Research Interests
Religions of the Ancient Near East
Education
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1982
B.A., University of Tennessee, 1974
Awards and Honors
Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 2007-2008.
Two-year grant from University of Illinois Provost’s Office for support of the InscriptiFact Project, 2007
Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 2003-2004
Additional Campus Affiliations
Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Professor Emeritus - Religion
Highlighted Publications
BOOKS
The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume 2: KTU 1.3-1.4: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary. With Mark S. Smith. Leiden/New York: Brill, 2009.
Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times until its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E.. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1987.
BOOK CONTRIBUTIONS
"Temple Building in Northwest Semitic Literature." From the Foundations to the Crenellations: Essays on Temple Building in the Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible, edited by Mark Boda, edited by Jamie Novotny. Munster: Ugarit Verlag, 2010.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
"Watch That Margin! Understanding the Scribal Peculiarities of CAT 1.4 Obverse." Maarav, vol. 15, 2009, p. 27-37, pl. V-XII.