UNEARTHING THE PAST SINCE 1900

Shirlee Meyers/G. Ernest Wright Scholarships for Fieldwork Participation

ASOR plans to award three Meyers/Wright fieldwork participation scholarships of $2,000 each during 2027 (see Disclaimer below).

Through generous gifts made by Professors Carol and Eric Meyers, scholarship funds have been designated to support the participation of ASOR members as volunteers or staff on excavation projects. One-half of the funds awarded each year are in memory of Eric ‘s mother, Shirlee Meyers. The other half of the funds are in memory of G. Ernest Wright, former ASOR President and a professor of both Eric and Carol Meyers. There will be three awards of $2,000 each for the summer of 2027 to participants on any ASOR-affiliated archaeological project.

Application Deadline
February 22, 2027

Application Form (application will open in December 2026)

Posing with one of the washed pottery baskets. After being cleaned by the Kurdish students on the project team, it was my daily task to sort through these baskets of pottery, counting each sherd and keeping those that were diagnostic.
Brady Hill working with the Kani Shaie Archaeological Project.

Eligibility

Applicants must be members of ASOR or be enrolled as students at an ASOR-member school (see list of Institutional Members). Applicants from underrepresented groups may request a membership waiver in order to apply. Applicants are encouraged to use the Uniform Fieldwork Scholarships Application to apply for all of the named and unnamed Fieldwork Participation Scholarships. Some of the named grants are designated for particular excavations (e.g., Hazor or Tell el-Hesi), for particular groups (e.g., veterans), and for particular countries (e.g., Israel or Jordan). Please check the appropriate boxes on the Uniform Application so that you can be considered for as many different scholarships sources as possible. In order to be eligible, applicants are required to participate in an ASOR-affiliated project (see list).

Preference will be given to individuals that have not received support through the ASOR scholarship program or other funding sources for the summer of 2026. Additional preference will also be given to applicants who would not usually receive funding (for air fare, lodging or a stipend) from the excavation. Preference is also given to applicants who have not received ASOR funding for excavations in the past two years.

Applications from individuals must include the contact information for the director of the excavation project.

Upon completion of the field season, a report of 250-350 words and three appropriate photos (500 dpi resolution or higher) on site must be submitted to the ASOR office by September 1, 2027. Reports and photos should be sent via email with “fieldwork scholarship report” in the subject line. More information will be available after the recipients have been notified.

Scholarship recipients will be required to sign a waiver indicating that ASOR is not responsible for any injuries they might sustain during their time at the excavation in which they participate. They will also be required to sign a release of rights to ASOR for the inclusion of their report and photographs in one of ASOR’s publications. This award may only be used for allowable direct expenses. Indirect and/or overhead expenses are not permitted.

Disclaimer: If archaeological excavations are significantly disrupted or canceled in 2027, ASOR may, at its sole discretion, decide not to offer fieldwork scholarships. Fieldwork scholarships cannot be deferred; applicants may reapply either for fieldwork funding in 2028 or for non-fieldwork summer stipends if ASOR offers such stipends in 2027.

Previous Recipients: $58,000 awarded

2026: $6,000 awarded
  1. Ayşegül Naz Alpak, McGill University
  2. Jody Bloom, Harvard University
  3. Michael Garaffa, North Carolina State University
2025: $8,000 awarded
  1. Atakan Atabas, University of Central Florida
  2. Zoe Bernier, Wilfrid Laurier University
  3. Emma Lewis, University of Louisville
  4. Leah Neiman, Brown University
2024: $4,000 awarded
  1. Brady Hill, Durham University
  2. Christos Theodorou, Hunter College
2023: $4,000 awarded
  1. Emilie Nordhues, University of California, Los Angeles
  2. Sarah Richardson, University of Manitoba
2022: $8,000 awarded
  1. Bruno Barros, Eotvos Lorad University
  2. Aurora Camano, Simon Fraser University
  3. Krysten Cruz, Texas State University
  4. Anna Luurstma, University of Michigan
2021: $3,000 awarded
  1. Kacey Garcia, La Sierra University (Summer Stipend)
  2. Christine Sylvester, Wilfrid Laurier University (Summer Stipend)
2019: $4,000 awarded
  1. Jonathan Gardner, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
  2. Melanie Godsey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
2018: $4,000 awarded
  1. Amanda Bauer, University of Arizona (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
  2. Kaitlin Long-Wright, University of British Columbia (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
2017: $4,000 awarded
  1. Nicole Swartwood, Emory University (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  2. Paula Waiman-Barak, University of Haifa (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
2016: $4,000 awarded
  1. Josephine Verduci, University of Melbourne (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  2. Andrew Farinholt Ward, New York University (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
2015: $4,000 awarded
  1. Ryan Gardner-Cook, Stony Brook University (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  2. Erin Hall, Tel Aviv University (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  3. Craig Harvey, University of Michigan (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
  4. Cat Quine, University of Oxford (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
2014: $3,000 awarded
  1. Joyce Fountain, University of Connecticut (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  2. Chris McKinny, Bar Ilan University (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
  3. Brian Porrett, The College of Wooster (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
2013: $2,000 awarded
  1. Allison Ripley, Boston University (Given in memory of G. E. Wright)
  2. Marielle Velander, George Washington University (Given in memory of Shirlee Meyers)
Browse the News Archive