Welcome to the Archaeological Heritage Network Blog! For our inaugural post, our Network officers would like to introduce themselves. Since 2022, the following eight individuals have overseen the activities of the Archaeological Heritage Network with the goal of promoting collaboration between conservators and other cultural heritage professionals and giving a voice to the field of archaeological conservation within the AIC community.
Chair: Gina Watkinson
Gina Watkinson is the conservation laboratory manager at the Arizona State Museum (ASM), University of Arizona (UA) where she has worked since 2007. She received her bachelor’s degree in conservation from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s in anthropology from Stony Brook University. From the UA, she received a master’s degree in American Indian Studies, a graduate certificate in Heritage Conservation, and is currently a doctoral student in the School of Anthropology. Gina has served on both local and national museum and conservation related boards and is the current Chair for the AIC Archaeological Heritage Network. Gina began volunteering for the AIC Archaeological Discussion Group (ADG) under the Objects Specialty Group (OSG) in 2018. With her co-chair Skyler Jenkins, they transitioned ADG from a group to a network in order to provide more networking and educational opportunities for the archaeological conservation community. During the last two years as the AHN chair, she has enjoyed working with a group of officers that also want to advance the goals of AHN. The upcoming AIC annual meeting in May will be Gina’s last meeting as the AHN Chair, but she intends to continue to participate in AHN activities.
Vice Chair: Skyler Jenkins
“I'm Skyler Jenkins (she/her), current Vice Chair of the Archaeological Heritage Network (AHN). My role as Vice Chair is to assist the Chair in overseeing and coordinating all activities of AHN. I am currently an Assistant Objects Conservator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and have held positions and internships at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Penn Museum, Benaki Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Arizona State Museum. I have also worked on site in Arizona, Virginia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus.”
Secretary/Treasurer: Meg Wang
“My name is Meg Wang (she/her). I am the Secretary/Treasurer of AIC-AHN. Currently an Assistant Professor at the Mississippi State University Libraries and a Research Associate with the MSU’s Cobb Institute of Archaeology. Trained as archaeological/object conservator from the UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and has worked in various cultural heritage institutions in three continents, including the British Museum, the Museum of London, the National Palace Museum in Taipei (NPM), the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF) in Paris, the Mississippi State University’s Cobb Institute of Archaeology, and the Mississippi University for Women Galleries.”
Editor: Julie Unruh
“I'm Julie Unruh (she/her), AHN Editor. I coordinate, edit, and occasionally develop AHN's written content, including wiki content and publications. I've worked as an archaeological field conservator for nearly 30 years.”
Program Chair: Alexis North (she/her)
“After becoming Program Chair in September, I jumped right into helping to select papers for our joint AHN/Architecture Specialty group session at this year’s AIC meeting in Jacksonville, along with our Assistant Program Chair Morgan Burgess. I also helped to moderate the session, and look forward to more opportunities to work with colleagues in related areas. I am a Project Conservator at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, currently working on the Museum's renovation of their Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries. I graduated from the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program, and have worked at the Brooklyn Museum, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. I have also worked as both an archaeologist and conservator at archaeological sites in Kenya, Greece, and Turkey.”
Assistant Program Chair: Morgan Burgess
Morgan graduated with her Masters from the UCLA/Getty program for Conservation of Cultural Heritage in 2018. She completed a Samuel H. Kress fellowship at the National Museum of American History and an Andrew W. Mellon fellowship at the National Museum of the American Indian. While in DC, she volunteered as a regional liaison for the Emerging Conservators Professional Network (ECPN) and as an interns and fellows coordinator for the Washington Conservation Guild (WCG). Morgan previously worked in private practice in Austin, Texas and has recently started a term position as a project conservator at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.
Communications Officer: Laurie King
“My name is Laurie King (she/her), and I am the AHN Communication Officer. As Communication Officer, I distribute information and communicate with the AHN members through emails, AHN Facebook, blog posts, AIC News, and other AIC platforms. "Currently, I am working with Melina Edic (Network Officer) to bring you information on Archaeological Conservation on more platforms!" I work as an Archaeological Conservator on the USS Monitor Project at The Mariners' Museum and Park. My work focuses mainly on maritime and waterlogged artifacts, ranging from ship engines and cannons to buttons and pocket knives.”
Network Officer, Social Media: Melina Edic
“My name is Melina Edic (she/her) and I am the Social Media Network Officer for the Archaeological Heritage Network. My role involves monitoring and creating content for the AHN Facebook account and the AHN Community blog. I am currently in the pre-program stage of my career and I am applying to graduate school to study archaeological conservation.”