Education

• 2002 Ph.D. in Archaeology, University of Minnesota Graduate minor in Quaternary Paleoecology
• 1996 M.S. in Archaeological Studies, Minnesota State University Mankato
• 1990 B.A. in Anthropology and Philosophy, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Profile

My research interests and teaching specializations include paleoethnobotany, ethnobotany, ecology, environmental anthropology, identity and ethnicity, field methods, laboratory analysis, computer applications in advanced archeological analysis, and cultural resource management. I focus on the archeology of North America, and especially the late prehistory of the northern Midcontinent.

My doctoral research focused on the roles of plants in late prehistoric cultural interaction and change in the upper Mississippi Valley. In my thesis, I built an ethnographically-derived interpretive model to examine and elucidate the interplay between plants, landscapes, and cultural identities. I then applied this model to botanical remains from a multicultural village in the Red Wing region of Minnesota to evaluate existing hypotheses about the nature and effect of Mississippian influence on local cultures, as well as regional Oneota emergence.

Courses Taught at MNSU

• ANTH 101 - Introduction to Anthropology
• ANTH 102 - Ancient Peoples
• ANTH 210 - Introduction to Archeology
• ANTH 311 - Ancient Egypt
• ANTH 331 - Environmental Anthropology
• ANTH 334 - Native American Cultures of North America
• ANTH 4/510 - Archeology of Minnesota
• ANTH 4/511 - Archeology of Native North America
• ANTH 4/512 - Archeology of Latin America
• ANTH 4/515 - Cultural Resource Management
• ANTH 4/516 - Archeological Methods
• ANTH 4/538 - Anthropological Theory
• ANTH 4/580 - Fieldwork in Archeology
• ANTH 4/585 - Ethnobotany
• ANTH 4/585 - Ethnomusicology
• ANTH 4/591 - Archeology Laboratory
• ANTH 601a & 601b - Graduate Seminar in Anthropological Theory
• ANTH 602 - Graduate Seminar in Anthropological Methods
• ANTH 603 - Practicing Anthropology
  ANTH 604 - Environmental Archeology