PhD Alumni

Faculty in the Department of Anthropology supervise students in both the Anthropology (ANTH) PhD and Environmental Dynamics (ENDY) PhD programs.

For a full list of all MA and PhD theses awarded in the Department of Anthropology since 2011 please visit the University of Arkansas ScholarWorks website.

 

2024

Lucyna Bowland (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Arkansas Colleges of Health Education
Dissertation: Bilateral Asymmetry in the First Metacarpal: The Influence of Handedness in Humans and Non-Human Primates 
Advisor: J. Michael Plavcan
 
Marc Marino (ANTHPHD)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Dissertation: Constructing Trust among Large-Scale Organizations: An Archaeological Case of Collective Action from Tlaxcallan, Mexico
Advisor: Wes Stoner
 

2023

Seth Price (ENDYPHD)
GIS Analyst, Jacobs
Dissertation: Raised Field Agriculture on the North Coast of Peru: Environmental Investigations in the Casma Valley
Advisor: Ben Vining
 
Ashly Romero (ANTHPHD)
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix
Dissertation: Understanding the Environmental and Genetic Influence on Fluctuating Asymmetry and Developmental Instability in Primates 
Advisor: Claire Terhune
 
Kyle Urquhart (ANTHPHD)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Dissertation: Where One Puts Wood on the Fire: The Political Economy of P’urépecha Urban Neighborhoods at the Site of Angamuco, Michoacán
Advisor: Wes Stoner
 
Liam Zachary (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University
Dissertation: Functional Morphology of the Platyrrhine Humerus and Talus: Implications for Inferring Locomotor Behavior in Extinct Primates 
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 

2022

Jenny Burgman (ENDYPHD)
Visiting Assistant Professor, Oxford College, Emory University
Dissertation: Rodent Dental Microwear Texture Analysis as a Proxy for Fine-Scale Paleoenvironment Reconstruction
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 
Justin Dubois (ENDYPHD)
Physics Library Supervisor, University of Arkansas
Dissertation: Investigating the Mechanics and Chemistry of Sickle Polish Development
Advisor: Marvin Kay
 
Caitlin Yoakum (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Arkansas Colleges of Health Education
Dissertation: An Assessment of the Neurovascular Structures of the Trigeminal Nerve and Their Relationship to Diet in Primates 
Advisor: Claire Terhune
 

2021

Christopher Bolfing (ANTHPHD)
Tribal Cultural Anthropologist at Muscogee Nation of Florida
Dissertation: Mvskoke-Nene momis komet Yvkvpvkkeyetos/We Keep Walking the Mvskoke Path: A Reflexive and Phenomenological Ethnographic Study of the Ceremonial Beliefs and Practices of a Modern Mvskoke Community in Florida
Advisor: Kristin Erickson
 
Jeremy Menzer (ENDYPHD)
Director of Geophysics and Remote Sensing, Cultural Resource Analysts Inc.
Dissertation: Investigating Depth Estimation to Archaeological Magnetic Source Bodies
Advisor: Ken Kvamme
 

2020

Steve Moog (ANTHPHD)
Adjunct Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, High Point University
Dissertation: Under the Radar: The Everyday Resistance of Anarchist Punks in Bandung, Indonesia 
Advisor: Jonathan Marion
 
John Samuelsen (ANTHPHD)
Science and Technology Administrator, Arkansas Archaeological Survey
Dissertation: An Isotopic Assessment of Late Prehistoric Interregional Warfare in the Southcentral US 
Advisor: George Sabo
 
Katie Serio (ANTHPHD)
Instructor, Department of Anthropology
Dissertation: Born-Again on Sundays: Exploring Narratives of Belief and Performances in a Belizean Methodist Church
Advisor: Kirstin Erickson
 

2019

Alissa Bandy (ANTHPHD)
Faculty, Northwest Arkansas Community College
Dissertation: Death on the Horizon: Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaten
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Mitra Panahipour (ANTHPHD)
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute
Dissertation: Dynamics of Land Use, Environment, and Social Organization in the Sasanian Landscape of Eastern Iraq—Western Iran 
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Michelle Rathgaber (ENDYPHD)
Educational Outreach Coordinator, Arkansas Archaeological Survey
Dissertation: The Archaeology of Mississippian Vulnerability and Resilience in the New Madrid Seismic Zone
Advisor: George Sabo
 

