AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE 2013 ANNUAL MEETING
ASOR was pleased to recognize the work and dedication of several deserving recipients with a variety of awards at the Annual Meeting. Awards were given for publications and service to ASOR.
Service Awards
The Richard J. Scheuer Medal – Seymour Gitin
The ASOR Membership Service Award – Elise A. Friedland and Andrew M. Smith II
The Charles U. Harris Service Award – Jennie Ebeling
The W. F. Albright Service Award – Joan Branham
The ASOR Membership Service Award – Beth Alpert Nakhai
The ASOR Special Service Award – James Weinstein
The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award – Amihai Mazar
Book Awards
The G. Ernest Wright Publications Award – Phillip C. Edwards
The Frank Moore Cross Award – Frederick J. Murphy
Scroll down to learn more about the awards and recipients.
The Richard J. Scheuer Medal – Seymour Gitin
This award honors an individual who has provided truly outstanding, long term support and service contributions to ASOR.
Seymour Gitin, Dorot Director and Professor of Archaeology of the Albright Institute, has been active in ASOR for forty years. He is a long-time faithful supporter of ASOR, working with its leadership to strengthen ASOR’s public profile, hosting CAP tours in Israel, and supporting ASOR-sponsored digs with Albright resources. He has served on committees, published in ASOR journals, and given regular papers at the Annual Meeting. Sy is about to retire from thirty four years as Director of the Albright Institute. During that time the Albright has witnessed phenomenal growth in its fellowship programs, increased recognition for its academic and scholarly profile, and the establishment of an endowment to support its operations.
He is a truly deserving recipient of the Scheuer Medal which is only given when appropriate. His service and commitment have been truly outstanding.
The ASOR Membership Service Award – Elise A. Friedland and Andrew M. Smith II
This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the ASOR membership, through committee, editorial, or office services. Up to three awards are given annually.
Elise Friedland, The George Washington University, and Andrew Smith, The George Washington University, co-chairs of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, have served with selfless dedication for the past five years. Under their direction and leadership, the program has grown both numerically and intellectually, proving a lively venue for scholarly exchange and debate. Under their tenure as Program Committee co-chairs, Elise and Andrew have modernized the entire Annual Meeting submission system, creating a professional, objective atmosphere and process by which members can participate in the meetings. There are now sessions that cover time periods from the prehistoric to the modern era (including contemporary issues facing the discipline). Sessions extend from the Caucasus to Iraq and beyond. Together (and in conjunction with the ASOR staff) they have tackled ethical questions with great diplomacy, and responded diligently to issues raised by members. Over the years they have worked assiduously to ensure that the makeup of the Program Committee represents a broad cross-section of the ASOR membership, resulting in an intellectually robust offering of papers and posters each year. Their efforts have culminated in 2013 with a professionalized program book for the Annual Meeting program. The continued and growing success of the Annual Meeting will be the direct result of the efforts of Andrew and Elise. We are pleased to recognize their commitment to the Annual Meeting with the ASOR Membership Service Award. This is a small token of our appreciation for everything they have done, and all of ASOR is in their debt.
The Charles U. Harris Service Award – Jennie Ebeling
This award is given in recognition of long term and/or special service as an ASOR officer or Trustee.
Jennie Ebeling has been an active volunteer in ASOR since she was a graduate student at the University of Arizona. Notably, she served as co-chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee with Yorke Rowan during a time when the Annual Meeting was growing both in terms of participants and attendees. She has served as an ASOR trustee for more than a decade, and for the last three years she been ASOR’s Vice-President for Membership and a member of ASOR’s Executive Committee. ASOR membership grew almost 50% during her tenure as Vice-President of Membership, and she has led an effort to increase ASOR’s visibility online and in social media. Most recently she worked with Beth Alpert Nakhai and the ASOR staff on the Women of ASOR Map, as well as other activities for the ASOR Initiative on the Status of Women.
In addition to her work with ASOR, she is an active and accomplished scholar. Her most recent book, Women’s Lives in Biblical Times, is an innovative examination and reconstruction of the daily life of women in ancient Israel. She is an active archaeologist, and currently co-directs (with Norma Franklin) the important excavation project at Jezreel. She is also a dedicated teacher and mentor at the University of Evansville and takes pride in including students in her archaeological projects and research.
ASOR thanks Jennie for her commitment and excellent service, and we are pleased to recognize her for long-time service with this Harris Service Award.
The W. F. Albright Service Award – Joan Branham
This award honors an individual who has shown special support or made outstanding service contributions to one of the overseas centers ACOR, AIAR, CAARI, or to one of the overseas committees – the Baghdad Committee and the Damascus Committee.
