James R. McCredie Recipient of 2012 Aristeia Award
Jim McCredie at Samothrace
The Aristeia Award Committee is very pleased to announce that James R. McCredie will be the recipient of the 2012 Aristeia Award. The Aristeia Award honors alumni/ae who have provided exceptional service to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and have contributed in extraordinary ways to the School’s mission in teaching, research, archaeological exploration, or publication. Professor McCredie will be presented with this honor at the Annual Meeting of the ASCSA Alumni Association during the AIA/APA Annual Meetings in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 7, 2012 from 6–8 pm. The room location will be announced around the end of November. James R. McCredie has been a leader at the School for more than 40 years, having served in more key positions than any one else in the School’s history. He began his association with the School as a member and fellow in 1958–59, 1961–62, and 1965–66. In 1969 he became the youngest ever Director of the School, a position he held until 1977. He first joined the Managing Committee in 1962 and served as a member of its Executive Committee from 1977–1982 and as Chairman from 1980–1990. In 1990 he was elected to the Board of Trustees, served as President of the Board of Trustees from 2001–10, and continues on the Board to this day. James R. McCredie’s service to the School has been nothing short of extraordinary. Professor McCredie has also made outstanding contributions to the excavation, study, and publication of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace, an affiliated project of the American School. In 1962 he became field director of the renewed excavations on Samothrace by NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, an institution with which he has been affiliated for 50 years, from his first teaching appointment in 1961 and including a long period as Director from 1983–2002. A generation of students and fellow scholars at the American School, in Greece, and at the IFA are indebted to him as their teacher and mentor, as well as a model of a meticulous scholar. A festschrift edited by Olga Palagia and Bonna D. Wescoat, entitled Samothracian Connections: Essays in honor of James R. McCredie (Oxford/Oakville: Oxbow Books, 2010) explores the many contributions Professor McCredie has made to our understanding of that important Greek site. Please join us in honoring one of the School’s remarkable alumni/ae on January 7!