TheInstitute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) is a center for advanced scholarly research and graduate education atNew York University. ISAW's mission is to cultivate comparative, connective investigations of theancient world from thewestern Mediterranean toChina.[1] Areas of specialty among ISAW's faculty include theGreco-Roman world, theAncient Near East,Egypt, Central Asia and theSilk Road,East Asian art and archaeology,Late Antiquity and theearly Middle Ages,ancient science, anddigital humanities.[2]
ISAW was founded in 2006 with funding from theLeon Levy Foundation,[3] established to continue the philanthropic legacy ofLeon Levy, co-founder of theOppenheimer mutual funds. Long interested in ancient history, Levy in his final years, along with his wife Shelby White, began discussions about the creation of a path-breaking institute where advanced scholars would explore trade and cultural links among ancient civilizations. After Levy's death in 2003, one of the earliest initiatives of the Leon Levy Foundation, was the fulfillment of that plan. ISAW is a discrete entity within New York University, independent of any other school or department of the university, with its own endowment and its own board of trustees, and is housed in separate facilities in a historic six-story limestone onEast 84th Street inManhattan near theMET.[4]
The director of ISAW isAlexander Jones (classicist). He succeeded the founding directorRoger Bagnall in September, 2016. Jennifer Chi was the founding exhibitions director and chief curator, who guided the visual arts program until 2018.[5][6]
As of September 1, 2021, the following individuals served as ISAW faculty:[7]
As of September 1, 2021, Senior Staff Members included:[8]
ISAW's website describes its governance structure as follows:
Appointments and academic programs of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World are under the jurisdiction of its faculty, which achieved independent status in fall, 2010, and which is led by the director. The director reports to the provost and president of New York University. In addition, the institute has its ownDirector's Council. Its chair is the institute's founder, Shelby White. The council plays a crucial role in ensuring that ISAW fulfills its mission and has the means necessary to do so. It provides essential advice to the director on strategic directions and public programming, and its members are vital ambassadors for ISAW in enlarging the public reached by its work.
ISAW houses a research library of approximately 40,000 non-circulating print volumes.[9] The ISAW Library is a branch library of the NYU Division of Libraries, with facilities located on four floors of ISAW's facilities on East 84th Street. The library is open to members of the ISAW and NYU communities, as well as to scholars from other institutions who can demonstrate a need to access materials in the collection for their research.
Particular areas of strength in the ISAW Library's print collection include Greek and Roman material culture and history,Papyrology,Egyptology,Mesopotamian Archaeology andAssyriology,Central Asia and Iran, andEarly China.
The library is engaged in providing access and support for new and emerging forms ofdigital scholarship, scholarly communication, and pedagogy inancient studies.[10] The library's digital initiatives include theAncient World Digital Library (AWDL) and a joint project with ISAW Digital Programs to help catalog the online and open access resources.[11]
40°46′48″N73°57′37″W / 40.7799°N 73.9603°W /40.7799; -73.9603
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
