ALBANY –The 2025 Annual Jewish Colonie Lecture is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the Campus Center Board Room at the University at Albany Uptown Campus.  Speaker, Dr. Melissa Cradic, will present “Archive Archaeology: The Invisible Hands of Colonial-Era Excavations in the Middle East.”

Cradic, who received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley is lecturer in history and Judaic studies at the University at Albany, and serves as curator at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology. A specialist in the archaeology and history of the ancient Levant and broader Middle East, Cradic’s research centers on household archaeology and the materiality of funerary ritual. She has published widely in journals such as BASOR, Near Eastern Archaeology, Levant, and the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Her research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the NEH-Getty Research Institute, the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, ASOR, and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

This event is organized by UAlbany’s Judaic Studies Program and the Department of History. The lecture is funded by the Colonie Jewish Community Association and the Kappa Beta Scholarship Fund.

Information may be obtained at 518-442-5300 and at