| October 14, 2025
Sharon Gerstel’s interest in the village of Geraki, in southern Greece, began more than 30 years ago when she was working on her doctoral dissertation. But that connection took a new twist in 2022 when she and a small group of her UCLA students traveled to the region, seeking ways to use their scholarly interests to benefit the community.
Now, just three years later, Gerstel — UCLA’s George P. Kolovos Family Centennial Term Chair in Hellenic Studies, a professor of Byzantine art and archaeology, and director of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture — oversees a multifaceted initiative that is not only documenting the village’s cultural heritage, but is also empowering Geraki’s skilled craftspeople and supporting economic development there.
For those efforts, Gerstel has been honored with a 2025 UCLA Public Impact Research Award. Gerstel is one of six faculty members to receive the award this year. (Read about all of the honorees on UCLA Newsroom.)
During that 2022 visit, Gerstel and her students learned about a local weaving workshop and promptly went to meet some of the craftspeople, most of whom are women. “The women were really enthusiastic about meeting American students, and the students were excited about the weaving,” Gerstel said.
The next day, the scholars met with the president of the village’s cultural society, who invited Gerstel and her team to collaborate on what would eventually become an impressive 288-page book — published in 2024, in English and Greek editions — cataloging textiles produced by Geraki’s weavers. About 800 copies of the volume have been sold so far, with proceeds benefiting the Cultural Society of Geraki and the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture in Athens. Second editions are now in press, and an exhibition on Geraki weaving will open at the Benaki in April 2026.
Supporting the local economy
But the initiative has only grown from there. Now, Gerstel is determined to help the weavers become an economic force in — and for — their village. Thanks to her efforts, the weavers are adding an online store to the GerakiWeaving.org website; they also are planning to open a brick-and-mortar shop and convert a historic building into a weaving workshop, exhibition space and learning center, with the hope of attracting tourism to the area.
The work has had multiple benefits for Gerstel, including that it expanded the range of her scholarship from her longstanding focus on Byzantine art and archaeology to now include the 19th and 20th centuries. But the impact for Geraki and her own students has perhaps been more meaningful.
“Seeing how our presence in the village has expanded opportunities for the women and seeing their confidence grow has been really gratifying,” Gerstel said.
Even better, she said, has been witnessing what the experience has meant for her UCLA students. As part of the project, Gerstel has brought cohorts of students with her to Geraki each year, facilitating conversations with weavers, shepherds, local clergy and even elected officials.
Validation for public impact research
“The most rewarding part of this project has been seeing how our students have matured,” she said, “given this chance to get out of the library, interact with people in the village and see the outcome and effects of their work. I am so grateful to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Kolovos family for their support of the students and the overall project.”
The public impact awards have been presented each year since 2022 by the UCLA Office of Research and Creative Activities. Gerstel, the first Humanities Division professor to be honored, said she especially appreciates the recognition because it’s for scholarly contributions that have often been considered secondary to teaching and research.
“It’s one of the most meaningful awards I’ve ever received, because it’s for work that’s not often recognized by the university,” she said. “But we’re long past the period where we can just sit in a room and write. Projects like this one are done out of love, and from the heart, and they consume an enormous amount of time and effort. This award validates that this kind of work is an important part of being a professor.”
