About
Meet SAFE
Here are some of our volunteer members who support SAFE's day-to-day activities:
Leila Amineddoleh is a Manhattan-based litigator. She received her BA in economics from New York University in 2002, and her J.D. from Boston College Law School in 2006. She is interested in using her training and legal experience to protect art and cultural heritage property through advocacy as an art lawyer. To further these interests, she has become involved in organizations such as the Entertainment, Art & Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, the Art & Cultural Heritage Committee of the ABA Section of International Law, and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Leila is honored to be a part of SAFE and is looking forward to lending her legal expertise to the organization.
Cynthia Bates brings an unusual combination of perspectives to SAFE as both an advertising planning director and a doctoral student in the archaeology of ancient Iraq. She was educated in Near Eastern languages, archaeology and anthropology at Harvard, Cambridge, and the University of Chicago. She earned her MBA later at the Harvard Business School in 1988 and entered advertising. In New York, she worked in strategic planning, establishing her reputation as an expert in consumer trends and behavior. She moved to Chicago in 1997 to become chief planner of the Sears account at Ogilvy, inspiring award-winning creative material. As director of planning at Publicis & Hal Riney in Chicago, she established an impressive new business record. She returned to the University of Chicago in 2001 to complete her doctoral studies in anthropology. As a student at the Oriental Institute, she followed the dedicated efforts of its professors to brief the Pentagon on the need to safeguard the Iraqi cultural heritage from looting. Through SAFE, she hopes to create public awareness of the incalculable value of the endangered heritage of ancient Mesopotamia and the need to protect it.
Blythe Bowman is a PhD candidate in the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Classics (Iowa State University), a master’s degree in Bioanthropology (University of Iowa), a TEFL Certification (Interlingue School of Languages, Rome, Italy) and will receive her doctorate in Criminology Criminal Justice from UNO in May 2008. Her dissertation research takes as its focus transnational organized criminal networks and the role they play in the theft and illicit export of cultural property. Prior to entering the doctoral program at UNO, Blythe was fortunate to spend several years working in several other countries, most notably Italy and Greece. While she may currently teach courses in comparative criminology, international criminal justice, and legal philosophy, her first loves will always be archaeology and the classics. Subsequent to graduation she hopes to secure employment with Interpol, UNESCO, or the FBI and continue the fight to preserve cultural heritage.
Claudia Brose a German native, holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Marketing from the University of Cologne in Germany. She also studied Japanese Management and Philosophy at Sophia University and worked for the Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo, where she began her career in advertising. Upon her return to Germany, she was an account director for various ad agencies.
Claudia lives in San Francisco where she is now pursuing her second career as a marketing consultant promoting the preservation of cultural heritage. Her particular interests are the Himalayan and South East Asian (Cambodia) cultures. Besides volunteering with SAFE and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco she is a member of the Society for Asian Art serving in the special events committee.
In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, studying Asian art, martial arts and loves traveling. She keeps fit navigating the hills of San Francisco on her mountain bike for most of her daily comings and goings.
Nathan T. Elkins is a Ph.D. Candidate in Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri, writing a dissertation on “Architectural Coin Types: Reflections of Roman Society.” He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in Archaeology and Classical Studies from the University of Evansville (Indiana) and a M.A., with distinction, in the City of Rome from the University of Reading (United Kingdom). Some of his research on numismatics and archaeology has been recognized, first by the Parkes-Weber Memorial Prize and Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 2004 for an scholarly contribution to numismatics by a scholar younger than 23 and secondly by the AIA Graduate Student Paper Award Honorable Mention in 2006. In 2006 and 2007, he conducted research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität – Frankfurt, an important center for the treatment of ancient coins in archaeological contexts. In 2008, he returned to Frankfurt as a Mitarbeiter with the Martberg Projekt, for which he is identifying coins for Fundmünzen der Antike. He now works in the department with the cast and photo collection and engages in research and teaching. In the past year he has given several invited lectures in Germany on the trade in recently looted ancient coins and how easily these enter the mainstream ancient coin market through the existing trade networks.
