Rose Muravchick

Biography

Rose Muravchick (she/her) earned her doctorate in religious studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. Her dissertation, "God is the Best Guardian: Islamic Talismanic Shirts from the Gunpowder Empires," considered the apotropaic relationship between these Mughal, Ottoman and Qajar garments and the human body. Before entering the doctoral program, she earned an M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her thesis, "Saints, Silks, and Sanctity: The Interwoven History of Islamic Textiles in Twelfth Century Church Treasuries," examined the adaptive reuse of medieval Islamic silks within a church context.

During her time at the University of Pennsylvania, Muravchick worked in exhibition design, collections and archives at its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She also served as a textiles intern at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she supported Louise Mackie, curator emerita of textiles and Islamic art, during the research and writing of Mackie's book Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-11th Century.

After serving as a Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Religion at Vassar College, Muravchick joined the University of Delaware's Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning in 2016 to begin a career in educational development. The center is now part of the Center for Innovation in Lifelong Learning and Teaching. She has served as an educational consultant for the department for the past 10 years, supporting curriculum design, learning assessment and strategic planning.