The Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World would like to express its deep gratitude to Dr. Haleh Emrani and the Gramian-Emrani Foundation for their financial support of the UCLA Archaeological Gazetteer of Iran project. Dr. Emrani has graciously made a pledge of $100,000 in support of the Gazetteer over the next five years.
The UCLA Archaeological Gazetteer of Iran, a project initiated under the auspices of the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World, aims to be an open access online encyclopedia of ancient Iranian archaeological sites. The growing number of archaeological activities in the academic fields of survey research, excavation, restoration, conservation, and museum studies has made it increasingly difficult to provide and update the timely dissemination of results in the form of printed publications. One of the main purposes of the Gazetteer is to fill such a lacuna with the creation of a web-based, interactive gazetteer dedicated to the consolidation and dissemination of archaeological news, reports, multi-media files, and publications. Another goal of the UCLA Archaeological Gazetteer of Iran is to act as a repository of Iranian cultural heritage by preserving the virtual memory of archaeological vestiges no longer extant.
Dr. Haleh Emrani is the Founder & CEO of SageDom, a provider of a community building software engine, which facilitates group collaboration and communications. In addition to her successful career in electrical engineering, Dr. Emrani earned her Ph.D. from the Department of History at UCLA, where she studied Sasanian social history. Her research, which has been published in a number of specialized journals, focuses on the position of women across the many religious groups of late Sasanian and early-Islamic Iran, with emphasis on the legal regulations governing marriage, divorce, guardianship of women and their children, and inheritance. Dr. Emrani also serves as a trustee and vice-chair of the Farhang Foundation.
Along with Mr. Ahmad Gramian, Dr. Emrani is a co-founder of the Gramian-Emrani Foundation, which supports scholars and institutions across the United States and Europe. Ranging from elementary education to post-graduate studies and educational programs, the foundation seeks to support new research initiatives in the hopes of securing an improved global future for us all.