Megan Gannon is pursuing a B.A. in English and Art History from NYU and expects to graduate in May 2010. During the summer of 2008, she participated in an archaeological field school in Western Cyprus—an experience that first inspired her to start thinking about cultural heritage issues, and eventually, to get involved with SAFE. Megan is interested in how looting and the illicit antiquities market are portrayed in news media and pop culture, and she is fascinated by the legal issues surrounding cultural heritage. She hopes to find herself in law school one day and is excited to be an active member of SAFE.
Senta German whose fields of specialty are the Greek Bronze and Iron Ages, received her PhD from Columbia University. She has over 10 years of excavation experience in Greece, Israel, the American East Coast and Alaska and presently teaches Classical Archaeology and Ancient Art at Montclair State University. She recently authored Performance, Power and the Art of the Aegean Bronze Age which was published in 2005. In addition to her academic career, she consults extensively for the Department of Communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Elizabeth Gilgan graduated from Sweet Briar College in anthropology and biology and earned an MA in Archaeological Heritage Management from Boston University. She worked as an archaeologist in Belize and developed a heritage management plan with the Belizean Government for the country. She currently works for the Archaeological Institute of America as the Director of Programs and Services. Liz loves to travel, scuba dive, and live music.
Alyssa Hagen is a Chicago native now living in New Jersey. She recently graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, with a self-designed major in Ancient Greek Literature and Archaeology. Her senior thesis was on the Gorgon in Greek religion. In the summer of 2007, she volunteered on an excavation in rural Greece and experienced the devastation of unchecked looting firsthand. She joined SAFE in 2008 and has been an active volunteer since September 2009.
Cindy Ho Born in Hong Kong, Cindy Ho founded SAFE in 2003 in response to the looting of the National Museum of Iraq. She is a graphic designer and advertising art director in New York City. Although her professional work has won accolades, it is her personal work that best shows her power of persuasion.
Her passion for the preservation of cultural heritage dates back many years. Before starting SAFE she received Asian Cultural Council and Arts International grants for her efforts to bring awareness to the art and artifacts of the Naxi people in China through a traveling exhibition. As a Sponsored Artist of the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) and with a grant from the Puffin Foundation, she produced a series of exhibitions entitled Trailing the Written Word: The Art of Writing Among China’s Ethnic Minorities. Her work has been featured in World Health Organization’s publication of Tobacco & the Rights of the Child. She also completed West of the East—A Journey Through Macau, Asia’s First and Last Colony, a photodocumentary with the support of NYFA and the Fundaçao Oriente (Lisbon). She considers devoting herself to SAFE a privilege.
Cherkea Howery is currently pursuing research for her M.A. thesis in the Program of Museum Studies at New York University. She is interested in publicly exposing inconsistencies in ethical practices in museums, questioning acquisition policies, and analyzing antiquities exhibitions. Cherkea earned an M.A. in Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Bristol and has worked on archaeological projects worldwide. She is proud to be part of SAFE and its efforts to safeguard the past for our future. For questions, comments, or lively discussion please feel free to contact her at chowery@savingantiquities.org.
Damien Huffer is a PhD candidate in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, specializing in Southeast Asian archaeology and human skeletal analysis. While studying for his BA at the University of Arizona, he participated in excavations in the Sonoran desert, Easter Island and Tahiti, and did curation/conservation work at the Arizona State Museum. His MA (with honours) consisted of a preliminary skeletal and mortuary analysis of the c. 3,800BP site of Man Bac, the best preserved site representing the northern Vietnamese Neolithic period (c. 6,000-3,500BP), and he is continuing this work as a doctoral candidate. Between graduate degrees, Damien participated in numerous "contract archaeology" excavations around Tucson for three years, greatly influencing his desire to continue heritage conservation work. A lifelong interest in gaming has developed into a desire to apply new-media tools and ideas to further anti-looting outreach and archaeological education worldwide, and Damien has a project in development to aid in such efforts in Cambodia.
