Staff in Tibetan Studies at UVa

The University of Virginia has an unusually large number of staff involved with Tibetan Studies due especially to our innovative programs using digital technology to facilitate collaborative research and community engagement projects.

UVA Library Staff

Jama Coartney

As director of the Digital Media Lab of Clemons Library, Jama Coartney has provided important help with image processing and general support of THL staff working on images, audio-video, and places.

Bruce Johnson

As audio-video specialist in the Digital Media Lab of Clemons Library, Bruce Johnson has given strong support to THL’s audio and video processing needs over the years.

Matt Mitchell

As a specialist in Ruby on Rails programming in Alderman Library’s Scholar’s Lab, Matt Mitchell was the original architect, along with Bess Sadler, of THL’s Place Dictionary in its current incarnation, and has provided regular help and support to THL’s technical work.

Bethany Nowviskie

As the director of the Library’s Digital Research & Scholarship, Bethany has provided high-level support and advice to THL’s technical dimensions.

Nawang Thokmey

As Tibetan and Serials Library Assistant, Nawang Thokmey is directly responsible for cataloging new Tibetan language acquisitions, as well as helping library patrons with questions and needs concerning the Tibetan language collection.

Philip McEldowney

As Librarian for Religious Studies and Anthropology, and Selector of South Asia and Middle East materials, Philip McEldowney supervises the Tibetan collection and takes the lead in its strategic development through new acquisitions.

Will Rourk

As a specialist in rich media, Flash, three-dimensional reconstructions, and architecture, Will Rourk has played a vital role in THL’s interactive maps and panoramic images, as well as leading the Meru Monastery documentation project and being a key figure in the Lhasa City project.

Bess Sadler

As the THL’s lead liaison in Alderman Library’s Scholar’s Lab, Bess Sadler provides a wide range of expert guidance and technical support to THL’s overall technical activities and infrastructure.

Adam Soroka

As a lead programmer in Alderman Library’s Scholar’s Lab, Adam Soroka has made crucial contributions to THL’s building of a technical infrastructure for dealing with spatial data/GIS.

Judy Thomas

As first head of the Robertson Media Center and now Director of Arts & Media Library Services, Judy Thomas has been a critical support designing an approach to THL’s image collections, as well as providing high-level support in general for THL’s technical work in regards to rich media.

Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL) Central Staff

Mark Ferrara

As lead designer for front-end development of the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, Mark managed THL’s 2008 template redesign. His other Tibet-related projects at UVa include the design and administration of the Tibet Center’s website.

Nathaniel Grove

As Technical Co-Director of the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, Nathaniel Grove has led technical work on multiple initiatives in THL including the Tibetan Literary Collections for archiving and delivering Tibetan literature and associated scholarly content, the JIATS scholarly publishing system, and the general framework for THL webpages. He brings a deep technical background in programming as well as a doctorate in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies to his work.

Chelsea Hall

Chelsea Hall currently runs the office of the Tibet Center in Minor Hall 110, and also is our key supervisor of the audio-video collection’s processing operations.

Bill McGrath

As technical staff and now THL eastern Tibetan liaison, Bill McGrath provides crucial content processing of resources such as XML essays as well as logistical coordination and support for our eastern Tibetan collaborators and initiatives.

Andres Montano

As Technical Co-Director of the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, Andres Montano has led technical work on multiple initiatives in THL including the Media Management System archiving and delivering images and audio-video content, the Tibetan Translation Tool, the Himalayan Dictionaries, and the Knowledge Maps. He brings a deep technical background in computer science as well as doctoral training in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies to his work.

Pema Namgyal

As UVa Liaison in Lhasa, Pema Namgyal supervises UVa’s study, research, and exchange programs in Lhasa, Tibet. This involves many different projects, as well as running UVa’s collaborations with Tibet University and the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences.

David Newman

The linchpin for the image collections and the collection of place documentation in the Tibetan and Himalayan Library since 2001, David Newman is a long-time employee, sometimes full-time and sometimes part-time, who has been crucial to many cultural projects in THL.

UVa Staff Assisting THL

Robbie Bingler

Senior Programmer Analyst for the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, Robbie Bingler is the lead programmer on the THL Tibetan Dictionaries initiative, which is creating a collaborative framework for building extremely detailed studies of Tibetan words based upon historical and spoken usage.

Daniel Pitti

Associate Director of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, Daniel Pitti is a leading expert in XML technologies and digital humanities. He was the original architect of THL’s Tibetan literature publishing system, and has been a valuable consultant on technical and design issues in THL’s ongoing development, as well as a central adviser on conceptualizing the social infrastructure of THL.

Special Mention

Thornton Staples

Former director of the Digital Library Research and Development Department, Thorny Staples was a crucial figure in helping develop the Tibetan and Himalayan Library in a variety of ways, both technical and intellectual. He originally designed the THL Place Dictionary, but also helped formulate the overall conception of THL as part of the Library’s Information Communities Initiative and inspired much of its architecture.

Michael Tuite

Former director of the Clemons Digital Media Lab, Michael was central in the development of THL’s cultural geography initiatives, as well as the development of its image and audio-video collections. In addition to participating in multiple field trips and providing timely technical assistance again and again, he also inspired THL’s original focus on putting cultural geography at the heart of its design.

Part-time THL Staff

Arnoud Sekreve

Arnoud Sekreve works part-time on THL’s JIATS journal and its Tibetan Buddhist Canons project.

Chris Hatchell

Chris Hatchell works part-time on THL’s Tibetan Dictionary project.

Zach Rowinski

Zach Rowinski works part-time on the Tibetan Buddhist Canons project and various other THL initiatives, and was UVa’s Eastern Tibetan liaison in 2007-8.

Other Staff

Mick Watson

As Religious Studies Administrative Supervisor, Mick provides crucial administrative and fiscal support to Tibet Center activities and funding sources.