The Davis/Creasman Distinction is an endowed award that recognizes the annual fellowship recipient with the greatest likelihood of making a major contribution to their field. The award is named in honor long-time friends and collaborators Prof. Thomas W. Davis and Prof. Pearce Paul Creasman and their spouses, Jennifer Davis and Dr. Isabel Creasman. The Distinction is made only as a supplement to an existing ACOR fellowship; there is no application. The Board of Trustees or its designee (i.e., the Fellowship Committee) makes the determination at its sole discretion, awarding to not more than one person annually. It is possible that no award may be made in any given year.
Reflecting the broad geographic range of research conducted by the awards’ namesakes, this award has no boundaries based on discipline, nationality, field of inquiry, era/period studied, stage of career, or methodology—expected impact is the only barometer. “Impact” is as defined by the trustees or their designee. An individual may receive this award only once in their lifetime.
Thomas William Davis (Nov. 19, 1956 — Sep. 28, 2025) received a B.A. in History and Archaeology from Wheaton College (IL). He married his high school sweetheart, Jennifer (Jenny) Little, also of Lansdowne, and went on to complete an M.A. and Ph.D. in Syro-Palestinian Archaeology from the University of Arizona. After a position in cultural resource management for Goodwin & Associates in Frederick, Maryland, Tom and Jenny relocated to Nicosia, Cyprus, where Tom served as Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) from 2003 to 2011, and subsequently taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2025, he retired as Professor of archaeology at Lipscomb University.
Tom was a prominent scholar of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia. Professor Davis served on ACOR’s board of trustees (2020–2025) and as chair of the Publications Committee during our most prolific publishing era. As a professor of archaeology at Lipscomb University, he specialized in the eastern Roman Empire. He had extensive excavation experience in the United States, Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, and Kazakhstan.
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Pearce Paul Creasman (b.1981) received a B.A. in anthropology and philosophy from the University of Maine, followed by a Masters’ and doctoral degree in anthropology (nautical archaeology program) from Texas A&M University. His academic career began at the University of Arizona where he was a tenured professor and curator starting in 2009, focusing on the heritage, archaeology, and environment of the Middle East and North Africa. From 2012, he served as director of the University of Arizona’s Egyptian Expedition. In 2020, he came to ACOR to serve as the director. He has excavated widely in Egypt, Sudan, and Jordan.