M.A. University of Pennsylvania
J.D. Georgetown University
Ph.D. University of Virginia

Historical Anthropology and Archaeology, Diaspora and Heritage Studies, Legal Anthropology

John L. Cotter Award recipient, 2009, for outstanding scholarly achievement in African diaspora studies, awarded by the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Gustave O. Arlt Award recipient, 2010, for outstanding contribution to scholarship in the humanities, awarded by the Council for Graduate Schools.

Award for Distinguished Service 2012-2013, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

University of Illinois, included in List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for fifteen courses; voted outstanding Anthropology Faculty member by the Undergraduate Anthropology Students Association.

University Scholar Award, 2014-2017, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

President, Illinois Archaeological Survey, 2018-2019.

Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology recipient, 2020, for "commitment to public scholarship" and "anti-racism scholarship and education in historical archaeology," awarded by the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeological and Historical Examination of a Nationalist Mythology of an Authentic Irish Past, 2013.
Cultural Creativity, History & Heritage in Edgefield, South Carolina, 2013, as Project Director, supported by a grant from the Humanities Council of South Carolina and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
National Science Foundation, Research Experiences for Undergraduates, New Philadelphia Archaeology Project, 2008-2012.
Community Informatics Initiative, Civic Engagement among Descendant and Local Communities of New Philadelphia, 2008-2009.
Memory and Heart: Pasts and Presents of African American Communities, 2011, as Project Director, supported by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.
New Philadelphia Archaeology and the Digital Archaeological Record, 2011, as Principal Investigator, awarded by the Digital Antiquity initiative.
National Center for Preservation Training and Technology, Aerial Thermal Survey of New Philadelphia, 2008.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Faculty Fellowship, 2006-2007; and other grants.

Anthropology and Law; Social Norms and Law; Racism and Social Science; Landscape Archaeology; Archaeological Surveying; and Historical Archaeology, among others. Follow "Visit Website" link for syllabi

I am a faculty affiliate of, and offer courses related to: the UIUC Center for African Studies; Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies; Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Department of African American Studies; College of Law; Department of Landscape Architecture; and Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. I also serve as a yearly Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Course offerings in Fall 2024 --

Anthropology and Law Seminar, Anth 560 / Laws 678

Historical Archaeology of the Americas, Anth 106 / Afro 106

Department of Anthropology
607 S Mathews Ave.
M/C 148
Urbana, IL 61801

(217) 333-3616; cell (312) 513-2683