Peter Wien, president of the board
Dr. Peter Wien is Professor for Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Maryland in College Park. He received his PhD in 2003 from the University of Bonn, Germany, and Master degrees from the University of Oxford, UK, and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in 1999. He taught at Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, and was a fellow of the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin. His publications include the books Arab Nationalism: The Politics of History and Culture in the Modern Middle East (London: Routledge, 2017), and Iraqi Arab Nationalism: Authoritarian, Totalitarian and Pro-Fascist Inclinations, 1932-1941 (London: Routledge, 2006).
McGuire Gibson, Founder of TARII and Vice President of the Board
Dr. McGuire Gibson is a leading authority on ancient Mesopotamia and has published extensively. He has done fieldwork in Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and northeastern Syria. In addition to his research and fieldwork, he has provided expert advice to UNESCO and other cultural and scholarly organizations working to preserve the archaeological heritage of Iraq. Dr. Gibson is a Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology at the University of Chicago, where he has been teaching since 1973.
arbella bet-shlimon, secretary of the board
Dr. Arbella Bet-Shlimon is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Washington. In her research and teaching, she focuses on twentieth-century Iraq and the broader Persian Gulf region, as well as Middle Eastern urban history. She is the author of City of Black Gold: Oil, Ethnicity, and the Making of Modern Kirkuk (Stanford University Press, 2019).
Jean evans, Treasurer of the board
Dr. Jean Evans specializes in Mesopotamian art and archaeology. Her research focuses on sacred material culture, the reception and representation of Mesopotamia, and the production of knowledge in museums. She is the author of The Lives of Sumerian Sculpture: An Archaeology of the Early Dynastic Temple (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and co-editor of Mesopotamian Temple Inventories in the Third and Second Millennia BCE: Integrating Archaeological, Textual, and Visual Sources. Her current book project, “Sacred Objects, Sacred Spaces: Mesopotamian Religious Practice at Tutub,” is a study of sacred gifting practice at the intersection of materiality, place, and the sacred. Dr. Evans has worked on excavations in Syria at Tell Brak, Tell Mozan, Hamoukar, Tell Zeidan, and Tell Qsoubi.
Amanda Long, executive Director
Amanda Long has a degree in International Relations, focusing on the Middle East and Islamic Diplomacy, from American University’s School of International Service and an MA in Egyptian Archaeology from University College London's Institute of Archaeology. She has been actively involved in cultural heritage preservation projects since 2014, including the Preventing Trafficking/Protecting Cultural Heritage training at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum Conservation Institute. In 2016, Amanda was awarded a fellowship at the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. She joined TARII in 2018.
Lanah haddad, erbil regional director
Lanah Haddad is an archaeologist specializing in the art and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. She studied in Germany and was a PhD Candidate at the interdisciplinary graduate program “Value and Equivalent” at the University of Frankfurt. She has participated in several international archaeological excavation and heritage preservation projects in the MENA region. Most of her work focuses in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She has published several articles and contributed in two exhibitions. She joined TARII in 2022.
katie johnson, social media & website manager
Katie Johnson is the Coordinator for Education Abroad at AMIDEAST and has been with TARII since 2005. She edits the newsletter and maintains all social media and web platforms.