Prof. Vasiliki Kassianidou named new Deputy Minister of Culture

Following the resignation of Michalis Hadjiyiannis, Professor Vasiliki (Lina) Kassianidou has been appointed as the new Deputy Minister of Culture.

Kassianidou, has been teaching Environmental Archaeology and Archaeometry at the University of Cyprus (UCY) since 1994. In May 2023 she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Letters.

From June 2015 to August 2019 she was the Director of the Archaeological Research Unit (ARU) of the UCY. Prof. Kassianidou has been active in the administration of UCY serving as vice-chair of the Department of History and Archaeology, as a member of the UCY Senate and as a member of various committees. She is also a member of the Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO. From 2014 -2016 she served as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Cultural Foundation of the Bank of Cyprus. In October 2018 she was appointed to the Board of Directors the newly established National Board of Research and Innovation by the Ministers Council of the Republic of Cyprus. In 2022 she was elected Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America.

Prof. Kassianidou studied at Bryn Mawr College, USA where she did a double major in Chemistry and Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. She received her Bachelor degree with a distinction (Cum Laude) in 1989. She continued her studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London where she received her doctoral degree on Archaeometallurgy in 1993.

She worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, (1993) and in 1994 she joined the faculty of the Department of History and Archaeology of UCY and has held the position of full Professor since 2013.

Accepting Hadjiyiannis’ resignation, President Nikos Christodoulides thanked him for his service and wished him every future success.