Dr. Kathlyn M. Cooney, known professionally as Kara Cooney, is an Egyptologist and professor specializing in Egyptian art and architecture at UCLA. She earned her PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University in 2002 and has since established herself as a prominent scholar and media personality. Her published works include "The Woman Who Would Be King" (2014) and "When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt" (2018), both of which explore themes of female leadership in ancient Egypt. Cooney has also contributed to major exhibitions, including "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," and appeared in documentaries such as Discovery Channel’s "Out of Egypt" and "Egypt’s Lost Queen."
Cooney’s academic research centers on death rituals, afterlife beliefs, and gender studies, with a particular focus on coffin reuse during the Bronze Age Collapse. Her fieldwork has taken her to archaeological sites across Egypt, including Deir el Medina, Dahshur, and Thebes, while her museum collaborations span institutions like the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Combining rigorous scholarship with public engagement, she bridges the gap between academic Egyptology and popular audiences through her writing and television appearances. Raised in Houston, Cooney holds a BA from the University of Texas and has taught at Stanford and Howard University before joining UCLA’s faculty.