2024-25
2024-2025 Applications for the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies Open
Call for Applications for the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies The Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World announces a call for applications for the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies. This fellowship is awarded to outstanding graduate students whose works encompass different facets of Zoroastrian studies, that is, the Zoroastrian […]
A New Era for Iranian Studies: UCLA Celebrates Yarshater Center Launch
Photo: M. Rahim Shayegan, director of the Pourdavoud Institute and Yarshater Center; Elton Daniel, secretary of the Persian Heritage Foundation; Alexandra Minna Stern, dean of the UCLA Division of the Humanities; and Darnell Hunt, UCLA interim chancellor. (Vince Bucci) Campus leaders, faculty, community members celebrate launch of UCLA Yarshater Center for the Study of Iranian […]
Faculty Publication: Kara Cooney’s Recycling for Death
Dr. Kara Cooney, Professor of ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, has just published Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches with AUC Press. This work is the culmination of over a decade of research featuring a dataset of hundreds of […]
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. Gina was raised in New York. She completed her B.A. in 2007 at Mount […]
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 […]
In Memoriam: Professor Arnold J. Band
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Professor Emeritus Arnold J. Band. He was a valued member of the Near Eastern Languages & Cultures department. Please send your thoughts and condolences to their family at this difficult time. Professor Arnold J. Band earned his BA in Classics and his PhD in Comparative Literature at […]
In Memory of Ralph Jaeckel (1932–2024)
It is with great sadness that the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures reports the death of Senior Lecturer Emeritus Dr. Ralph Jaeckel on October 21, 2024. Dr. Jaeckel was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), on November 4, 1932. His parents, university graduates, left Europe before the start of World War II. […]
Islamicate Manuscripts Initiative video features 2 Humanities scholars
Image description: UCLA Library, Professor Luke Yarbrough, top right, Azeem Malik, bottom left, and pages from volumes in the Islamicate Manuscripts Initiative. Since 2022, the UCLA Library has led the Islamicate Manuscripts Initiative, an effort to describe and conserve thousands of Islamicate and Arabic-script manuscripts, and to make the materials accessible to researchers and the public. […]
Job Announcement: Assistant Professor, History, Languages/Literary Traditions, and Religions of Ancient Iran
The Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles, announces a search for a tenure-track position in ancient Iranian studies at the rank of Assistant Professor to be filled effective July 1, 2025. Applications are invited from junior scholars with research and teaching interests in the history, languages/literary traditions, […]
Who wrote the Bible? In new book, upcoming lecture, William Schniedewind offers bold new answers
Who really wrote the Bible? A Dec. 3 lecture by William Schniedewind will offer a bold new answer to that age-old question. “Although the Hebrew Bible rarely speaks of its authors, people have been fascinated by the question of its authorship since ancient times,” said Schniedewind, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the UCLA Alan D. Leve […]
Workshop focuses on exploitation of Nile in arts of ancient northeastern Africa
UCLA recently hosted a small group of Egyptian and Sudanese scholars for a workshop focused on the exploitation of the Nile in both the ancient past and contemporary present. Held in late October, “Exploring the Nile in the Arts of Ancient Northeast Africa” was led by Kara Cooney, professor of Egyptian art and architecture and […]