2018

Diana Chen (ENDYPHD)
Dissertation: Got Breadfruit? Marshallese Foodways and Culture in Springdale, Arkansas
Advisor: Justin Nolan
 
Eric Robert Jensen (ANTHPHD)
Adjunct Instructor, Behavioral Sciences Department, Concordia University Irvine
Dissertation: The Endurance of Tell Qarqur: Settlement Resilience in northwestern Syria during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1200 – 700 BC) 
Advisor: Jesse Casana
 
Ethan Morton-Jerome (ANTHPHD)
Dissertation: Palestinian Labor in West Bank Settlements
Advisor: Ted Swedenburg
 
Ashley E. Shidner (ANTHPHD)
Science Department Head, Lecanto High School
Dissertation: Growing Up in Tell el-Amarna: An Examination of Growth and Non-specific Stress Indicators in New Kingdom Children 
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Keith Glenn Whitmire (ANTHPHD)
Senior Intelligence Analyst, UnitedHealthcare Global
Dissertation: Counter-Revolution and Egypt’s Lower Middle Class
Advisor: Ted Swedenburg
 

2017

Adam S. Wiewel (ANTHPHD)
Archaeologist, Midwest Archaeological Center, US National Park Service
Dissertation: Remote Sensing Insights into Storage Capacities among Plains Village Horticulturalists
Advisor: Ken Kvamme
 
Ramey A. Moore (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Dissertation: Our Land Is Not Just Soil: Knowing, Feeling, and Doing Environmental Activism in the Arkansas Ozarks
Advisor: Justin Nolan
 

2015

Nicole E. Smith-Guzman (ANTHPHD)
Archaeology Curator, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Dissertation: The Paleoepidemiology of Malaria in the Ancient Near East
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2014

Joshua Noah (ANTHPHD)
Investment Consultant, Charles Schwab
Advisor: JoAnn D'Alisera
 
Leslie C. Walker (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Museum Coordinator, Linfield College, Oregon
Dissertation: Liminal River: Art, Agency and Cultural Transformation Along the Protohistoric Arkansas River
Advisor: George Sabo
 
Rebecca Wiewel (ANTHPHD)
Archaeologist, Midwest Archaeological Center, US National Park Service
Dissertation: Constructing Community in the Central Arkansas River Valley: Ceramic Compositional Analysis and Collaborative Archaeology
Advisor: George Sabo
 
Teresa V. Wilson (ANTHPHD)
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University
Dissertation: Health, Nutrition, and Disease in Rural Northern Jordan: A Study of Enamel Defects Related to Childhood Stress in Skeletal Samples from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Melissa Zolnierz (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Kansas City University
Dissertation: Tempo and Mode of Domestication During the Neolithic Revolution: Evidence from Dental Mesowear and Microwear of Sheep
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 

2013

Tuna Kalayci (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeological Sciences, Leiden University
Dissertation: Agricultural Production and Stability of Settlement Systems In Upper Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age (Third Millennium BCE)
Advisor: Jesse Casana
 
Katherine Cleek (ANTHPHD)
Dissertation: "An Ample Provision for Our Posterity": Transportation, Ceramic Diversity, and Trade in Historic Arkansas, 1800-1930
Advisor: Leslie Stewart-Abernathy
 
Daniel Maher (ANTHPHD)
Professor & Department Chair, History/Social Sciences and Philosophy/Sociology/Anthropology
Dissertation: Vice in the Veil of Justice: Embedding Race and Gender in Frontier Tourism
Advisor: Kirstin Erickson
 
Duncan McKinnon (ANTHPHD)
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology, University of Central Arkansas
Dissertation: Battle Mound: Exploring Space, Place, and History of a Red River Caddo Community in Southwest Arkansas
Advisor: Ken Kvamme
 
Tricia Nellesen (ANTHPHD)
State Department, Washington, D.C.
Dissertation: The Consciousness of Water: Narrative Flows, Environmental Change, and the Voice of Yemen
Advisor: Ted Swedenburg
 

