Elizabeth VanDyke is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa in the Department of Classics. She earned her Ph.D. and a M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Her specialization was in Hebrew Bible. Before coming to the University of Iowa, Dr. VanDyke was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara (2023-2025). 

Dr. VanDyke studies the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context. She specifically focuses on the cult of the northern kingdom of Israel and its notable worship of the golden calf as discussed in the prophetic text of Hosea. Her work engages ideas and theories such as monumentality, the entanglement of religion and politics, and kingship. Furthermore, she researches scribal tools and practices within ancient Israel, using evidence from ancient Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia to better understand passages in the Hebrew Bible that reflect upon the physical process of textual composition. She enjoys getting into the details of the biblical text and has published several articles in the Journal of Biblical Literature that offer new readings of difficult verses. Most of her work focuses on the biblical prophets, and, due to their influence, she finds herself loving and using more and more puns. She is currently working towards turning her dissertation into a monograph as well as doing initial research for a second book project on prophecy, scribalism, and necromancy in Isaiah 8.