U. museum picks new director

University alumnus and University of Pittsburgh Anthropology Professor Jeremy Sabloff will be the next director of the University Museum, Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson announced earlier this month. On July 1, Sabloff will replace Robert Dyson, who has been museum director since 1982. "I'm very excited about the position," Sabloff said this week. "For me, it's like a physical and intellectual homecoming. Many of the professors who trained me still work at the museum." One of the world's foremost authorities on the Maya civilization, Sabloff graduated magna cum laude with honors in Anthropology in 1964. In 1969, he received a Ph.D in Anthropology from Harvard University. "He is one of the world's most distinguished scholars, and is an accomplished administrator," Lazerson said in a statement. "It is a pleasure to welcome him back to his alma mater." As director, Sabloff said he plans to continue archeological research, strengthen the visibility of the museum in the community and concentrate of fundraising for the museum. "I would like to enhance [the museum's] statute nationally and internationally," he said. "To do that, I intend to be a visible figure on campus and also in national and international meetings on archeology and anthropology." Sabloff said this has been a particularly eventful month. He celebrated his 50th birthday in April, and received the "two greatest birthday gifts." "I was elected to the National Academy of Science and was told about my new position [as museum director]," he said. "I guess the stars were in the right constellation." Sabloff's wife, who is also a cultural anthropologist, will lecture at the University. He said, though, she will remain in Pittsburgh until their daughter, now a sophomore in high school, graduates. "We thought it was important for her to finish school [in Pittsburgh]," he said. "The first year will mean a lot of commuting for my wife and myself." Sabloff and his wife also have a son, now a sophomore at Harvard.

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