2012

Ernest K. Batey (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor, Social Science Program (Anthropology), Lower Columbia College, Longview, WA
Dissertation: Population Dynamics in Predynastic Upper Egypt: Paleodemography of Cemetery HK43 at Hierakonpolis
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Jason Herrmann (ENDY)
Kowalski Family Teaching Specialist for Digital Archaeology, Center for Analysis
of Archaeological Materials, University of Pennsylvania Museum
Dissertation: Prehistoric Human Ecodynamics in the Rub Al-Khali Desert: Results of Remote Sensing and Excavations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Advisor: Jesse Casana
 
Jessica Scott (ENDY)
Assistant Director, Donaghey Scholars Program and Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
Dissertation: Dental Microwear Texture Analysis of Pliocene Bovids from Four Early Hominin Sites in Eastern Africa: Implications for Paleoenvironmental Dynamics and Human Evolution
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 

2011

Kristin Krueger (ANTHPHD)
Professor and Department Chair, Department of Anthropology, Loyola University of Chicago
Dissertation: Dietary and Behavioral Strategies of Neandertals and Anatomically Modern Humans: Evidence from Anterior Dental Microwear Texture Analysis
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 
Sanaa Riaz (ANTHPHD)
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2010

Anna Harmon (ANTHPHD)
Advisor: Schneider
 
Kathryn Koziol (ANTHPHD)
Teaching Associate Professor, Anthropology Department, University of Arkansas
Dissertation: Violence, Symbols, and the Archaeological Record: A Case Study of Cahokia's Mound 72
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2009

Jessica Hope Amason (ANTHPHD)
Associate Professor, Anthropology and Museum Studies, Central Washington University
Advisor: JoAnn D'Alisera
 
Mary Brennan (ANTHPHD)
Regional Archeologist, St. Francis National Forest, Ozark, AR
Advisor: George Sabo
 
Gretchen Dabbs (ANTHPHD)
Associate Professor, Anthropology Department, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Ali Mahmoud Khwaileh (ENDYPHD)
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Ankita Kumar (ANTHPHD)
Doctoral Student, Marketing, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 
Melissa Zabecki (ANTHPHD)
State Archaeologist, Arkansas Archaeological Survey
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2008

Eileen G. Ernenwein (ENDYPHD)
Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, East Tennessee University
Advisor: Ken Kvamme
 
Jessica Newnam-Baicy (ANTHPHD)
Visiting Assistant Professor, James Madison University
Advisor: J. Michael Plavcan
 
Margaret Suzanne Horne (ANTHPHD)
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Graphic Technology, University of Arkansas Fort Smith
Advisor: Kirstin Erickson
 

2007

Francis Kirera (ENDYPHD)
Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Mercer University School of Medicine
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 
Elayne Juniper Pope (ANTHPHD)
Forensic Anthropologist and Autopsy Supervisor, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Norfork, VA
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2006

Jami Lockhart (ENDYPHD)
Computer Services Program Administrator, Arkansas Archeological Survey
Advisor: George Sabo
 
Eric Proebsting (ENDYPHD)
Senior Research Archaeologist, Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Forest, VA
Advisor: Marvin Kay
 
Alicia Valentino (ANTHPHD)
Project Archaeologist, Environmental Science Associates (ESA), Seattle, WA
Advisor: George Sabo
 

2005

Gregory Vogel (ENDYPHD)
Project Geoarcheologist, Geoarc Research Inc., Eldread, IL
Advisor: Marvin Kay
 
Blake Wintory (ENDYPHD)
Assistant Director, Lakeport Plantation Museum, Arkansas State University Heritage Sties, Lakeport, AR
Advisor: Schneider
 

2004

Blaine Schubert (ENDYPHD)
Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences, East Tennessee State University
Advisor: Peter Ungar
 

2002

Abdulla Ahmed Alakkam (ENDYPHD)
Professor, Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Advisor: Jerome Rose
 

2001

Elizabeth Weiss (ENDYPHD)
Full Professor, Department of Anthropology, San Jose State University
Advisor: Peter Ungar