President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Miriam T. Stark to serve in one of the three archaeologist positions on the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee.
Stark is an Anthropology professor in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has directed the UH Mānoa Center for Southeast Asian Studies since 2018 and is currently a Fulbright Senior Specialist and honorary research associate with the University of Sydney (Australia).
“I am so honored to be considered for this position with the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which is part of the State Department and serves an essential role in the country’s efforts to protect cultural heritage,” said Stark. “My long-term work in Cambodia and with Cambodian colleagues has taught me the deep importance of protecting cultural heritage, and the U.S. has an important role to play as a world leader in this field.”
Stark has been a CSS faculty member since 1995 and has worked in Cambodia since 1996. With field experience in North America, the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia, she has published more than 100 articles and chapters on Southeast Asian and North American archaeology. Salient themes in her research include urbanization, ceramic production and distribution, and power relations in premodern Cambodia.
The Cultural Property Advisory Committee reviews requests for import restrictions submitted to the U.S. by foreign governments, considers proposals to extend existing agreements and emergency actions, carries out ongoing review of current import restrictions, and provides reports of its findings and recommendations to the State Department.
