Friends of ASOR & the ASOR Cultural Heritage Committee present a free webinar on May 12, 2022 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm EDT, “A World at War: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict,” featuring Patty Gerstenblith and two discussants—Lisa Ackerman and Andrew Cohen. Jane DeRose Evans will moderate. Cultural heritage is often a victim during armed conflicts. Why is heritage contested in war, and why do some look beyond immediate humanitarian crises to safeguard heritage for the future? Our speaker, Patty Gerstenblith, will examine those questions, and how countries came together to create a body of international law meant to preserve sites and collections in times of armed conflict and its aftermath. Her presentation will be followed by a panel that will discuss ways that the panelists have been involved in helping communities recover their heritage after a war and how anyone with an interest can also get involved. The webinar will be recorded. This event is free for everyone.

ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $0 | Public: $0

While this event is free and open to the public, we encourage participants to consider tax-deductible donations to ASOR’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives (ASOR CHI), which directly supports (i.e. excludes administrative fees) ASOR’s cultural heritage work in North Africa and the Middle East.

Program Schedule

THURSDAY, May 12, 2022

ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $0 | Public: $0

If you are new to ASOR, please click on the “New Visitor Registration” link to register your e-mail address and choose a password for our online store. Once logged in, navigate to “Meeting and Event Registration” to register for the webinar. Each registrant will receive a confirmation e-mail. If you do not receive this e-mail, then you are not registered. Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.

You will be e-mailed the Zoom Webinar link in the week prior to the webinar on May 12. If you do not receive the link by the close of business on the Tuesday before the event, please e-mail membership@asor.org immediately. This event will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.

Patty Gerstenblith is a Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University and director of its Center for Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law. She was appointed by President Obama to serve as Chair of the President’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee in the US Department of State on which had previously served as a Public Representative under President Clinton. Since 2020, she has served as President of the Board of Directors of the US Committee of the Blue Shield and Chair of the Blue Shield International Working Group on Illegal Trafficking of Cultural Objects. She was founding president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation and editor of the International Journal of Cultural Property and is currently a Research Associate of the Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The fourth edition of her casebook, Art, Cultural Heritage and the Law, was published in 2019. Gerstenblith lectures and publishes widely on the subjects of protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict and the international market in cultural objects. Gerstenblith received her AB from Bryn Mawr College, PhD in art history and anthropology from Harvard University, and JD from Northwestern University.

Lisa Ackerman is the Executive Director of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, a non-profit organization in New York City committed to fostering an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement through a broad range of philanthropic and cultural activities. Previously, Ackerman served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer of the World Monuments Fund, an organization founded in 1965 that has assisted in the conservation and development of long-term stewardship strategies at more than 600 sites in 100 countries, and as Executive Vice President of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. At WMF, where she worked from 2007 to 2019, Ackerman developed multiple international collaborative projects in conservation. In addition to general supervision over approximately 60 projects in 40 countries, she is the senior project manager for activities in Cambodia, Iraq, Libya, Thailand, and Tunisia.

Andrew Cohen is currently a government professional using his experience with the legislative process, congressional oversight, and executive-legislative branch relations to advise the Internal Revenue Service on Congressional affairs. In 2020-21, he was a Brookings Fellow at the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Prior to that, he worked for over a decade advising the U.S. Department of State on international cultural heritage protection and preservation policy, and representing the United States government in bilateral, multilateral, and intergovernmental fora as an expert on cultural heritage. In 2018-2019, as Executive Director of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the State Department, Cohen managed the simultaneous negotiation, signing, and implementation of more than 20 cultural property agreements between the United States and partner countries around the world, including most of the countries in the Near East and wider Mediterranean world. Dr. Cohen holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Archaeology and M.A. in Classical Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College.

Jane DeRose Evans is Professor and Chair of Art History at Temple University. She specializes in the archaeology of the Roman provinces and especially in ancient numismatics. She is a Fellow of the American Numismatic Society and a member of the Royal Numismatic Society. After excavating for many years in France, she is now project numismatist for the Harvard/Cornell Excavations in Sardis and the George Washington University excavations at Bir Madhkur (Jordan). Recently, she brought to publication The Mithraeum at Caesarea Maritima (ASOR Press.  Evans has been a member of ASOR for many years, and she currently serves on the Cultural Heritage Committee and has testified on behalf of the Memoranda of Understanding that allow intercepting illegally obtained antiquities from Cyprus and Egypt at the US border. Evans served on the ASOR Board from 2011-2013 and then rejoined the Board again in January 2016. She is currently serving as the Chair of the Trustee Nominations Committee and as the Chair of the Cultural Heritage Committee.