The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce the establishment of the Susan I. Rotroff Research Fellowship through a generous gift from Mark Lawall, Professor of Classics at the University of Manitoba and former Chair of the American School’s Managing Committee.

Created in tribute to Professor Susan Rotroff, one of the most influential scholars of Athenian pottery, the Fellowship honors her remarkable scholarly legacy and her profound influence as a teacher, mentor, and colleague. It will provide stipends to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in North America preparing primary publications of finds from excavations in Greece. Preference will be given to those working with ceramic material, although projects involving all classes of artifacts and all periods, from prehistory to the present, will be eligible. Recipients may use the Fellowship for research expenses, including travel, illustrations, and archaeometric analysis.

“Susan Rotroff devotes meticulous attention to the archaeological record; she questions and checks the evidence; she discovers patterns and connections no one had noticed before; and then, with infectious enthusiasm, she unfailingly shares her insights with friends and colleagues,” said Professor Lawall. “I hope this Fellowship will give future scholars the opportunity and encouragement to undertake the same careful, deeply grounded research that has defined Susan’s contributions to our field, and to emulate her collegiality and generosity.”

Susan Rotroff speaks at the American School’s Annual Open Meeting, April 2024

Kathleen Lynch, Chair of the Managing Committee, added, “Susan Rotroff is one of the most accomplished scholars of our time. Her work has helped transform the study of pottery into a deeper understanding of people and their lives. That insight begins with the painstaking work of studying material firsthand, often through countless hours spent sorting and examining fragments. Mark Lawall’s gift recognizes how essential this sustained, in-person research remains and provides a rare opportunity for scholars to pursue it in depth. A distinguished scholar of Greek transport amphoras in his own right, Mark has also made an extraordinary contribution to the field through his scholarship, service, and mentorship. Susan and Mark have shaped the work of many students and colleagues, including me, and I feel fortunate to count them both as friends.”

Susan I. Rotroff is the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, where she taught in the Department of Classics from 1995 until her retirement in 2015.  A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Professor Rotroff spent a formative year at the American School before earning her PhD from Princeton University in 1976. Since 1970, she has been closely associated with the Athenian Agora Excavations, where her study of the ceramic record of the Classical and Hellenistic periods has transformed scholarly understanding of daily life in ancient Athens. Her three monumental volumes on Hellenistic pottery from the Athenian Agora remain foundational references for archaeologists throughout the Mediterranean.

Her achievements have been recognized with a MacArthur Fellowship in 1988, the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America in 2011, election as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2016, and the American School’s Aristeia Award for Distinguished Alumni/ae in 2020.


Susan Rotroff studying cooking pots at the Athenian Agora

The Fellowship also reflects Professor Lawall’s longstanding connection to the American School and the personal significance of Professor Rotroff’s example to his own work. As he explains:  “I first met Susan in the late 1990s in the basement storerooms of the Stoa of Attalos. She was finishing her Hellenistic plainwares volume, and I was just starting my work on the Agora amphoras. Over short coffee and lunch breaks and on brisk walks back uphill to Souidias Street, we talked about the closing dates of different deposits, research methods, and the Agora’s rich personal history. Susan made all of us working in the Stoa feel part of a shared, grand, and vital mission. The work of studying finds, especially the ubiquitous sherds of pottery, is sometimes considered less glamorous than the actual digging, and funding and other support can be elusive. This Fellowship was established not only to improve such opportunities, but also to encourage the same shared enthusiasm for our mission that Susan always brings to the table.”


Susan Rotroff (at right) with Kathleen Lynch, Chair of the American School’s Managing Committee, and Mark Lawall, former Chair of the American School’s Managing Committee.

Professor Lawall’s research centers on the archaeology of ancient economies, particularly the transport amphoras used to carry wine, oil, and other goods across the Mediterranean. His fieldwork has taken him to the Athenian Agora and to other sites in Greece, Türkiye, Ukraine, Egypt, and Cyprus.

A recipient of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Arts’ Professor of the Year Award and Excellence in Teaching Award, Professor Lawall has served the American School in numerous capacities throughout his career. As Chair of the Managing Committee from 2017 to 2026, he provided thoughtful and steadfast leadership during a consequential period in the School’s history.

The American School is deeply grateful to Professor Lawall for this thoughtfully conceived gift. The Susan I. Rotroff Research Fellowship will advance the essential work of archaeological publication while extending Professor Rotroff’s impact through the scholarship it makes possible.