Kimberly Bowes succeeds Christopher Celenza

Dr Kimberly Bowes has been named the 22nd director of the American Academy in Rome. She succeeds Prof. Christopher S. Celenza who is stepping down after a four-year tenure. Bowes, an archaeologist and educator, takes up her new role on 1 July.

Announcing the appointment, the academy's president Mark Robbins said that Bowes "brings a remarkable mix of intellectual rigor and enthusiasm to the director's position."

Robbins described the outgoing director Celenza as "a dynamic leader who leaves the Academy a stronger home for scholarly and artistic enterprise."

Since 2012 Bowes has served as the academy's Andrew W. Mellon Professor in Charge of the School of Classical Studies. Bowes specialises in the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean and is currently co-directing a major international project in Tuscany, excavating and analysing the lives of the Roman poor.

She has published widely on the subjects of Roman domestic architecture, religion and economics.