Thomas F. Leisten is a native of Germany and holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies and Islamic Art History from Eberland-Karls-Universität in Tübingen. His courses at Princeton include survey courses on early and later Islamic art, undergraduate seminars on the history of illustrated manuscripts and calligraphy in the Islamic world, and graduate seminars on medieval and pre-modern urbanism in the Middle East as well as various archaeological topics. Professor Leisten has worked on excavations in Syria, Pakistan and Iraq, and is director of the ongoing excavation of an eight-century palace complex in Balis, Syria, a cooperative project of Princeton University and the Syrian Directorate of Antiquities.