The Institute, which was founded in 1984 and designated a Tennessee Center of Excellence in 1985, is a component of the Art Department at The University of Memphis. The Institute is dedicated to the study of the art and culture of ancient Egypt through teaching, research, exhibition, and excavation. It is staffed by Egyptologists who are faculty members of the Art Department and the History Department. Its research library consists of more than 6000 Egyptological books and periodicals including rare and out-of-print volumes. Supporting the Institute's programs is the Art Museum at the University of Memphis, which houses the Institute's growing collection of Egyptian antiquities, the largest in the Mid-South. In  Egypt, the Institute sponsors an epigraphic project at the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak Temple in Luxor and partners with the Italian Archeological Mission to Luxor at the tomb of Hawa.