Irene Romano

Irene Romano is a distinguished Professor holding dual appointments in the School of Art and School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. She also serves as Curator of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Arizona State Museum, and has affiliated roles in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and co-directs the Graduate Certificate Program in Museum Studies. Her administrative roles include Deputy Director of the Arizona State Museum (2012-2015) and prior position as Executive Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2006-2012).

Dr. Romano earned her Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania (1980), followed by over 30 years of academic and museum leadership. Her research spans Mediterranean antiquities with focus on sculpture, cult practices, and provenance studies. She has conducted fieldwork across Greece, Spain, Italy, and Turkey, emphasizing cross-cultural material connections.

Her publications (8 books, numerous articles) address ancient art collections, marble sourcing, and Nazi-era antiquities. Recent work includes a 2024 monograph on Hellenistic Beth Shean and a 2023 study on war-related antiquities trafficking. She has pioneered interdisciplinary projects like the Re-staging Greek Artworks in Roman Times conference (2014), integrating archaeology with art history.

Leveraging museum curation expertise, her teaching includes plundered art ethics, museum studies, and Mediterranean archaeology. She actively collaborates on international projects, such as the Getty/Zentralinstitut's Nazi antiquities initiative and Benaki Museum publications. Current research explores Assyrian relief fragments and Roman portrait provenance in Israel.