M. Rahim Shayegan
Director
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New Message from the Director
M. Rahim Shayegan, Director of the Jeffrey P. Cunard Center for Global Antiquity, shares remarks on the establishment of a new center for Global Antiquity at UCLA.
Building on the remarkable momentum in the study of ancient worlds at UCLA, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Jeffrey P. Cunard for his major philanthropic act. The endowment of the UCLA Jeffrey P. Cunard Center for Global Antiquity in the Division of Humanities is a momentous event in the study of antiquity.
The Cunard Center aims to be a leading hub for research foregrounding the diversity, achievements, and interconnectivity of ancient cultures. Continuing the work of Global Antiquity, the Center strives to draw attention to the importance of a broadminded humanism to inform the challenges and inequities of the present. I am confident that robust support for innovative research, as well as the dissemination and distribution of the Center’s sponsored lectures and publications, will set new standards for excellence and attract a new generation of scholars and informed audiences to the study of ancient worlds.
Bolstered by faculty excellence and institutional support, the Center will be bold, ambitious, and well-grounded in its vision and mission. Accordingly, I am delighted to announce a newly expanded program of symposia, workshops, and individual lectures, many of which shall be recorded and made available on this website through the Center’s Video Library. The Center shall also be the only Humanities research unit at UCLA to undertake curricular development, an effort intended to equip students with the intellectual tools to engage critically with the reception of past human experiences and allow them to discern the rich mosaic of past cultures as humanity’s common patrimony—one that continues to shape perspectives in the present. Beyond these existing and expanded programs, I look forward to sharing with you brand new ventures in the coming months. These shall include prizes, both for undergraduate and graduate students and professional researchers, a publication program, a podcast, international partnerships, and a new website, which is currently under construction.
Through this new constellation of activities, the Cunard Center will be well positioned to attain new heights of scholarship and global impact, transforming and redefining the study of ancient worlds for the benefit of global audiences and ensuring that this important work is carried forth by future generations.