In terms of personnel, the main office has experienced some changes in the past year. Julia L. J. Sanchez , who served as Acting Assistant Director last year, was hired as Assistant Director at the very end of the last academic year.

Dr. Sanchez’s portfolio includes not only the overall operations of the Cotsen Institute but also that of Director of Research. She has already started to work with the Cotsen Institute’s lab directors to begin to develop a strong, well-integrated research program connected to fieldwork throughout the world. When we combine the academic and research strengths of Dr. Sanchez with the skills of Phillip Kwan, hired about a year ago to head up the administrative side of the Institute, we have an extremely strong new team to assist in the running of the Cotsen Institute.

On the faculty side, although several archaeologists have been lost in recent years, we are hiring young scholars in many departments across campus. This year, we welcome Willeke Wendrich, an Egyptian archaeologist in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Dr. Wendrich has already settled into her lab and is developing several new and exciting research programs that will combine the research and conservation sides of the Cotsen Institute in the future. In addition, a search is in process for a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology. It is hoped that the new faculty person will be here at UCLA for the start of the next academic year.

There have also been a variety of changes focused on more efficient use of space throughout the Cotsen Institute. It is clear that as we have restructured the laboratories and rethought our research initiatives, a new use of the existing space is a necessary element of the future. Although we tried to complete these space moves and changes by the beginning of the academic year, delays were inevitable; we now hope to have everything done by the end of this quarter. The two most important changes relate to creation of a new and larger seminar room—a space that can now easily hold the large number of people who consistently come to the various talks and seminars held within the Institute—and the relocation of the Gutman Reading Room to a more central area.

Let me mention one last area within the Institute that continues to grow in importance—the Digital Archaeology Lab. As we use and develop new technologies for gathering and disseminating archaeological information, it is critical that we look to the future and embrace these technologies. The Digital Archaeology Lab has begun to make an impact, not only within the Cotsen Institute, but also across the discipline of archaeology. Another meeting of the Working Group on Digital Publishing in Archaeology was convened following the recent Society for American Archaeology meeting in Philadelphia. I am convinced of the need for the existence of this lab not only for the future of the Cotsen Institute but for the future of the dissemination of archaeological information both to our professional colleagues and to the general public. When we combine the strengths and directions of this lab with our other labs and our research across the globe, I can clearly see an exciting future within the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.