Anthropology

at Northern Kentucky University

Faculty & Staff Overview

Temporary Faculty Image

There are sixteen anthropology professors at NKU. Eight full-time professors, six part-time professors, one professor in another department, and one emeritus professor serve about 100 anthropology majors; additional minors in anthropology, archaeology, and Native American studies; and thousands of other NKU students in a diverse, learner-centered environment that meshes teaching, research and publication, and service to the community, the university, and the profession. The goal of our award-winning faculty is to offer the best in undergraduate anthropology education. Our purpose is to make learning accessible to anyone who strives to learn.

Faculty

H. Thomas Foster II (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University; Lecturer) Archaeology; historical and behavioral ecology; anthropogenic effects on the environment; quantitative models of economic and evolutionary behavior; North American Indians (historic period Muskogee Creek Indians; Mississippian Period Southeastern Indians); GIS and spatial analysis; public education and heritage preservation.

MaryCarol Hopkins (Ed.D. University of Cincinnati; Associate Professor & Association of African Charities Faculty Sponsor) Cultural anthropology; Africa; Southeast Asian refugees; arts; gender roles; ethnographic methods; cultural transmission.

Douglas W. Hume (Ph.D. University of Connecticut; Assistant Professor & Web Manager) Cultural anthropology; applied anthropology; ethnoecology; analysis of inter- and intracultural variation; cultural models; ritual; conservation; agriculture; linguistics; Internet culture; Madagascar; North America.

Timothy D. Murphy (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh; Lecturer & Student Anthropology Association Sponsor) Cultural anthropology; Latin America; Mexican Indians; religion; peasant societies; economic anthropology; kinship; gender roles; film-making; culture theory.

Sharlotte K. Neely (Ph.D. University of North Carolina; Professor, Anthropology Coordinator, Anthropology Alumni Club Faculty Sponsor, & Native American Studies Director) Cultural anthropology; applied anthropology; ethnohistory; North American Indians; Native Australia & Oceania; the environment; social organization; kinship; ethnicity; politics.

Michael J. Simonton (A.B.D. National University of Ireland; Lecturer) Cultural anthropology; applied anthropology; Celtic Europe; Afro-Caribbean; North American Indians; psychological anthropology; culture change; gerontology; peasant studies; religion.

Barbara J. Thiel (Ph.D. University of Illinois; Associate Professor, Archaeology Director, & Lambda Alpha Faculty Sponsor) Archaeology; physical anthropology; Southeast Asian Archaeology; North American archaeology; field and lab methods; archaeological theory; early agriculture; human ecology; Neolithic; early hominid evolution; hunters and gatherers.

Judy C. Voelker (Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo; Assistant Professor & Museum Director) Archaeology; cultural anthropology; museums; Southeast Asian archaeology; cultures of Southeast & East Asia; ceramics; ethnoarchaeology; women in prehistory; prehistoric ecology.

Adjunct Faculty

Kristin E. Appleby (M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor) Archaeology; Native North America; world cultures; world prehistory; Renaissance Europe.

T. Eric Bates (M.A. Northern Kentucky University; Part-time Instructor) Cultural anthropology; Native North America; contemporary Native Americans and Christianity; ethnicity; Appalachia; cultural and social geography.

Katie E. Englert (M.A. Australian National University; Part-time Instructor) Cultural and social anthropology; visual anthropology; media; youth; ethnicity; urban Australia (emphasis on Lebanese-Australians); Japan; Papua New Guinea.

Britteny M. Howell (M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor) Archaeology, skeletal biology, forensics, osteoarchaeology, world prehistory, archaeology of the New World, archaeological theory.

Jeannine O. Kreinbrink (M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor) Historical Archaeology; Northern Kentucky historical settlement patterns (including effects of ethnicity, politics), Public archaeology (engaging the public in hands-on experiences with the past); Material Culture studies including the relationship of the industrial revolution to material culture in the 19th century; Oral Traditions and Archaeology; Prehistoric Archaeology in the central Ohio Valley (especially transitional periods, culture change, environmental influence).

Michael Striker (A.B.D. University of Kentucky; Part-time Instructor) Archaeology; ethnohistory; comparative religion; mythology; ritual.

Anthropologists in Other Departments

Iain Barksdale (J.D. Louis D Brandeis School of Law; Assistant Professor of Law Library Services & Assistant Director for Information Technology).

Professor Emeriti

James F. Hopgood (Ph.D. University of Kansas; Professor Emeritus & Museum Founder) Cultural anthropology; archaeology; museums; Latin America; Japan; urbanization; religion; secular cults; theory; Mesoamerican archaeology.

Staff

Mindy Berry (Academic Assistant and Department Secretary)

Jessica Whyte (Department Secretary and Typist)

Terry G. Pence (Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy)