From humble beginnings in 1973, the Institute has grown to one of the world's largest consortia of working archaeologists, including some 30 UCLA professors from 11 different disciplines who work alongside roughly 60 research associates affiliated with nearby colleges and universities.

In 1998, Lloyd Cotsen, a successful businessman who had fallen in love with Greek archaeology as a graduate student in the 1950s, endowed the institute with a $7 million gift.

An additional $10 million gift pledged in 2006 by Cotsen gave the institute the largest de facto endowment in the world for the study of archaeology.

In its latest survey, the prestigious National Research Council ranked the Cotsen's affiliated Archaeology Program first in the nation among doctoral programs in the field.

Learn more about the Cotsen Institute and its achievements: http://ucla.in/13Juaq3.