Faculty

Timothy P. Harrison, a renowned academic leader and scholar with decades of research experience in the Middle East, was appointed Director of the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa (ISAC) and a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies on September 1, 2023 after serving on the faculty of the University of Toronto as Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology.

A UChicago alum, AM'91, PhD'95, his research focuses on the rise of early social complexity in the ancient Near East, specifically the complex societies of the Bronze and Iron Age of the Levant. He has more than thirty-five years of experience conducting field research, primarily in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Iraq.

Professor Harrison has directed excavations at Tall Madaba in Jordan and has led the Tayinat Archaeological Project in southeastern Turkey since 2000. He has also led a team participating in the post-conflict documentation, preservation, and restoration of the cultural heritage of Iraq, focused primarily on Mosul (Nineveh), and leads the Shamash Gate Project there.

Harrison has held several academic leadership positions, including serving two terms as president and as past president of the American Society of Overseas Research, the leading international professional association dedicated to the study of the cultures and history of the Middle East. He launched the Computational Research on the Ancient Near East project—a global research collaboration that aims to cultivate and analyze archaeological data. Harrison also served two terms as chair of the University of Toronto’s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations.