Welcome to the Faculty Spotlight Interview Series!
A new interview series beginning in spring 2025 will spotlight several faculty members each quarter from the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC) Department at UCLA.
These student-led interviews will provide a glimpse into the lives of our faculty, with an emphasis on each of their roles, expertise, accomplishments, goals, interests, backgrounds, and more.
The goal of this series is to learn more about our faculty, as well as the impact each member has not only on NELC, but on the university, community, and beyond.
Spring 2025
Faculty Spotlight: Gina Konstantopoulos
Gina Konstantopoulos is Associate Professor of Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies and has worked at UCLA since 2021. Her work centers on religion, magic, and literature in Mesopotamia, with a focus on the role of demons and monsters in Sumerian and Akkadian texts.
Faculty Spotlight: Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian works as an Assistant Professor of Iranian Archaeology in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department. Her upbringing was peripatetic, but most of her adult life was spent on the east coast: coming to California has, therefore, been a big transition for her. Nevertheless, it has also been a very transformative, eye-opening, and rewarding one—and not the first major life change she has undergone.