Clark
Chair in Assyriology:
Dr. Tinney
Dr.
Stephen J. Tinney has
been appointed to the
Clark Research Professorship
in Assyriology, SAS
Dean Samuel H. Preston
has announced.
Dr.
Tinney has been a member
of the Department of
Asian and Middle Eastern
Studies since 1996.
He is also associate
curator in the Babylonian
section of the University
Museum. Before being
appointed to a faculty
position, he was a
research specialist
on the Museum's Pennsylvania
Sumerian Dictionary
Project. He now directs
this project to create
the world's first dictionary
of the first written
language. He is also
a consultant to the
Cuneiform Digital Library
Initiative at UCLA,
and to Oxford University's
Electronic Text Corpus
of Sumerian Literature
Project.
He
holds a B.A. and M.A.
from Cambridge University
and a Ph.D. from the
University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor. Dr. Tinney
is the author of The
Nippur Lament: Royal
Rhetoric and Divine
Legitimation in the
Reign of Isme-Dagan
of Isin (1953-1935
B.C.); his second
book, Elementary
Sumerian Literary Texts,
is due to appear in
the series Mesopotamian
Civilisations next
year. He is
a member of SAS's Learning
and Technology Committee
and the graduate groups
in ancient history,
and Asian and Middle
Eastern studies (Near
Eastern languages and
civilizations), linguistics,
and religious studies.
The
Clark Chair was established
in 1902 by Edward White
Clark and Clarence
H. Clark, both of whom
were prominent Philadelphia
financiers who developed
a deep devotion to
Penn and to archaeology
and ancient studies.
Clarence Clark served
as director of the
department of archaeology
but also had an active
career outside academia.
Later in life he became
president of the Horticultural
Society of Philadelphia,
a University Trustee,
and a member of the
Free Library board.
Edward Clark, inspired
by a visit to Damascus
in 1853, developed
a lifelong interest
in archaeology and
helped to found the
University Museum;
he also served as a
Penn Trustee. |