Teresa K Moreno

Biography

TERESA MORENO is Associate Conservator and Head of Operations at the Arizona State Museum (ASM) and is a member of the research faculty at the University of Arizona. 

Teresa is a native Arizonan.  Born in Morenci, she grew up in Tucson where she attended the University of Arizona (UA).  She holds a B.A. with a double major in Anthropology and Classics, and an M.A. in Classical Archaeology both from the UA.  Additionally, Teresa earned an M.A. in Conservation of Historic and Archaeological Objects from the University of Durham in England.

Before returning to the UA, Teresa worked at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and was a Getty Postgraduate Intern in Conservation at the Field Museum in Chicago.  In 2002 she accepted the position of Assistant Conservator at the Arizona State Museum, and in 2008 she was promoted to her current rank and awarded continuing status. In 2018, Teresa was promoted to Museum Administration as Head of Operations.

At ASM Teresa works together with other museum conservators, curators and collections managers to ensure the long-term preservation of the State’s cultural heritage collections through professional preventative and interventive conservation practices.  She specializes in the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects and has experience working with a wide range of materials including metals, ceramics, glass, waterlogged and desiccated organics such as wood, leather and textiles, and various polymeric materials, resins, lacquers, and waxes.  Her interests range from the art and archaeology of the classical world to the archaeology and anthropology of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. Her primary areas of research are on the care and conservation of metal objects, the history of metallurgy and metalworking for the production of jewelry adornment, and the preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

In addition to her museum conservation experience Teresa has also worked on archaeological excavations in Arizona, Italy and Greece. Most recently, from 2006 to 2012, she served as the site conservator for the excavations of the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion in Greece, an international partnership and collaboration between the UA School of Anthropology and the Greek Archaeological Service.

Over the years, Teresa has served in a variety of service and outreach activities.  In addition to routinely serving on a number of ASM committees, Teresa has offered her service to the University.  She was elected to serve as a Non-College representative on the Faculty Senate (2012-2016) and served on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee (2013-2016).  In 2014 she was invited to serve on the Advisory Board for the UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry between.  In 2015 she was appointed by the UA President to serve on the Commission on the Status of Women for a two-year term.  At the national level, Teresa was elected Vice President of the Western Association for Art Conservation (2014-2015), and subsequently served a term as President (2015-2016).

While teaching makes up only a small percentage of her faculty workload, Teresa has engaged with undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students interning in the ASM conservation lab.  In collaboration with Nancy Odegaard, she has taught UA courses on the fundamentals of archaeological conservation.  She has lectured and organized workshops for local high school students engaged in The Environmental Education Exchange summer program Linking Hispanic Heritage through Archaeology. She has also taught professional courses and workshops for the Balboa Art Conservation Center, the Museums Association of Arizona, and other professional museum and art conservation based organizations. 

In her new role as Head of Operations, Teresa oversees aspects of the Museum's operations that directly pertain to the long-term safety, security and preservation of the Arizona State Museum's valued collections. Most recently, Teresa and her Co-PI, Jannelle Weakly, ASM Curator of Photo Collections, have been awarded two significant federal grants to support the preservation of ASM's photographic collections.  These grants include an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections Program, and a Save America's Treasures grant from the National Park Service and administered by the Institute of Museums and Library Services.  This Save America's Treasures award desginates the museum's photographic collection a National Treasure, and is the third such award granted to the Arizona State Museum.

Degrees

• M.A. Conservation of Historical and Archaeological Objects
• University of Durham, Durham, County Durham, United Kingdom
• A Collection of 15th Century Wax Votive Images: Identification, Analysis, and Conservation.
• M.A. Classical Art and Archaeology
• University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
• Catalog of Ceramic Lamps in the Arizona State Museum.
• B.A. Anthropology and Classics
• University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America