Penn Cultural Heritage Center
Developing and Supporting Cultural Heritage Initiatives
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Richard M. Leventhal, PhD, Executive Director
Dr. Leventhal is a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology and Curator in the American Section of the Penn Museum. He is also the former Director of the Penn Museum, President and CEO of the School of American Research in Santa Fe, Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA, and Director of the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies at SUNY-Albany. He has done extensive archaeological field research in Belize, Mexico, and other parts of Central America for over thirty years, which has resulted in several monographs and books about the ancient Maya. Dr. Leventhal lectures and writes extensively on the preservation of cultural properties and cultural sites, on the need to prevent the looting of global heritage resources, and on the acquisition policies of museums.
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PEOPLE: Faculty and Staff
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Brian I. Daniels, Director
Mr. Daniels is finishing a joint doctoral degree in anthropology and history at Penn. His research examines how ideas about cultural property and the public good have taken shape in the United States. He has worked with indigenous communities in western North America on issues surrounding heritage rights, repatriation, and recognition for over a decade, and developed strategies for community engagement as the manager of the National Endowment for the Humanities regional center initiative at San Francisco State University (2000-2003). He is also Lecturer in the Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies Program at Rutgers University, and holds an appointment as Research Associate with the Smithsonian’s Institutional History Division.
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Sasha Renninger, Administrative Coordinator
Ms. Renninger graduated from Penn in 2009 with a BA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Anthropology and has excavated in both the US and Egypt. In addition to her work for the PCHC, she has worked at the Penn Museum in both the Asian and American sections as a researcher and currently serves on the board of the American Research Center in Egypt – Pennsylvania Chapter. Her interests include community involvement in the preservation of archaeological sites and creating sustainable models for cultural site development.
PEOPLE
