USAID-Iraq HEAD
Higher Education and Development for Archaeology and Environmental Health Research
SUNY at Stony Brook
Monthly Report: March, 2004
Objective 1: Management and Administration
- On 10 March 2004, Prof. Elizabeth Stone, Prof. Paul Zimansky, and Dr. Jennifer Pournelle traveled to Amman, Baghdad, Erbil, Mosul, and Berlin in furtherance of program activities as outlined below. Following an entrance meeting 11 March 04, and immediate revisions delivered via CD, USAID General Development Officer Jessica Jordan approved SBU’s Archaeology Work Plan on 15 March 04.
- Subsequently, Prof Wajdy Hailoo presented three work plans and budget updates to USAID in Baghdad which concluded with the recent approval of the Environmental Health plan. (9-April-04)
Objective 2: Archaeology Project
2.1.2 Activity: Refit Department Libraries
- Baghdad U. Archaeology Librarian Niran Muhy al-Din is proceeding with cleaning and inventorying the collection; thus far she has completed the Arabic holdings, representing approximately 2000 volumes.
- SBU Library Director Christian Filstrup reviewed other national postwar library reconstruction policies, and determined that the “shelf-ready” delivery model practiced in Bosnia is the most appropriate to this setting. Under this model, vendors from whom we purchase books will first ship them to OCLC Online Computer Library Center, a world-wide library cooperative that publishes World Cat, an online, internationally-searchable listing of holdings. OCLC will provide three cataloging services: (1) labeling book spines with catalog data; (2) producing catalog records (cards); and (3) creating a searchable catalog records list within World Cat. OCLC will then send books on to our designated assembly point for shipment to Iraq. This method will give librarians in Iraq the capacity to immediately shelve and circulate books, without lengthy processing delays, and adds only about one week to the transit time from the vendor to the freight forwarder.
2.2 Activity: Equipment and Facilities Rehabilitation
(Left, Clockwise from left) W. Hindo, J. Pournelle, E. Stone, and A. Nazar review provision of communications, computers and furniture for Baghdad and Mosul Universities (Right) Professors Elizabeth Stone and Paul Zimansky review graduate admissions and work plans with B.K. Abdullatif, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Baghdad University. (Center) Some offices have been renovated, but donations to the Archaeology Department will free scarce furnishings for other Arts faculties, who have no outside assistance. Photos: (L) P. Zimansky, (R.) J. Pournelle, March 2004
- Assistant Director for Archaeology Jennifer Pournelle conducted a comprehensive walk-through of Baghdad U. Dept. of Archaeology facilities with Prof. Dr. B.K. Abdullatif, Dean, College of Arts, department faculty, and a senior engineer from Neareast Resources, in order to confirm construction requirements and draft schematics designating the exact location for each one of 50 network connections and over 200 items of computing and office equipment to be installed (Enclosure 1). This exercise informed a note of understanding with the department Chair, (Enclosure 2) whereby Neareast resources will now proceed with joint technical inspections with facilities engineers for refit of walls and installation of electrical and internet wiring.
The Baghdad U. Department of Archaeology proceeds with cleanup and preparations to accommodate a student computer lab. Since December 2003 (top), a temporary store-room (left) has been cleared and plaster teaching casts re-mounted in a refurbished corridor (right). In May 2003, these spaces were stripped bare and choked with ash, litter, and soot.
Photos: Top, C. Filstrup, Dec 2003. Bottom, J. Pournelle, 14 March 2004.
- Using its own resources, Baghdad U.’s Department of Archaeology has completed clearing space for a student computer lab, and preparing a temporary reading room outside the Departmental library.
- Pournelle conducted a similar walk-through at Mosul U., where another 45 internet connections and over 100 items of computing and office equipment are slated for installation (Encl 3). She met withKhaleel Ibrahim, Chair, Mosul University Dept of Cuneiform Studies, heads of the Departments of Archaeology and Sumerology, and Drs. Mahmood J. Mohammad and Nasser A. Jaseem, in the “Assurbanipal Library” (Archaeological/Assyriological section) of the Mosul U. Central Library. Our summary agreement is at Encl 4.
2.3 Activity: Instruction in Iraq: Task B: 4ICAANE
Some of the nearly 650 participants in the Fourth International
Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (4ICAANE), on the steps of
the main gallery of the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Among them are three
senior faculty members from the Department of Archaeology, Baghdad University, one from the Department of Assyriology, Mosul U., and a recent Archaeology
graduate of Mosul U., now documenting post-war reconstruction for Reuters.
