Robert Ousterhout (Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) was Professor of Architectural History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he taught for more than twenty years before joining the History of Art faculty at Penn in January 2007. A recognized specialist in Byzantine architecture, his research focuses on the documentation and interpretation of the vanishing architectural heritage of the eastern Mediterranean. His current fieldwork concentrates on Byzantine architecture, monumental art, and urbanism in Constantinople and Cappadocia.

Ousterhout is the author of numerous books, including The Architecture of the Kariye Camii in Istanbul, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 25 (Washington, D.C., 1987), Master Builders of Byzantium (Princeton, 1999), The Art of the Kariye Camii (London-Istanbul, 2002), A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 42 (Washington, DC, 2005); and The Byzantine Monuments of the Evros/Meriç River Valley (Thessaloniki: European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, 2007), with Charalambos Bakirtzis. He also recently edited the exhibition catalogue Kariye: From Theodore Metochites to Thomas Whittemore; One Monument, Two Monumental Personalities (Istanbul: Pera Museum, 2007), with H. Klein and B. Pitarakis; and Studies on Istanbul and Beyond: The Freely Papers (University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, 2007). Master Builders of Byzantium just reappeared in a 2nd paperback edition (University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, 2008).

At UIUC he was honored as University Scholar (1992-95), Outstanding Faculty in the College of Fine and Applied Arts (1991, 2002), and Associate at the Institute of Advanced Study (1993-4, 2006). He has also held Fulbright and Dumbarton Oaks fellowships. He was elected President of U.S. National Committee for Byzantine Studies (2002-06).

Ousterhout teaches courses in Byzantine art and architectural history. He serves as the Director of the Center for Ancient Studies.

Membership in other Graduate Groups:

Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World AAMW

Other Affiliations:

Medieval Studies @ Penn

Center for Ancient Studies (Chair 2007-2010)