Ask the Experts: Roundtable Discussion on Career Paths in Cultural Heritage Management (Thurs. Apr 20, 2023)

The Boston University Archaeology Program, the Antiquities Coalition, and the BU Center for the Study of Asia
invite you to take part in the upcoming roundtable discussion with students,

Ask the Experts: Career Paths in Cultural Heritage Management 

Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 12-1:30pm at 121 Bay State Road, Boston University

Are you interested in a possible career in some aspect of cultural heritage management, such as archaeology, museums, art crime, the international trade in looted antiquities, antiquities repatriation, heritage tourism, or related fields? 

This roundtable discussion brings together practitioners from many different areas of cultural heritage management who will briefly describe their own career paths and the types of projects and responsibilities they pursue in their work. Students and others who are considering careers in any of these diverse areas are welcome to explore various career paths, ask about college and post-college preparation, and internship and other employment opportunities. 

About the Speakers: 

Dr. Chris Jasparro is an associate professor in the National Security Affairs Department and director, Africa Regional Studies Group, at the Naval War College. He most recently worked for the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies as well as taught for several civilian universities. He has extensive experience as a field archaeologist with additional experience in cartography and geographic analysis for economic, town and transportation planning, and is a specialist in cultural heritage protection in conflict zones. He holds a doctorate in geography from the University of Kentucky, a master’s in geography from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s in anthropology and geography from the University of Vermont.

Victoria Reed is the Sadler Curator for Provenance at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  She holds her degrees from Rutgers University (Ph.D. and MA), and Sarah Lawrence College, and trained as an art historian specializing in mediaeval and Renaissance art.  She has been conducting museum and provenance research since 1997, and is currently responsible for the research and documentation of the provenance of the MFA’s encyclopedic collection, the review of review of potential acquisitions and loans, and the development of due diligence policies and practice throughout the curatorial division.  Dr. Reed has lectured widely and published extensively on matters related to provenance research, including the issue of Nazi-era looting and restitution.

Susan de Menil is currently the founding co-president of the Art, Antiquities, and Blockchain Consortium (AABC), a nonprofit 501(c)3 that uses blockchain-based infrastructure to guide the future of cultural heritage repatriation. Since 1991, Susan has worked as the director of marketing, administration, and interior design for Francois de Menil, Architect, P.C.  From 1999-2012, she served as the president and executive director of the Byzantine Fresco Foundation, the nonprofit organization that oversaw the acquisition, conservation, exhibition, stewardship, and return of frescoes that had been taken from the Church at Lysi in Cyprus. During that time, de Menil conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews with the many stakeholders in a complex international negotiation over the frescoes. Susan is the director of the forthcoming documentary on this project, 38 Pieces.

In her research and curatorial work, de Menill co-curated Angels & Franciscans: Innovative Architecture from Los Angeles and San Francisco, an exhibition which was awarded Best Architecture show by the International Association of Art Critics. The catalogue (with Bill Lacey) was published by Rizzoli. She is also co-editor of the book Sanctuary: The Spirit In/Of Architecture based on a symposium at the Menil Collection organized in conjunction with the exhibition Sanctuaries: The Last Works of John Hejduk.

Anthony Amore earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Rhode Island and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and completed professional programs in leadership and national security from Harvard University. Amore’s professional experience includes working as the director of security and chief investigator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, as an officer with the U.S. Immigration Service, as a special agent with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Security Division, and as an author. He was also appointed as assistant federal security director with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration. His mission in that appointment included rebuilding security at Logan Airport after the attacks of 9/11.

An internationally recognized expert in the security realm, Anthony Amore has also worked in homeland security field at the federal level in aviation and facility security as well as immigration enforcement. He has lectured in homeland security at the college level in and provides commentary on security and terrorism issues for a wide-range of local and national media outlets. He is also an expert in matters related to security fine art and in the theft of highly-valuable property, including rare masterpieces. He is one of the world’s top experts in the field of stolen art investigations.  Anthony is the best-selling author of “Stealing Rembrandts” (2011). His second book, “The Art of the Con,” was published in 2015 and was a New York Times Best Seller in Crime. His book “The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist ” was published in 2020.

Ricardo Elia is Associate Professor of Archaeology in the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University. Over the course of four decades, Prof. Elia has trained many undergraduate and graduate students in international archaeological heritage management, U.S. cultural resource management, archaeology and the law, archaeological ethics, public archaeology, heritage and armed conflict, and looting and the antiquities market. His current research focuses on the “monuments men” and women of the Japanese Occupation, 1945–1952.

Organizers:

Terressa (Tess) Davis, a lawyer and archaeologist by training, is Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition. She oversees the organization’s work to fight cultural racketeering and also manages the day-to-day operations of the institute’s staff in Washington, DC, as well as programs overseas.

Since 2013, Davis has been affiliated with the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, at the University of Glasgow. She came to Scotland from the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation — a not-for-profit institution based in Washington, DC — where she was Executive Director until 2012. She previously worked for the nongovernmental organization Heritage Watch in Cambodia, first as Project Coordinator, and finally Assistant Director. Her career began at the Archaeological Institute of America.

Over the last decade, Davis has conducted extensive field research on the illicit trade in Cambodian antiquities, as well as legal research on the kingdom’s cultural property law. She also conceptualized and implemented a number of exciting projects in the country, including an exhibition at Angkor Wat about threats facing the temple, a hotline for the public to report archaeological discoveries or looting, and a children’s book entitled “If the Stones Could Speak.” From 2012-2014, she directed a legal internship program in Phnom Penh for international students from the Tulane-Siena Institute, who assist the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts with their legal needs.

Davis has been a legal consultant for the Cambodian and US governments and works with both the art world and law enforcement to keep looted antiquities off the market. She writes and speaks widely on these issues — having been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, the Huffington Post, and various scholarly publications — and featured in documentaries.

After graduating magna cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology, Davis earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law. She now serves on the Board of Directors at the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the Advisory Boards of Heritage Watch and the Ocean Foundation. She is admitted to the New York State Bar.

In 2015, the Royal Government of Cambodia knighted Davis for her work to recover the country’s plundered treasures, awarding her the rank of Commander in the Royal Order of the Sahametrei.

Robert E. Murowchick is Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Boston University’s Archaeology Program. His archaeological research interests have focused primarily on early Bronze Age urbanism in the Shang culture in the North China Plain; the development of early bronze metallurgy in south and southwest China and northern Vietnam; and the Asian antiquities trade. His current research examines the potential uses of satellite imagery and archival aerial photography in the exploration of the historic Jewish community in the ancient Chinese capital city of Kaifeng.