Christopher Woods Appointed as Next Williams Director

PHILADELPHIA — University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett announced today the appointment of Dr. Christopher Woods as Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, beginning April 1.

Dr. Woods is John A. Wilson Professor of Sumerology at the University of Chicago and Director of the Oriental Institute, the largest center of its kind, housing more than 350,000 artifacts, including the largest collection of ancient Middle Eastern artifacts in the United States, and sponsoring 12 field projects across the Middle East and Central Asia.

“An experienced and collaborative leader and award-winning scholar who believes deeply in the power of museums to connect past to present, Chris Woods is an ideal choice to lead the Penn Museum,” said President Gutmann. “ Chris is passionately committed to the Museum’s essential missions of research, teaching, and public outreach and engagement. He is taking the helm at a time of great transformation and excitement for the nation’s finest university archaeological museum. From its recently renovated and reimagined galleries of the Middle East, Africa, and Mexico and Central America, to the launch of the groundbreaking Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, to the creation of interactive and hands-on learning opportunities for our region’s schoolchildren, the Penn Museum continues to show a tremendous capacity for growth and reinvention. Chris’s excellent track record at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute is proof positive of his ability to provide visionary leadership, and we are most fortunate to bring him to Penn.”

After earning a Ph.D. in Assyriology from Harvard University and a B.S. in Physics from Yale University, he was appointed to the Harvard Society of Fellows in 2000 before joining the University of Chicago in 2002. Appointed as director of the Oriental Institute in 2017, Dr. Woods led the OI through its Centennial in 2019, which prominently featured its extensive engagement with contemporary and performing arts throughout its programs.

During his term as director, he oversaw the complete renovation and reinstallation of its galleries, expanded its research portfolio, diversified its audiences, strengthened its engagement with communities in Chicago’s South Side, as well as increased its public programming and educational offerings—especially in the digital domain. In addition, Dr. Woods implemented a new strategic plan, which included a comprehensive rebranding strategy and the successful conclusion of a major fundraising campaign.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the Penn community and lead the Penn Museum. Throughout my career, stretching back to my graduate student days, the Museum has held a place of particular reverence for me—with its storied past, magnificent collections, and long tradition of groundbreaking research,” Dr. Woods says. “I look forward to building upon the exceptional progress the Museum has made under Julian Siggers; shepherding the Building Transformation plan towards its completion; and serving diverse local audiences while fostering greater global engagement.”

Dr. Woods also served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies from 2009-2020 and has published a wide range of scholarly books and articles, spanning such areas as Sumerian language and writing, the origin and development of writing and writing systems, and early Mesopotamian history, literature, religion, and state formation.

“Chris Woods comes to Penn at a pivotal moment,” said Provost Pritchett, “when our great Museum is more vital and contemporary than ever. An eminent museum director who is also a distinguished scholar, he is the ideal leader to help us shape, for a new decade, the Museum’s historic educational mission: illuminating the present and the future by helping us to better understand – and vividly experience – our collective past. I am deeply grateful to the members of the consultative committee, who worked closely with me to consider many outstanding candidates from around the world and arrive at this exciting appointment.”