Joan Branham, is an outstanding Albright Trustee and past Vice-President. As Chair of the Fellowship Committee since 2006, she reorganized the fellowship application process and revolutionized it by implementing online applications. She devotes a great amount of time in helping technologically-challenged candidates navigate the computerized application forms. In doing so, she plays an important role that helps expand the pool of qualified applicants. The presence of these scholars among the annual group of Albright appointees contributes immeasurably to the success of the Fellowship program. The Glassman Holland Research Fellowship for European Scholars, established in her honor in 2007, advanced the efforts to create a more internationally oriented Albright program. At a time of dwindling governmental support for grants, she not only was able to convince the NEH to maintain the number of its fellowships awards to the Albright Institute, but also increase funding. Her article, “The American Archaeological Presence in Jerusalem: Through the Gates of the Albright Institute,” published in Unearthing Jerusalem represents a major contribution in explaining the history, contributions and purpose of the Albright to a new generation of students and scholars.
The ASOR Membership Service Award – Beth Alpert Nakhai
This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the ASOR membership, through committee, editorial, or office services. Up to three awards are given annually.
Beth Alpert Nakhai, University of Arizona, has actively served ASOR in a number of ways during many years of membership in the organization. A member of the ASOR Board of Trustees since 2002, Beth served as the Chair of the Board Nominations Committee and is currently a member of the NEA Editorial Board. She has chaired academic sessions on women and gender at the ASOR Annual Meeting since 2000 and edited a volume of nine papers presented in this session over the years. Beth was tasked with developing an ad hoc Committee on the Status of Women, and is now chairing the ASOR Initiative on the Status of Women. She has also served on ASOR’s Program Committee and received the G. Ernest Wright Publication Award in 2003 for her book Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Ancient Israel.
The ASOR Special Service Award – James Weinstein
This special award is given only when appropriate and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extreme dedication to the ASOR mission, through committee, editorial, or office services.
James Weinstein, has served as Editor of BASOR for 20 years (since 1994). He has heightened the journal’s already prestigious position among our colleagues in North America and around the world, preserving and enhancing its position as the premier journal in the discipline. Jim is able to call upon contibutors in such diverse disciplines as Turkish archaeology, Indo-European studies, Phoenician archaeology, Mesopotamian history, Egyptian chronology, Northwest Semitic epigraphy, as well as more central interests. Constantly pushing for better quality paper and design, Jim was finally able to produce his long-desired “look” for the journal with issue 369, which included color illustrations, high-quality paper, and an attractive exterior design. The journal is now available through online access, electronic subscriptions, and bi-annual issues. Through all, he maintained a highly rigorous editing style, paying attention to the smallest issues of bibliographies, permissions for illustrations, author contracts, stylistic features, issues of international law, etc. When he retires on June 30, 2014, he will leave us with a very healthy journal, one that all of us at ASOR can point to with consummate pride.
The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award – Amihai Mazar
This award honors an archaeologist who, during his/her career, has made outstanding contributions to ancient Near Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology.
Amihai Mazar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has made an outstanding contribution to ancient Near Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology during his illustrious career in the field of the past 45 years. Prof. Mazar’s excavations at numerous sites, include, among others, Tel Qasile, the Bull Site, Khirbet Marjameh, Hartuv, Tel Batash/Timnah, Tel Beth-Shean, Tel Rehov and Har haRuach. His work at these sites has been exemplary of archaeological field work and he has made important contributions to a wide variety of topics in Biblical archaeology and the study of the Ancient Near East. Prof. Mazar’s extensive fieldwork has also served to train a new generation of field archaeologists, many of whom are directors of their own successful excavations today. One of the most important aspects of Amihai Mazar’s fieldwork is that he has published all of his numerous excavations. His articles and excavation report volumes provide high-level archaeological data alongside intelligent and properly informed but cautious interpretation. Mazar has consistently invested significant resources to publish his work, demonstrating to the public how important it is to publish, and to publish well.
The G. Ernest Wright Publications Award – Phillip C. Edwards
This award is given to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) dealing with archaeological material, excavation reports and material culture from the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. This work must be the result of original research published within the past two years. (One annual award)
Phillip C. Edwards masterfully edited Wadi Hammeh 27, an Early Natufian Settlement at Pella in Jordon (Brill 2013), a detailed report on one of the most important Natufian sites to have emerged in the past thirty years and an integrated analysis and interpretation of subsistence strategies, settlement patterns and ritual life in one of the world’s earliest village communities. Including chapters on the region, architecture, artifacts, archaeozoological findings, archaeobotanical analysis, and human remains among others, this report makes a significant contribution in recording the largest, most complex pre-Neolithic architectural complex yet discovered in the Middle East.
The Frank Moore Cross Award – Frederick J. Murphy
This award is presented to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) related to ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean epigraphy, text and/or tradition. This work must be the result of original research published during the past two years. One award is given annually.
Frederick J. Murphy (1949–2011) was Professor of New Testament at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, for over twenty-five years. He authored numerous books, including Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John, Early Judaism: The Exile to the Time of Jesus, and An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels. He received his PhD from Harvard University.
Murphy’s Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World: A Comprehensive Introduction (Baker Academic, August 2012) represents the central, characteristic transformation of Hebrew thought in the period of the Second Temple and is the context in which the New Testament books were written. Frederick Murphy defines apocalypticism while discussing its origins, its expressions in the Hebrew Bible, and its bearing on Jesus and the New Testament.
