Biography

I'm a general anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, ethnology, and world geography. I was educated at the College of William and Mary (B.A. 1977) and the University of Florida (M.A. 1980; Ph.D. 1983), and I've taught at several colleges and universities, including the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and Barry University. 

I spent the bulk of my professional career (from 1986 to 2015) teaching anthropology and geography at Indian River State College in Ft. Pierce, Florida. IRSC offered me a number of advantages (it was located where I wanted to live at the time, it paid highly competitive salaries, it gave me the opportunity to work with several excellent faculty colleagues, and it allowed me to enjoy twelve weeks of vacation per year), but, in my experience, Indian River State College was always too eager to sacrifice academic quality and too willing to compromise academic integrity; thus I harbor little respect or affection for the institution, and I cannot recommend it as a suitable place for enrollment or employment. Today it strikes me that there is considerable wisdom in the aphorism living well is the best revenge.

With regard to my personal background, I was born in 1955 in Augsburg, Germany, to American parents living abroad. I traveled extensively throughout my childhood, and lived for three years in Nancy, France (1961-1964), and a year-and-a-half in Karachi, Pakistan (1968-1969). In 1979, when I was in graduate school, I spent several months on the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, conducting ethnographic research on the impacts of tourism development.

From 1983 to 1986, I worked as a television newscaster, first with PBS-Affiliate WUFT-TV in Gainesville, Florida, and then with CBS-Affiliate WTVX in Ft. Pierce, Florida. From 1998 to 2015, I hosted and produced daily one-minute radio spots (Excursions in Geography) on NPR-Affiliate WQCS in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

I'm fortunate to share my life with Teresa Fischer, who’s a retired professor of microbiology (her professional accomplishments are substantial, but they are less impressive to me than her beauty, charm, and intelligence). We’re excited to be embarking together our new expatriate adventure in France.