60th ANNUAL MEETING BRINGS CHANGES, ACCOLADES

ARCE's 60th Annual Meeting took place April 24-26 under warm, sunny skies in Dallas, Texas. The historic and beautifully ornate Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas provided a welcoming setting for the three-day conference.

Each year the Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for ARCE members and the general public to hear about the latest scholarship on Egypt and network with professionals in the field. Each of the three days is broken out into concurrent speaker sessions, during which scholars and expedition leaders present their research findings, or discuss the latest developments in their projects. This year, over 300 people attended more than 100 speaker sessions presented by specialists in all aspects of ancient, Greco-Roman, and Coptic Egypt.

New this year, ARCE hosted a "round table" on Friday afternoon entitled "ARCE Along the Nile," which featured the leaders of four ARCE-supported initiatives in a panel discussion about their projects. The round table gave attendees an opportunity to learn about several current ARCE projects at once and initiate discussion among the project leaders through an open question and answer format.

The Annual Meeting also saw the inauguration of a new, streamlined Board of Governors, voted into office during Friday's "Member Meeting." View the new Board>>

Best Student Paper winner Jeremy Pope with Chapter Council Chair Bob Wilson

A highlight of the Annual Meeting for many, but especially ARCE's student members, is the annual Best Student Paper contest, sponsored by the ARCE Chapter Council. 15 student members submitted entries this year, and were judged not only on the content of the papers themselves, but also on the presentation of their papers during the Annual Meeting.

The winner was Jeremy Pope of Johns Hopkins University for his paper, The Demotic Proskynema of a Meroite Envoy to Roman Egypt (Philae 416). In addition to the first place prize, Mr. Pope received a check for $500 from the ARCE Chapter Council. This year's runner-up was Leslie Ann Warden of the University of Pennsylvania for her paper entitled: The Economy of Old Kingdom Egypt – A Ceramic Perspective from the Memphite Necropolis and Elephantine. Ms. Warden received a check for $250 as well as the runner-up certificate.

Chapter Representative Rick Moran with Best Student Paper runner-up Leslie Ann Warden

The ARCE Chapter Council funds the Best Student Paper contest prizes through the yearly Chapter Council Fundraiser during the Annual Meeting. This year's Chapter Council Fundraiser brought back a popular presentation topic from the 2008 Annual Meeting--UCLA's "Digital Karnak Project"--for a one-hour interactive session on Saturday. The fundraiser proved to be popular this year as well, selling over 100 tickets.

Whether you are a regular Annual Meeting participant or have never attended before, we hope to see you at next year’s meeting in Oakland, California, April 23-25, 2010.