Dr. Mary Buck serves as an Adjunct Faculty of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Shepherds Seminary, teaching courses focused on Northwest Semitic philology, Comparative Semitics, and Middle Eastern Civilizations. Dr. Buck completed her PhD at the University of Chicago in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations under the tutelage of Dr. Dennis Pardee. She also completed her MA in Northwest Semitic Philology, her MA in Education, and her BA in History. Correspondingly, Mary is part of Shepherds’ Department of Biblical Archaeology.

Mary was first introduced to the world of the Middle East in 2005 when she had the privilege of studying and traveling in the region, including a month working in Dubai and Oman. She has since lived in the Middle East for several years, traveling extensively, joining several excavations, studying Quranic Arabic, and receiving a FLAS grant for the study of Modern Hebrew. She recently published two works, The Amorite Dynasty of Ugarit, which traces the Middle Bronze Age Amorite origins of the Ugaritian society, and The Canaanites, which provides a historical overview of the Canaanites based upon archaeology and inscriptions. She is currently working on a book series intended for middle-grade readers which aims to bring the history of the ancient world to life for kids. In addition to her background in ancient Near Eastern studies, Mary is passionate about understanding both the ancient and modern history of the Middle East, and has had her photography of Egypt published in several manuscripts. Mary currently works as a Risk Culture Manager for McKinsey & Company where she leads a team in developing risk awareness and learning materials for 35,000 colleagues.

Northwest Semitic Philology

Amorite Studies