Stephennie Mulder

Stephennie Mulder serves as Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts. A specialist in Islamic art, architectural history, and archaeology, she brings over a decade of fieldwork experience from Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and the broader Middle East to her academic role. Her work bridges historical scholarship with urgent contemporary issues in cultural heritage conservation.

Her academic credentials include a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mulder's research program critically examines the intersections of art, spatiality, and sectarian identity in Islamic contexts. She explores how religious communities negotiate coexistence through architectural practices, with particular focus on Shi'ite shrines in medieval Syria. Her theoretical framework incorporates anthropological approaches to material culture, ornamentation, and landscape. Additionally, she investigates contemporary resistance art in Syria, documenting how communities use visual culture during conflict to assert identity and memory.

Analysis of Dr. Mulder's publications reveals a consistent focus on medieval Islamic funerary architecture as a lens for understanding religious coexistence. Her award-winning book on 'Alid shrines in Syria demonstrates how Sunni and Shi'ite communities shared sacred spaces, challenging simplistic narratives of sectarian division. This thematic thread continues in her journal articles on Egyptian and Damascene shrines, highlighting architectural mimesis and spatial strategies that fostered communal harmony. Her work uniquely connects historical analysis with current heritage crises.

Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with:

• Hamilton Book Award Grand Prize
• Syrian Studies Association Award
• Iran’s World Prize for Book of the Year (2014)
• ALA Choice Outstanding Academic Title designation

Dr. Mulder mentors students through hands-on heritage conservation initiatives, notably co-founding UT Antiquities Action – a student-led organization combating antiquities trafficking. She directs significant external funding as principal investigator for cultural heritage projects, including her consultancy with SHOSI (funded by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, Smithsonian, and AAAS) and leadership in ASOR's U.S. State Department-sponsored Syrian Heritage Initiative. Her media engagements with BBC, al-Jazeera, and major newspapers amplify these efforts globally.

She established and actively manages UT Antiquities Action, which maintains a dynamic Facebook community for real-time discussion of heritage emergencies. This initiative collaborates with international bodies like UNESCO and INTERPOL on illicit trafficking cases, while training students in digital documentation methods for endangered sites across the Middle East.