Alex Geurds appointed new Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology
Alex Geurds, Professor of Central American Archaeology, will become Dean of Leiden University’s Faculty of Archaeology on 1 January. He succeeds Jan Kolen, who, as Dean from 2018 to 2025, has shown great commitment to the Faculty, and will now focus once again on research and teaching.
Alex Geurds has been Vice-Dean and portfolio holder for education on the Board of the Faculty of Archaeology since September 2022, and in June 2025, he was appointed Professor in Central American archaeology. His research combines archaeology, history and ethnography, and focuses on human-environment interactions and cultural heritage. He has worked at the University of Oxford and the University of Colorado Boulder, among others, and was a Senior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. Geurds is the founder of the Brill series The Early Americas: History and Culture and has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Executive Board
The Executive Board is pleased with this appointment, according to Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl. ‘We’re delighted that Alex Geurds is willing to take on this challenging role as Dean. We know Alex as an excellent researcher and a unifying administrator who is aware of all that is going on in the Faculty. Alex is a good listener who is open to dialogue and input from staff, students and others. Equally important is his ability to make well-considered decisions. We need someone like him at our constantly changing university.’
The Archaeology Faculty Board shares the Executive Board’s view. ‘Over the past few years, Alex Geurds has brought great energy and enthusiasm to streamlining and strengthening our educational programmes,’ departing Dean Jan Kolen noted. ‘In his role as Vice-Dean, he has also developed into an experienced administrator. He has a clear vision for the Faculty, is approachable to everyone in the organisation and is simply a great colleague. With him, the Faculty of Archaeology couldn’t ask for a better Dean!’
Alex Geurds’ response
‘I’m looking forward to this new administrative challenge’, Geurds said. ‘For me, the future of our faculty lies in connections, both within and outside Leiden, between disciplines, between regions and between support staff and academic staff: in short, between people. The Faculty’s trinity of methodological rigour, regional depth and present-day perspectives on the past is a unique strength within Europe. A specific motivation for me is curiosity, particularly about what matters to my colleagues and students. I want to create space for this in the coming years, to encourage more dialogue. That’s the only way to grow together.’