This past fall Leslie Schramer joined the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology to serve as our new editor. Leslie became interested in ancient civilizations during her high school years, when a military posting took her family to Naples, Italy. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1999 with a double major in Classical archaeology and German, and in 2005 she earned her MA in Mesopotamian archaeology from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. From 2005 to 2017 she was an editor in the Publications Department of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, specializing in the production of scholarly volumes about the history, languages, and archaeology of the ancient Near East. Over the years, Leslie has participated in a number of archaeological excavations covering a wide range of cultures and time periods, including sites in Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and Cyprus.

Leslie’s expertise in providing support for a variety of museum programs has been a welcome addition to the Kelsey. Leslie reviews all gallery panels and labels as well as all website content and promotional material. She recently produced her first Kelsey newsletter and is currently editing our spring issue. She will also be working with Kelsey faculty and affiliates on several upcoming publications. Leslie is thrilled to now be at the Kelsey, where she can combine her experiences as both an editor and a field archaeologist in the production of books that bring to light the museum’s collections and fieldwork projects. Please join us in welcoming Leslie to the Kelsey.