- Shortly before applicants’ anticipated departure, German immigration authorities made a national decision not to recognize interim travel documents granted by the CPA in Iraq. As a result, and despite assiduous intervention with German consular officials by the German Foreign Ministry, as well as close coordination with the German consulates in Amman and Baghdad by the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR) and our agents in Iraq, of 17 applicants, only 5 personnel—those already holding pre-war passports—were granted visas to travel to the 4th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (4ICAANE) in Berlin.
- Nevertheless, Zuhair Rijab al-Samarrae, Baghdad U., delivered a paper on excavations at Sippar, conducted by the U. of Baghdad for 17 years, through 2002. Three other archaeology/Assyriology faculty members from Baghdad and Mosul Universities served as discussants for a panel on the state of archaeology in Iraq. Similar panels reviewed archaeological progress in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel. Participants chose from over 500 workshops, posters, and papers on current techniques for archaeological investigation, preservation, curation, and presentation, which they discussed with dozens of the nearly 650 conference participants.
(Left) Zuhair Rijab al-Samarrae (U. of Baghdad), with colleague at the Pergamon Museum. For many Iraqis, this was their first opportunity to visit and study antiquities excavated in Iraq by the German Archaeological Institute over the past century, such as the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of Babylon (Right).
2.4 Activity: Instruction in the U.S.: Intensive M.A. Program in Archaeology
(Left)
A Baghdad U. graduate, now employed at the National Museum, receives letters of
recommendation for graduate admission. (Right) E. Stone and P. Zimansky
interview an applicant from Mosul. U. Of 26 applicants, eight were admitted,
promised full support, and pledged to participant in intensive English
instruction to prepare them for graduate training.
Photos: (L) J. Pournelle, (R) P. Zimansky, March 2004.
- The primary purpose and major accomplishment of this trip was selection of eight candidates for intensive graduate training in Archaeology at Stony Brook University. Profs. Elizabeth Stone and Paul Zimansky interviewed 26 applicants, 11 of whom were graduates of Baghdad University, and 15 of whom were graduates of Mosul University. Eight candidates—four from each university—were chosen. Of five female applicants (all from Baghdad), three made the final cut. A detailed summary of the selection process and candidates chosen is at Encl. 5.
- Stone and Zimansky provided those admitted with letters of acceptance, proof of support, and visa application materials. With the assistance of COP Donny George and Neareast Resources, those admitted began the tedious travel document and visa application process.
- In Baghdad, we met with Abdul Sabbar Jawad, Chair of the English Department at Baghdad University, to discuss intensive ESL prep in Iraq for admittees in preparation for their visa interviews. Both Baghdad and Mosul U. English faculties agreed to appoint ESL tutors for M.A. program candidates, in order to prepare them for arrival in New York this summer. At the 4ICAANE conference, we delivered SBU ESL curricula[1] to faculty attendees, to carry back to students in Iraq.
Objective 3: Environmental Health Project
3.3.2 A. Task: Assemble Program Office/Team, US
D.2. Hire Program Assistant / Coordinator
D.3. Hire Education Specialist
D.4. Hire Permanent Program Secretary/Administrative Assistant
- Asst. Program Coordinator, Dr. S. Marqus was hired to begin work on the program starting 1-April-04.
- Recruitment process commenced for the position of Education Specialist.
- Administrative Staff Assistant Rita Simmonte was hired to begin work as of 12-April-04.
3.3.1 C4 Task: Establish Program Coordinating Office, Iraq (PCO)
- Orientation in Iraq. Chief Of Party and program representative in Iraq attended a meeting with USAID in Baghdad to discuss the program and become further familiarized with the requirements of the USAID administration.
3.4.3 Orientation and Training for Centers Leadership and Staff U.S.
A. Task: Center Director, Deans (6)
B. Task: Center Coordinators, (4)
3.3.1 C.5. Orientation/training in the US
- Coordinators traveled to Jordan to apply for visas and to met with Dr. Hailoo to discuss and follow up on the program. Preparations and planning are underway for the workshop at Stony Brook for Deans and the Coordinators.
- Dr. Hailoo attended a two day meeting in Jordan with the Centers’ coordinators to discuss the program and the development of the Centers.
4.5.1 Activity: Library, Environmental Health
A list of environmental health and related discipline books were prepared and sent to each of the three centers in order for them to input their needs in the selection of the material.