The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce the appointment of Bonna Daix Wescoat as the Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Wescoat, who began her tenure at the School on July 1, brings decades of field research and administrative achievements to the leadership of the American School’s mission of research and teaching.

Professor Wescoat, who holds an A.B. from Smith College, and a D. Phil. from Oxford University, is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History at Emory University, and Director of Excavations in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace. Her research interests center on architecture and sacred experience in ancient Greece, investigated through excavation, 3D digital modeling, architectural reconstruction, and experimental archaeology. While her current work addresses the excavation and publication of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace, she has also worked at Assos in Turkey.

William T. (Rob) Loomis, President of the Trustees of the American School stated, “We are confident that Bonna’s scholarly and administrative experience in Greece, Turkey, and the United States will provide strong leadership and a continuing commitment to the excellence that has characterized the School throughout its 140-year history.”

Professor Mark Lawall, Chair of the Managing Committee of the American School remarked that: “Bonna Wescoat brings many years of archaeological fieldwork, curatorial activity, extensive teaching experience, and strong administrative skills. I very much look forward to working with and learning from her over the coming years.”

Wescoat’s books include Samothrace IX, The Monuments of the Eastern Hill (2017); The Temple of Athena at Assos (2012); Architecture of the Sacred:  Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece to Byzantium (eds. B. D. Wescoat and R. Ousterhout, 2012); Samothracian Connections:  Essays in Honor of James R. McCredie (eds. O. Palagia and B. D. Wescoat, 2010), and exhibition catalogues, Replicating History:  Guide to the Plaster Casts on View at Emory University (1994); Syracuse, the Fairest Greek City (1989), and Poets and Heroes:  Scenes from the Trojan War (1986).

In addition to archaeological work on Samothrace, Wescoat’s international collaborations include the FACE Foundation-sponsored French American collaboration, “Architectural Networks of the Northern Aegean,” and the Getty-sponsored Connecting Art Histories program, “Beyond the Northern Aegean: Architectural Interactions across Northern Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, and the Pontic Regions in the late Classical and Hellenistic Periods.” A former Marshall Scholar to Great Britain, Wescoat has held a Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Humanities Center. She also has been Vice President for Research and Academic Affairs of the Archaeological Institute of America. Wescoat has previously served the American School as Whitehead Visiting Professor and as an active member of the Managing Committee.