Lara Tohme is the Knafel Assistant Professor of Humanities in the Art Department, where she teaches Islamic and European medieval art and architecture. She joined the Wellesley faculty in 2005, having taught previously at Dartmouth College and the Boston Architectural Center.

Dr. Tohme received a BA in Art History from the University of Washington (1992), an MA in Art History from the University of Oregon (1995), and a PhD in the History of Architecture: Theory and Criticism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005). She worked with the Museum With No Frontiers on a project that aims to promote the global awareness of the art and architecture of Islamic cultures bordering the Mediterranean and co-authored The Umayyads: The Rise of Islamic Art (2001).

Her research interests include: early and medieval Islamic art and architecture, historiography of medieval art and architecture, Mediterranean art and architecture from the 5th through the 14th centuries CE, and the survival of classical architectural traditions in the medieval period. She has held distinguished fellowships, including the Aga Khan Award for Architectural Studies at MIT and the Samuel H. Kress Fellowship at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.

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Profile last updated: 8/05