Thomas Morton, Ph.D

  • Senior Lecturer

Architecture, especially its history, is Thomas Morton’s passion. Educated as an art and architectural historian in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of the History of Art, and trained as a field archaeologist with projects in North Africa and Italy, he examines many aspects of Roman architecture and urbanism in his scholarship. He frequently presents his research at professional meetings and universities and for organizations in North America, Europe, and North Africa. His teaching experience is much broader; he has taught the history of architecture and urbanism from prehistory to the present day from a global perspective.

Prior to joining the faculty at Pitt, Morton taught in the Architecture Program at Arizona State University, in the Art Department at Swarthmore College, and in the Growth and Structure of Cities Department at Bryn Mawr College. Morton also served in the Division of Education at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Morton has an active commitment to service, both at the local and national levels. He served two terms as the national Vice President for Societies of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and was a five-term president of the Central Arizona Society of the Archaeological Institute. As the Vice President for Societies, he oversaw 117 local societies and represented them on the Institute’s Executive Committee and Governing Board. Before relocating to Pittsburgh, he was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society of the Archaeological Institute.

 

 

Education & Training

  • Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
  • B.A. (with Honors), The Pennsylvania State University

Representative Publications

‘Constructed Landscapes: Designing Urban Centers in Roman Africa,’ In Beyond Boundaries: Connecting Visual Cultures in the Provinces of Ancient Rome, edited by Susan Alcock, Mariana Egri, and James F. D. Frakes, 281-293. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2016.

'The importance of the sea for the urban armature in Roman Carthage,’ In Paradigm and Progeny: Roman Imperial Architecture and its Legacy, edited by Diane Favro, Fikret Yegül, John Pinto, and Guy Métraux, 123-136. The William MacDonald Memorial Conference at the American Academy in Rome, December 2011. Journal of Roman ArchaeologySupplementary Series, no. 101. Portsmouth (RI): 2015.

‘Meninx – the public buildings,’ In An Island Through Time: Jerba Studies. Volume I, The Punic and Roman Periods, ed. E. W. B. Fentress, A. Drine, and R. Holod, 134-153 and 155-157. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series no. 71. Portsmouth (RI): 2009.

‘Meninx V: the basilica,’ Co-authored by Ali Aït Kaci. In An Island Through Time: Jerba Studies. Volume I, The Punic and Roman Periods, ed. E. W. B. Fentress, A. Drine, and R. Holod, 229-232.  Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series no. 71. Portsmouth (RI): 2009.

Research Interest Summary

History of Architecture and Urbanism