It is unfortunate but I must report that the Penn Museum is 
terminating all of its Research Scientists (18 people in toto)  at 
the end of May
2009. Because of a growing budget problem, and other issues, these 
researchers, some of whom have been in the museum for over thirty 
years have been given a few months notice that their positions are 
being abolished.

Most of the Research Scientists are general archaeologists, including 
some leading scholars in Classical Archaeology, Southeast Asian 
Archaeology, Maya Archaeology, Egyptology, and other specializations. 
Within this cut, however, is also MASCA (the Museum Applied Science 
Center for Archaeology), a unit which since the 1950s has made 
archaeological research at Penn famous. This includes all of our 
faunal, botanical and metallurgical experts.

The Research Scientists are not standing faculty members at Penn and 
so have no tenure protection in a situation like this one. They 
assumed as they had been loyal to Penn for decades so would the 
institution be loyal to them. In a crunch this assumption turned out 
to be wrong.

The Curators are not involved as they are faculty members and there 
are no, and never have been any, Research Scientists in the 
Historical Archaeology Section. However, many of these researchers 
have been very helpful to members of the section and to graduate 
students in our field.

BAD NEWS FROM PHILADELPHIA

Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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