Jim Wright arrived in Athens this summer to become its new director for a five-year term starting June 30th. A professor and chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr (a spawning ground for many notable ASCSA alumni), Professor Wright has had a long association with the American School. We were able to catch the new Director to ask a few questions just before the new school year.
Governance and Administration
The School’s academic programs are supervised by the Managing Committee consisting of over 380 representatives, predominantly faculty members from a consortium of over 190 North American colleges and universities responsible for governing the School on an all-volunteer basis. For more information about the benefits of institutional membership or if you are interested in having your institution join the ASCSA as a Cooperating Institution, click here: Cooperating Institutions Benefits.
The Managing Committee oversees the School’s excavation and academic programs, appoints the Director and other officers of the School, and participates in budgeting activities. The Chair of the Managing Committee also serves ex officio as a member of the School’s Board of Trustees, composed of committed, talented men and women from business and academia and responsible for the operation and maintenance of School property, investment of the School’s endowment, approval of budgets and appointments, and general advocacy and fundraising on behalf of the School.
There are also Overseers of the Gennadius Library who are responsible for operations, advocacy, and fundraising in connection with the Library. The Overseers consist of distinguished women and men from the worlds of business and culture in the United States, Greece, and elsewhere.
In Greece, the School is headed by a Director appointed for a five-year term. Typically, the Director is an American university professor on leave in order to head the School. The Director oversees a staff in Athens numbering approximately 85 people. The School’s headquarters in the U.S. is responsible for administrative, financial, fundraising and publications tasks and is headed by an Administrative Director and Director of Publications, who oversee a U.S. staff of approximately 16 people.