OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE
HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT
PROGRAM

REGIONAL SEMINAR FOR
EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (ReSET)

PROJECT TITLE:

CONCEPTION OF "ETERNAL CAPITALS" -
FROM ANCIENT COSMOPOLITAN CITIES TO MODERN
MEGAPOLISES

DISCIPLINE                                 History (Ancient History)

PROJECT PERIOD                July 2009 - July 2012

HOST INSTITUTION                  Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
WORKING LANGUAGES          English

PROJECT DIRECTORS

Name                                     Eka Avaliani
Title, position, institution          Professor, Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

Name                                     John Baines
Title, position, institution          Professor, University of Oxford, The Queen's College, UK

Name                                     Leila Kiknadze
Title, position, institution          Associate Professor, University of Georgia

CORE RESOURCE FACULTY

Name                                     Eka Avaliani
Title, position, institution          Professor, Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

Name                                     John Baines
Title, position, institution          Professor, The Queen's College,University of Oxford , UK

Name                                     Angus Bowie
Title, position, institution          Dr., Lobel Praelector in Classics, The Queen's College,University of Oxford , UK
                                                       
Name                                     David I. Owen
Title, position, institution          Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professor of Ancient Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Cornell                                                        University, Ithaca, New York, USA

Name                                     Gocha R. Tsetskhladze
Title, position, institution          Professor, Centre for Classics and Archaeology, School of  Historical Studies,University of                                               Melbourne, Australia

Name                                     Jack M. Sasson
Title, position, institution          Mary Jane Werthan, Professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies; Professor of Classics;                                               Former Director, Program in Jewish Studies, USA

Name                                     Ligia Ruscu.
Title, position, institution          Dr., Lecturer, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

PROJECT DESCRIPTION 
The Project aims to advance teaching of History with integration of scholarly work and methodology,
which will be focused on two steps: 1) reconstruction of the Ancient World through patterns of cities
studied in comparative context and 2) juxtaposition of ancient cities with Medieval and Modern
counterparts, researched in the context of contemporary social-political and cultural studies. The Project
will focus on challenging strict compartmentalized study of History on increasing levels of
sophistication of the content and methodology. The Project aims to present Ancient History/Civilization,
as the subject area with an inherently interdisciplinary nature; to develop curricula and broaden
methodological approaches to accommodate the diversity of the fields.

PARTICIPANTS ELIGIBILITY

Disciplines                      History, Ethnology, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Oriental Studies and
                                      Classical Studies

Region/countries            Southeastern Europe, the NIS and Mongolia.

Academic profile             MA or higher, full-time university teaching position

Other criteria                   Sufficient knowledge of English language

Application procedure     Short CV

The  project  provides  coverage  of  all major  costs  of  participation  for  the  candidates  from  the  target
region.  Non-regional  university  academics  are  encouraged  to  participate  in  the  activities  of  the
Seminar on a self- or co-funding basis.

Individuals who  are  interested  in  participation  in  the  project  are  encouraged  to  contact  the
project organizers immediately, to meet the upcoming application deadline. 

Individuals  from  the  Russian  Federation  are  encouraged  to  contact  the  contact  person  to
discuss the travel details. 

Deadline for applications June 10, 2009

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS AND GENERAL INQUIRIES

Contact person      Leila Kiknadze
Postal address      2, Baratashvili Street 0105, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
Telephone/fax      (+995 95) 59 26 69/ (+995 32) 93 39 93
E-mail                   Leila_kiknadze@yahoo.com