Archaeologist Irene Bald Romano holds a joint appointment as Professor of Art History in the School of Art and Professor of Anthropology in the School of Anthropology. Dr. Romano also has an affiliated appointment in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics and is the Curator of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Arizona State Museum of the University of Arizona. She is the co-director of the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program in the School of Art. From 2012 to 2015 she held the administrative appointment of Deputy Director of the Arizona State Museum. She teaches courses on plundered art, cultural heritage issues, museum studies, as well as on ancient art and archaeology of the Mediterranean region.
Dr. Romano earned her Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. She has more than 35 years of experience as a teacher and museum professional, holding many positions, including as registrar, curator, researcher, consultant, and coordinator of the collections division at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. Dr. Romano moved to the University of Arizona in 2012 from a position she held for six years as Executive Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Dr. Romano is the author or co-author of eight books as well as numerous articles on ancient Mediterranean collections, Greek and Roman sculpture, pottery, terracotta figurines, Greek cult practice, and marble provenance studies. She has extensive archaeological field experience in Greece, Spain, Italy, and Turkey, and has worked with scholars from many countries on international research and museum projects. Her recent publications are focused on the fate of antiquities during the Nazi era; the portraiture of Alexander the Great in the Roman period; and a Neo-Assyrian relief fragment in the Arizona State Museum. Dr. Romano’s current research is on Hellenistic sculptures from Iraqi Kurdistan and the Greek and Roman sculpture collection of Ludwig Pollak in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva.