquainted with Jack at "Biblical" (Seminary) in 1942, when he went to teach there and I was a new student there. Born in Egypt, he returned there to teach in 1948, and taught there for a span of 20 years. It is interesting to note that Jack, his father, and his grandfather all graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary or its predecessor(s), his grandfather in 1874. They all became United Presbyterian ministers; all served as educational missionaries in Egypt.

After teaching for a span of 18 years in Egypt, where two of my four children were born, I made a 12-day trip (Oct 30 to Nov 10, 2005) to Cairo for the Evangelical (Protestant) Denomination's 150th Anniversary celebration; and for the 50th anniversary of their conference center on the Mediterranean coast. I was representing my late husband, the Rev. Dr. John Alexander Thompson, his parents, the Rev. Dr. F. Scott Thompson & May Alexander Thompson, and his grandparents, the Rev. Dr. John Romich Alexander & Carrie Elder Alexander. Together, as Presbyterian missionaries, we comprise three generations of our family's service to the church in Egypt, covering, I figure, a span of 93 years. Seeing former students of my husband's, and mine, and visiting historic and modern places were a great privilege. Actually, five generations of our family have lived in Egypt, because my elder son, Henry Alexander Thompson, lived and worked there also, and his daughter, my only grandchild, Alexandra Thompson, was born there.

Latest publication by Joseph A. Fitzmyer ('56):
THE GENESIS APOCRYPHON OF QUMRAN CAVE 1 (1Q20): A COMMENTARY, THIRD EDITION (Biblica et orientalia 18B; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 2004). Its new 80 pages include the columns and partial columns that have recently been read, along with an updated grammatical analysis of the Aramaic text.

Robert Biggs ('62) writes:
My bit of news is that I retired in June 2004 after 41 years at the Oriental Institute. I remain on the Editorial Board of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and, for the moment, I am remaining as editor of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.

A. H. Mathias Zahniser ('73) has been appointed interim director of the Jewish-Christian Studies program at Greenville College, Greenville, Illinois.

Diane Krasner ('76) writes:
Life is going well for me . . . . I am living part-time in Baltimore and part-time in York, PA having married Mr. David Welber of York about 1 1/2 years ago. We live in a splendid brownstone in Historic Downtown York and are very, very happy. Professionally, I am quite busy serving a two year term as President of our national wound association, the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (www.aawcone.org) and working full-time as a Regional Clinical Manager for Coloplast Corp. (www.us.coloplast.com).

Michael Dick ('77) writes:
I have just been awarded the Catholic Biblical Association Visiting Professorship to the Pontificio Istituto Biblico in Rome for Fall 2006. I am of course quite happy but also somewhat saddened to think how much my friend and teacher Del Hillers had looked forward to that position before his illness interrupted it. So now I have to stop my Czech Classes and work on my Italian since I committed myself to teach in Italian.

Sad news: Evelyn Perry ('86) passed away last week. Simone Robin writes: She was a wonderful person, a very close friend and we were the NES Egyptology "group" of Paris. She will be missed by all who knew her.

New publications from Mark Phelps ('94):
2006 "Catholic Epistles and Hebrews," a chapter in an untitled introduction to the New Testament, edited by Kim Paffenroth (in press).
2005 "North Africa and the Middle East," in Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity , published by Routledge (in press).

Peg Boden ('99) writes:
While I was completing my dissertation as a non-resident student, I began working in the cultural resources management industry to earn some income. Some friends of mine who have graduate degrees in Classics were doing the same thing. We got together and formed our own company in the spring of 2002. We do studies and produce reports, mostly for government agencies who must follow regulations about historic preservation. We have completed about 30 projects. I'm now leading a large study of the Middle Missouri River for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. It involves a synthesis of the known resources and a write up of the cultural history of the region.
Although I've had to switch my focus to North America, I still use all the education I received about doing research, writing clearly, etc. I specialize in interpreting historic documents, such as records of land transactions. You can visit our website (which will soon be updated) at www.4gconsulting.net.
I try to keep up my Near Eastern reading. I still buy books and have a pile to read.

Seth Sanders ('99) writes:
I will be visiting assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Cornell next year, as well as a faculty guest at Telluride House. My publication plans involve the completion of three books over the next year (Cuneiform in Canaan with Wayne Horowitz and Takayoshi Oshima; the Margins of Writing Oriental Institute conference volume; my own Vernacular Revelation: The Language of the Hebrew Bible and the Politics of Ancient Israel, all three of which are in various manuscript stages).

Simone (Burger) Robin ('02) writes:
I would love to send news of my own publications, but at the moment I have other "obligations." I now have three children (Theodore 5; Eugénie 3; and "little" Max who will be 1 in a few more weeks). Now that Max does not need my constant presence, and Teddy and Eugénie are in school, I am planning to return to the topic of my dissertation and will be presenting a paper at the upcoming ARCE conference, entitled "Towards a definition of three-dimensional Ramesses IV statuary."

Congratulations to Alison Schofield ('02) who has been appointed Assistant Professor of Religious and Judaic Studies and the University of Denver, starting next January.

Congratulations to Bruce Wells ('03), who has been appointed to a tenure-track position in Hebrew Bible at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, beginning in the Fall.

Congratulations to Violaine Chauvet ('04), who has been appointed Assistant Professor for one year at Framingham State College, beginning in the Fall.

Nozomu Kawai (06) writes:
I will be a Lecturer (part-time) at the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University from the fall semester 2006. I shall be teaching four classess in both Egyptology and Humanities in English.