Education * Ph.D., Anthropology, Washington State University, 2009 * M.A., Anthropology, Wichita State University, 1984 * B.A., Anthropology, University of Iowa, 1982
Career History Current Position: After completing my PhD in 2009, I accepted the position of tenure-track assistant professor with the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University, a position I continue to hold today.
Previous Professional Employment: Washington State University: While working to complete my PhD, I was employed as an instructor at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, between 2004 and 2009. In 2003, I also worked at WSU as a Teaching Assistant as I began my PhD program.
USDA Forest Service: Between 1985 and 2003 I worked as an archaeologist for the United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service. I first began with the Forest Service in a temporary "seasonal" position with the Custer National Forest in Montana and North Dakota in 1985. That position ended in the fall of 1985 and I went to work for a private contracting firm in Illinois, but my interest in working for the Forest Service did not end. I returned to the Forest Service, again with the Custer National Forest and what was then called the Little Missouri National Grasslands (today, part of the Dakota Prairie National Grasslands) in 1986 as a GS-9 District Archaeologist.
In 1989, moving to the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan as the Forest Archaeologist (GS-11) presented a great opportunity for me to develop and run the heritage resources program for this million-acre National Forest on the south shore of Lake Superior. I remained in that position for ten years, a period of time that has influenced my research interests to this day. During this time, I built a sound program that ultimately employed several young archaeologists who have since gone on to be regional archaeologists with government agencies and academic archaeologists with research universities. It was also during this time that I worked with neighboring National Forests to develop what today is known as the Passport in Time program.
In 1999, I was presented with the opportunity to direct the heritage resources program as the Zone Archaeologist (GS-12) for the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests in northern Idaho. I remained in this position until 2003, when I resigned from the Forest Service to devote my time to working on my PhD at Washington State University.
American Resources Group, Ltd.: Between 1985 and 1986, after working as a temporary archaeologist with the Forest Service and before returning to the Forest Service in a permanent position, I was employed as a Staff Archaeologist with the private contracting firm American Resources Group, Ltd., located in Carbondale, Illinois. While working for ARG, I conducted survey and testing projects under contract with private developers, coal companies, and Federal agencies in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa (including a memorable project trying to locate any remaining traces of the Mississippian community known as the St. Louis Mound Group in downtown St. Louis).
Earlier Work: While finishing my MA thesis in 1984 and into 1985, I was employed as a Field Archaeologist for the Office of the State Archaeologist of Iowa, particularly involved with the excavation of woodland sites as part of the F-518 highway project in southeast Iowa.
As a graduate student at Wichita State University, I worked as the City Archaeologist of Wichita from 1983 to 1984, and as a graduate research assistant with the St. Helena research project in 1982 and 1983.
As an undergraduate student at the University of Iowa, I held my first paying position as an archaeologist when I worked as a research assistant for a survey project along the Missouri River in 1982