17吃瓜

News from ASOR’s President and Looking for Your Input

October 5, 2026

Dear All,

As our profession grows and changes, one of my highest priorities as 17吃瓜president is to involve you, our members, directly in the discussion and decision-making about ASOR鈥檚 important policies and initiatives. With the Annual Meeting approaching, I want to share some information about what to expect there and what has been happening at 17吃瓜over the summer.

Please take a look at the Annual Meeting schedule and find the exciting talks that interest you most. I want to draw your attention to two new parts of the meeting:

Meet Your Board Members: On Friday, November 20, at 10:20 am, ASOR鈥檚 Board members will be in the Grand Ballroom to informally talk to you and hear your thoughts and ideas about all things ASOR-related. Grab your coffee or tea and come say hello.

Share Your Thoughts: Later that day at the Members鈥� Meeting (12:55-1:55 pm, Waldorf Room), I have set aside time for members of the听Taskforce on the Review of the Code of Professional Conduct to answer questions from members. This Code, a guide for all Board and committee actions, serves as the foundation for how 17吃瓜members contribute to ASOR鈥檚 mission and steers the actions on extremely complex and timely issues. It is also intended to be updated on a regular basis, which the Taskforce has been asked to consider. While I have initiated discussion at this level, I know that we will need time and lots more input from 17吃瓜members before we are ready to bring a revised document to the Board.听

I am looking to you for help. Please read the Code of Professional Conduct and send us your thoughts in the anonymous survey that was sent via email today. I hope the Taskforce can get as many questions answered as possible during the meeting, but if not there, we can set up another venue to discuss the issues with 17吃瓜members.

Here are a couple of other things that happened at 17吃瓜over the summer:

Title IX Changes: As 17吃瓜president, I signed a letter to the US Department of Education suggesting that the proposed changes eliminating peer review in the Title IX grant application reviews were not needed nor helpful. Both of ASOR鈥檚 overseas centers apply and receive Title IX funding. If you would like to see the letter, please let me know. I decided that writing this letter was not a contradiction of ASOR鈥檚 policy of not making political statements, as 17吃瓜could offer expertise on this particular issue.

鈥淥rphaned鈥� Objects: I also signed a letter in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of America suggesting that the proposed changes to policies on the publication of 鈥渙rphaned鈥� objects (those with no known history after 1970) was contrary to 17吃瓜policies, which were put in place to help combat illegal excavations. This proposal was made within UNIDROIT (an international independent organization that helps to create uniform legal standards for global commerce). If you are interested in the joint letter, I can also share that with you.

17吃瓜Website: If you have had a chance to look at the website, please thank Jared, Moni, Marta and the committee that has been cleaning up the pages to make them more useful. The committee is also working with other 17吃瓜committees to expand the usefulness of the site and you will see more changes in the coming months.

I鈥檓 looking forward to seeing many of you in Chicago,

Jane DeRose Evans, 17吃瓜President

Vice President鈥檚 Report to 17吃瓜Members

September 2026

Dear 17吃瓜Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful summer, perhaps having had the opportunity to get into the field, and hopefully some kind of relaxing break. As many of us gear up to return to school (and some in the United States already have), I have been filling out various 鈥淒oodle Polls鈥� and setting up meetings with various committees leading up to the Annual Meeting in November.

One of my roles, as Vice-President of ASOR, is to lead the Chair Coordinating Council (CCC), which is explicitly charged with 鈥渕onitoring the activities鈥� of ASOR鈥檚 standing committees. While this is technically true, I prefer to think of the CCC as a means of facilitating conversations between the different committees, and an opportunity for each committee chair to share the exciting and important work that 17吃瓜members are doing. It is a real privilege to chair the CCC, and I have a difficult time limiting our monthly meetings to just the one hour I promise everyone. The reports and discussions are so interesting and there is just so much good work that goes on.

Volunteering through one of the eight standing committees is one of major ways that 17吃瓜members can play a role in the organization. In thinking about my own participation in ASOR, I remembered how I had been encouraged by other members throughout my career. As an undergraduate, David Hopkins and Larry Herr asked me to compile an index for Biblical Archaeologist, Tim Harrison suggested that I become more involved in 17吃瓜Canada, Jeff Blakeley reached out to me to become a monographs editor, and Chuck Jones nudged me to take over as chair of the Publications Committee and then follow after him as Vice President. I am not sure that it ever would have occurred to me to volunteer for any of this work without having been explicitly asked by another member. So, I thought I would write to all of you, to give all of you a nudge to consider volunteering for one of the standing committees.

The committees really do very different kinds of work, and it may not be clear to all 17吃瓜members what that work is, or even that these committees exist. More information about these committees, including current chairs and members, can be found on the 17吃瓜website. Beyond these standing committees, 17吃瓜also benefits from the work of affiliated research centers, our overseas committees, 17吃瓜Canada, boards of our various publications, and ad hoc committees that are established by the President to achieve specific goals.

If you read ASOR鈥檚 newsletters (and if you are reading this, you probably do), or follow our social media, you鈥檒l notice periodic requests for volunteers for these committees. If service on any of these sounds interesting to you, please answer those calls. But you also don鈥檛 have to wait for such a call. If you want to get more involved with ASOR, please reach out to any of the committee chairs, or to me as Vice President, either over email or in person at the Annual Meeting. Different bylaws and mandates govern the committees, some of which also include instructions on membership. Reaching out directly is really helpful, since even if there isn鈥檛 room on a committee at the moment you express interest, there likely will be soon.

I hope that you will consider participating in one of these committees. We are always looking for people with different kinds of experiences, backgrounds, and specialization. Regardless, I look forward to seeing you all at the Annual Meeting in Chicago this November.

With best wishes,

Kevin McGeough
Vice President