We invite you to the 2025 Annual Jewish Colonie Lecture on Monday, November 18, 2025 in the Campus Center Board Room at the University at Albany Uptown Campus. Our speaker, Dr. Melissa Cradic, will present “Archive Archaeology: The Invisible Hands of Colonial-Era Excavations in the Middle East.”

Dr. Melissa Cradic (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is Lecturer in History and Judaic Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY, and serves as Curator at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology. A specialist in the archaeology and history of the ancient Levant and broader Middle East, Dr. Cradic’s research centers on household archaeology and the materiality of funerary ritual. She has published widely in journals such as BASOR, Near Eastern Archaeology, Levant, and the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, and has contributed to numerous edited volumes. Her research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the NEH-Getty Research Institute, the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, ASOR, and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

Light refreshments will be served.

Contacts: 518-442-5300 and cjs@albany.edu