Eric Hübler joined SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone in June 2009 as a volunteer communications consultant. Eric graduated from Brown University in 1987, spent nearly 20 years in journalism including stints with the Japan Economic Journal, Associated Press and Denver Post, and obtained a Master of Nonprofit Management degree from Regis University in 2008 while working as the in-house copywriter with the National MS Society. Learn more about Eric at www.erichubler.com.
Paul Kunkel holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of New Mexico. A published author of six books and more than 60 magazine and newspaper articles (for The New York Times, Business Week, Wired, Architectural Digest, Connoisseur, Elle, Harper's Bazaar and other publications), Paul currently works as a Business Development specialist and is principal author and developer of the web-based In-Theater Cultural Heritage Training Resource for Iraq and Afghanistan, funded by the Undersecretary of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program.
Colleen Leth holds a BA in Art History from Barnard College. She currently lives and works in New York City where she is pursuing a MA in Art History & Archaeology from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Her academic interests include Egyptology, Museum and Collecting Studies, Cultural Resource Management, and Cultural Property Law as well as the history of looting and reuse of antiquities in the Near East. Having grown up in the travel industry, she is also committed to sustainable tourism. She believes responsible tourism can help fund conservation projects and educate a wide audience about threats to cultural property. She believes in SAFE's mission and is delighted to be a member.
Rachel Moland is a Seattle native. She graduated with a BA in Anthropology and Classical Civilization from New York University in 2007 and has been a SAFE volunteer since 2005, when she attended an NYU colloquium on the illicit antiquities trade. Her interest in antiquity grew during an intensive semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. In 2006, she participated in the Villa delle Vignacce excavation in Rome and traveled to Cyprus on an undergraduate research grant. She hopes to continue studying Classics, archaeology, and cultural property (as well as help with SAFE projects) in the years to come.
Sarah Pickman is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, working towards a B.A. in anthropology with a minor in art history. A native of the New York area, she first became involved with SAFE as an intern during the summer of 2005, working on the Italian MOU renewal campaign. After college, she hopes to attain a Master’s degree in cultural resource management or public history, and pursue a career in museum work. Sarah is thrilled to be associated with SAFE as it continues to grow.
Eric Powell is a senior editor at Archaeology, a popular magazine published by the Archaeological Institute of America. He has excavated at sites in the American southwest and in the former Soviet Union, and as an undergraduate studied archaeology in Irkutsk, Russia, and Almaty, Kazakhstan. His first direct experience with looting came at a Neanderthal site in Crimea, which was ransacked by "black archaeologists" hoping to find treasure. A native Texan, he now lives in Long Island City, Queens, where he pines for Hill Country BBQ and spends an inordinate amount of time reading classic detective stories and walking his dog
Margaret Rivera is a native New Yorker. She graduated from Hunter College in 2006 with a Major in Anthropology and a Minor in Archaeology. A volunteer since 2009, she lends her skills and experience as an Administrative Assistant in higher education and non-profit grant-making to the organization. In 2004, her interest in historic preservation was sparked when the Mesopotamian artifacts she was studying in her Classical Archaeology class were no longer available for public viewing due to the looting at the Iraq Museum. Margaret enjoys reading about early man and prehistoric humans and would one day like to visit the Lascaux caves in France. She hopes to continue supporting SAFE in its mission and to communicate its purpose to family, friends and co-workers.
