Seymour Gitin

Professor Seymour (Sy) Gitin (born 1936) is an American archeologist specializing in Ancient Israel, with a focus on the late Israelite and late Philistine periods. Professor of Archaeology since 1979, in 1980 he became Director (Dorot Director from 1994) of the W.F.Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (AIAR).

He attended the University of Buffalo, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History, and then went on to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 1959 and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters and Rabbinic Ordination in 1962. During this period, Sy spent a year studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he took a course in archaeology taught by Yigael Yadin, and subsequently had his first field experience, working with Nelson Glueck (AIAR Director from 1936 to 1940 and 1942 to 1947) on the archaeological survey of the western Negev. These two experiences sparked his initial interest in archaeology, although during his year in Jerusalem, he was given the opportunity to pursue a different career entirely: Sy had the unexpected and extraordinary experience of starring, together with Topol, in "I Like Mike", an early full-length Israeli movie. Sy played the lead role of Mike, a rich Texan “new immigrant”.

From 1962 to 1964 Gitin served as a US Air Force Chaplain stationed in Anchorage Alaska and then as a Rabbi and Academic Administrator at two congregations in Southern California. From 1968 to 1970 he was the Director of Admissions at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati during which time he began a doctoral program in archaeology under the supervision of Nelson Glueck. In 1970, he continued his studies in Israel, under the supervision of William G. Dever, taking courses at the Hebrew University. Subsequently, he served as coordinator and then director of the Gezer publications project at the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem as well as Senior Lecturer and Curator of the Glueck Museum at HUC-JIR Jerusalem. From 1979 to 1982 he held the joint positions of Director of the Brandeis/ASOR Archaeological Program in Israel; and Adjunct Associate Professor, Brandeis University, Department of Classical and Oriental Studies, Jerusalem.

...
Wikipedia