We would like to inform you that Gianni Ponti, Academic Dean for the Rome Center, has been appointed the Acting Center Director, effective May 16. Dr. José B. Alvarez has announced his resignation as Director of the Rome Center.
Ponti has been a popular faculty member at IES Abroad Rome since 2004, and has taught courses in ancient Roman Art and Archaeology. He has served as Academic Dean for the Rome Center since 2007. Ponti is an active and accomplished archaeologist, specializing in Imperial Roman architecture. He is the Archaeology Advisor for the American Academy in Rome, and has also taught at the Istituto Centrale del Restauro of the Department of Antiquities.
After graduating from Italian schools in Rome, Ponti studied Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his B.A, and then returned to Rome where he earned a Laurea Degree with Honors in the Humanities and Archaeology from the University of Rome.
He has directed many excavations in the Mediterranean, including Troy, Aphrodisias and Leptis Magna. His studies and research focus on the use of marble in Roman construction, the ancient marble trade, quarrying and carving techniques. Ponti has worked on a number of excavations in Rome, including the Palatine Hill and the Imperial Fora. He has done research for the Department of Antiquities on a number of conservation projects including the Ara Pacis, the Column of Trajan and the Arch of Constantine. He is currently directing an excavation at the Villa of Maxentius on the Via Appia, as well as conducting architectural studies at Leptis Magna, Libya, with the Università di Rome Tre.
He has appeared on the National Geographic Channel as an expert for the documentary, "How Nero Saved Rome." Ponti has also written and contributed to many publications about architecture and archeology, and has spoken at a number of conferences in Italy and the United States.
Please join us in congratulating Gianni!