Lawrence Rothfield is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, where he co-founded the Cultural Policy Center. Trained as a cultural theorist, Rothfield moved into the still-emerging field of cultural policy studies in the late 1990s, partly in response to the demand from defenders of the arts, heritage, and humanities for better academic research to counter right-wing attacks in the culture wars. Rothfield's previous publications in cultural policy include an important edited volume of essays, "Unsettling 'Sensation': Arts-Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum Art Controversy". His new book, “The Rape of Mesopotamia” (University of Chicago Press, 2009) offers a behind-the-scenes look at the causes for the failure of US forces to secure the Iraq National Museum and the country's archaeological sites from looters in the wake of the 2003 invasion. Rothfield also edited a volume of essays on this topic, "Antiquities Under Siege: Cultural Heritage Protection after the Iraq War" (Altamira Press, 2008), focusing on the policy changes that need to be made by various stakeholders -- ranging from war-planners and State Department bureaucrats to cultural heritage NGOs -- to ensure that the disaster suffered by Iraq is not repeated ever again. The theft of antiquities in time of war is a special case of the problem of market-driven looting, and Rothfield's new project seeks better policy options for bringing looting under control, based on a clearer understanding of the complicated economic incentives involved.
Lucille A. Roussin is the founder and director of the Holocaust Restitution Claims Practicum at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, where she teaches a seminar, Remedies for Wartime Confiscation. She also teaches a course on "Art, the Law and Professional Ethics" at the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is an associate with the firm of McCallion & Associates and earned her law degree in 1996 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Belkin Scholar. She was Deputy Research Director of the Art and Cultural Property Team of the Presidential Commission on Holocaust Assets and was an associate in the Art and International Law Practice Group at Herrick, Feinstein LLP in New York City. In 2001, she negotiated the first restitution of a rare Jewish ritual object to a private family in the United States.
Rebecca Anne Rushfield received an MA in art history and a diploma in art conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Currently a consultant specializing in research, writing, and editing in the field of art conservation, she has worked on projects for the Getty Conservation Institute, the Sherman Fairchild Center for Object Conservation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Intermuseum Conservation Association. She is on several committees of the American Institute for Conservation, the chair of the Textile Conservation Group, and active in the College Art Association.
Marina Papa Sokal teaches archaeology and ancient art history at the City University of New York and is a Research Associate in archaeology at the Accordia Research Institute, University of London. She studied classical archaeology at the University of Florence, Italy, with a doctoral thesis on Roman villas in Britain. She participated in fieldwork in both Italy and England and worked as a curator at the British Museum. She has also taught classics and archaeology at the University of London and at New York University.
Marina has recently completed a study of the legislative history of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the U.S. Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act.
Archer St. Clair Harvey holds a PhD from Princeton University. She is a Professor in the Department of Art History at Rutgers University, where she has served as chair since 2005. Her field of specialization is Late Antiquity. In addition, she teaches the core course on Global Heritage Preservation, as well as a course on Ethics for the university's Certificate Program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation. In 1998, she chaired the international conference, "Art, Antiquity, and the Law: Preserving our Global Cultural Heritage" at Rutgers. She also has served as Associate Director of the American Academy in Rome/Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma Palatine East Excavation, and is currently involved in publication of the three volume final report. Her book, "Carving as Craft" examines the ivory and bone remains from this site. She is a member of the Cultural Heritage Policy Committee and the Program Committee of the Archaeological Institute of America. Her current projects include a study of overpainting of late antique frescoes in Ostia and Rome, and the establishment at Rutgers of a Masters Program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. She views SAFE as an invaluable educational and inspirational resource for such programs, as well as for the general public.
Brooke Todsen is a Florida native. She holds a BA in Humanities focusing in Classical Languages and Civilizations from Florida State University and recently earned her MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. A professional background in education feeds her passion for increasing public awareness of cultural preservation issues. After completing her Masters thesis on the online illicit antiquities trade, Brooke began searching for opportunities to use her skills and knowledge in order to help put a stop to looting and the destruction of cultural heritage. She looks forward to pursuing this goal through her volunteer work with SAFE and through her future professional endeavors. In her free time she loves to read, sing, read, dance, read, and watch Ghost Hunters.
Matthew Wakeham is a marketing consultant based in New York with over 20 years experience in business development, engineering and project management. He holds an M.A. in Archaeology and Heritage Management from the University of Leicester and a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Pratt Institute. He is a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, National Trust for Historic Preservation and Register of Professional Archaeologists. Matt has enjoyed travels near and far which have profoundly influenced his commitment to joining SAFE.
