There are nineteen anthropology professors at NKU. Five full-time professors, ten part-time professors, two professors in other departments, and two emeritus professors serve more than 100 anthropology majors; additional minors in anthropology, archaeology, Native American studies, Celtic studies, and ancient civilizations (as well as students with an area of concentration in anthropology); additional students who major or minor in the dozens of other disciplines and interdisciplinary programs in which anthropology participates with its courses (and thus puts the global in interdisciplinary); 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.  Two additional full-time faculty will begin in the fall 2012.

Anthropology’s courses also exist within these four dozen or so other NKU programs: aging studies, ancient civilizations, Asian studies, black studies, Celtic studies, Chinese studies, cinema studies, construction management, elementary education, environmental science, environmental studies, European studies, evening curriculum, evolutionary studies, general education, Grant County Center curriculum, history, honors, integrative studies (including concentrations in family/child development, freedom studies, studies in creativiy, global citizenship, and aging and society), international studies, Japanese studies, Jewish studies, Latin American and Caribbean studies, learning communities courses, Medieval and Renaissance studies, middle grades education, Native American studies, neuroscience, online learning curriculum, PACE program curriculum, popular culture, pre-physician assistant studies, religious studies, service learning, social justice studies, social studies for secondary education, sociology, Spanish, Spanish education, study abroad courses, Sub-Saharan Africa Studies, telecourse curriculum, and women’s and gender studies. Many of these programs may be viewed at the interdisciplinary minors site.

NKU has more undergraduate anthropology majors than any other public or private college or university in the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati tri-state region.  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.

Our Full-time Anthropology Faculty

Douglas W. Hume

Ph.D. University of Connecticut; Assistant Professor, Web Manager, Student Anthropology Society Faculty Sponsor, Applied Environmental Anthropology Research Group Director/Founder, & Freshman-Sophomore Advisor
Applied cultural, ecological/environmental, and linguistic/cognitive anthropology; anthropological methods and theory; agriculture, conservation, and ritual; behavior and folk knowledge; race and gender; technology and pedagogy; Belize, Internet, Madagascar, and the United States.

Sharlotte K. Neely

Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Professor, Anthropology Coordinator, Native American Studies Director/Founder, & Anthropology Alumni Club Faculty Sponsor
Cultural anthropology; ethnohistory; North American Indians (especially Cherokees, Shawnee, & Navajo); Native Australia & Oceania (especially Native Hawaiians); Fourth World Peoples; the environment; social organization; kinship; gender roles; ethnicity; politics.

Michael J. Simonton

Ph.D. National University of Ireland, Galway; Lecturer, Celtic Studies Director/Founder, & Tuath an Ard Tíre Ardaí: Celtic Studies Club Faculty Sponsor
Cultural anthropology; applied anthropology; Celtic Europe; Afro-Caribbean; North American Indians; psychological anthropology; culture change; gerontology; peasant studies; religion; teaching on the web.

Barbara J. Thiel

Ph.D. University of Illinois; Associate Professor, Archaeology Director, Lambda Alpha Faculty Sponsor, & Senior Advisor
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; cultural anthropology.

Judy C. Voelker

Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo; Associate Professor, Museum Director, Ancient Civilizations Director, & Junior Advsor
Archaeology; cultural anthropology; museums; Southeast Asian archaeology; cultures of Southeast & East Asia; ceramics; ethnoarchaeology; women in prehistory; prehistoric ecology; ancient civilizations; teaching honors courses; teaching on the web.

Our Adjunct Anthropology Faculty

Kristin E. Appleby

M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor
Archaeology; Native North America; world cultures; world prehistory; Renaissance Europe; cultural anthropology.

Iain W. Barksdale

J.D. Louis D. Brandeis School of Law; Part-time Instructor
Archaeology; Celtic and Viking prehistory; early Celtic Christianity; Isle of Man; Northern Isles; Scotland; legal anthropology; cultural anthropology; teaching on the web.

T. Eric Bates

A.B.D. Union Institute and University; Part-time Instructor & NKU Anthropology Alumni Association President
Cultural anthropology; North American Indians (especially Blackfoot); contemporary Native Americans and Christianity; religion and critical contextualization; ethnicity; Appalachia; cultural and social geography; communication and speech.

Katie E. Englert

M.A. Australian National University; Part-time Instructor
Cultural anthropology; visual anthropology; media; women in global perspective; youth; ethnicity; urban Australia (emphasis on Lebanese-Australians); Japan; Papua New Guinea; teaching working adults (PACE); teaching on the web.

Britteny M. Howell

Doctoral Work, University of Kentucky; M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor
Physical anthropology; biocultural anthropology; medical anthropology; poverty and healthcare; nutrition and growth stunting in children; osteology; skeletal pathologies; cultural anthropology; teaching on the web.

Jeannine O. Kreinbrink

M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor
Archaeology; museums; 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).

Charlotte C. Schaengold

Ph.D. The Ohio State University; Part-time Instructor
Linguistics; race and ethnicity; North American Indians (especially Navajo); cultural anthropology.

Tabitha L. Sellers

M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor
Physical anthropology; forensic science; evolutionary and adaptive processes; neanderthals; mitochondrial DNA; osteology; museum curation; linguistics; wealth gap; health care issues; cultural anthropology.

Melony L. Stambaugh

M.A. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Instructor
Cultural anthropology; visual anthropology; world cultures; dance; gender and age roles; kinship; social network analysis; Latin America; Celtic studies; Native American studies; peasant socieites; economic anthropology; applied anthropology; academic orientation.

Michael D. Striker

A.B.D. University of Kentucky; Part-time Instructor
Archaeology; cultural anthropology; ethnohistory; comparative religion; mythology; ritual; North American archaeology; North American Indians (especially Coeur d'Alene); cultural resource management; teaching on the web.

Our Anthropology Faculty in Other Departments

Kathleen M. Quinn

A.B.D. University of Cincinnati; Part-time Ancient Civilizations Instructor; Lecturer in History
Archaeology; ancient civilizations; classics; Latin; Troy.

Laurah B. Turner

A.B.D. Indiana University; Part-time Anthropology Instructor; Lecturer in Biology
Physical anthropology; medical anthropology; evolutionary biology; endocrinology; developmental/ lifetime ontogeny and plasticity; endocrinology; female reproductive diseases; biology; cultural anthropology.

Our Professors Emeritus of Anthropology

James F. Hopgood

Ph.D. University of Kansas; Professor Emeritus, Museum Founder, & Past Department Chair
Cultural anthropology; archaeology; museums; Latin America; Japan; urbanization; religion; secular cults; theory; Mesoamerican archaeology.

MaryCarol Hopkins

Ed.D. University of Cincinnati; Associate Professor Emerita, NKU's First Anthropology Professor
Cultural anthropology; Africa; Southeast Asian refugees; arts; gender roles; ethnographic methods; cultural transmission.

Our Staff

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