The Faculty History Project documents faculty members who have been associated with the University of Michigan since 1837. Key in this effort is to celebrate the intellectual life of the University. This Faculty History Website is intended as a component of the effort to document the extraordinary academic achievements of Michigan’s faculty in building and sustaining one of the world’s great universities. It provides access to a comprehensive database of information concerning the thousands of faculty members who have served the University of Michigan.
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The Bentley Historical Library serves as the official archives for the University.

List of Professors

Name Years at Michigansort icon Position

Carl Eugen Guthe

1922 - 1946
Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
Chairman of Division of Social Sciences
Director of Museum of Anthropology

Leslie A. White

1930 - 1970
Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
Chair Department of Anthropology

Emerson Frank Greenman

1935 - 1966
Professor of Anthropology

James Bennett Griffin

1939 - 1976
Professor of Anthropology

Volney Hurt Jones

1945 - 1970
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Horace M. Miner

1946 - 1980
Professor of Anthropology and Sociology

Richard K. Beardsley

1947 - 1978
Professor of Anthropology

Albert C. Spaulding

1947 - 1961
Professor of Anthropology

Frederick P. Thieme

1949 - 1957
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Chair of the Department of Anthropology

James N. Spuhler

1950 - 1968
Professor of Anthropology & Human Genetics
Chair Department of Anthropology

William Davison Schorger

1952 - 1983
Professor of Anthropology

Elman R Service

1953 - 1966
Professor of Anthropology

David F. Aberle

1955
Visiting Professor of Anthropology

Arthur J. Jelinek

1956 - 1967
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Lee A. Peter Gosling

1956 - 1994
Professor of Southeast Asian Studies
Professor of Geography
Chair Department of Geography 1966-1968, 1971-1974

Frank B. Livingston

1959 - 1996
Professor of Anthropology

Morton H. Fried

1960 - 1961
Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology

Eric R. Wolf

1961 - 1971
Professor of Anthropology
Chair of the Department of Anthropology

Ernst Goldschmidt

1962 - 1982
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Robbins Burling

1963 - 1995
Professor of Anthropology, Linguistics

Robert K. Burns

1963 - 1964
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Norma J. Diamond

1963 - 1996
Professor of Anthropology

Aram A. Yengoyan

1963 - 1989
Professor of Anthropology

James E. Fitting

1964
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Roy A. Rappaport

1965 - 1997
Leslie A. White Professor of Anthropology
Director of the Program on Studies in Religion

Jeffrey R. Parsons

1966 - 2006
Professor of Anthropology
Curator of Latin American Archaeology, Museum of Anthropology

Robert E. Whallon Jr

1966 - 2016
Professor of Anthropology
Curator, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

Charles Loring Brace

1967 - 2008
Professor of Anthropology
Curator, Museum of Anthropology

Niara Sudarkasa

1967 - 1986
Professor of Anthropology
Director of Center for Afro-American & African Studies
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Robert B Eckhardt

1968 - 1971
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Andrew Roberto Frisancho

1968 - 2011
Professor of Anthropology

Stanley M. Garn

1968 - 1992
Professor Emeritus Anthropology, Nutrition
Fellow in the Center for Human Growth and Development

Conrad Kottak

1968 - 2010
Professor of Anthropology
Julian H. Stewart Collegiate Professor of Anthropology
Chair Department Anthropology

William G. Lockwood

1969 - 1997
Professor of Anthropology

Frances L. Nitzberg

1969 - 1973
Assistant Professor

Richard I. Ford

1969 - 2007
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Professor of Anthropology
Professor of Botany

Raymond C. Kelly

1971 - 2004
Professor of Anthropology

Michael T. Taussig

1971 - 1987
Professor of Anthropology

Thomas Trautmann

1971 - 2010
Professor of Anthropology & History
Chair Department of History of Art
Director of the Center for South & Southeast Asian Studies

Milford H. Wolpoff

1971 - 2022
Professor of Anthropology
Research Scientist Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

Vern Carroll

1972 - 1993
Professor of Anthropology

Shepard L. Forman

1973 - 1980
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Maxwell K. Owusu

1973 - 2022
Professor of Anthropology

Susan F. Harding

1974 - 1989
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Philip D. Gingerich

1974 - 2014
Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Bioloby
Professor of Anthropology

John Earls

1975
Unknown

John D Speth

1976 - 2012
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Anthropology
Professor of Anthropology
Curator, North American Archaeology

Sherry B. Ortner

1977 - 1995
Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies

Michael R. Zimmerman

1977 - 1980
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Pathology

Christopher O. Davis-Roberts

1979
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Afro-American Studies

Karl L. Hutterer

1981 - 1991
Professor of Anthropology
Director for Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies

Evelyn L. Barbee

1982
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Nursing

Jean M. Brainard

1983 - 1984
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Sergei Kan

1983 - 1989
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Richard W. Wrangham

1983 - 1989
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Biology

Papul K. Dresch

1984 - 1989
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Harvey G. Cox

1985
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Studies in Religion

Walter F. Edwards

1985 - 1987
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Thomas E. Fricke

1985 - 2020
Professor of Anthropology
Research Professor Survey Research Center, Population Studies Center

Holly Peters-Golden

1985 - 2022
Lecturer IV in Anthropology
Lecturer IV Emerita

Gracia C. Clark

1987 - 1995
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Afro-American Studies

Nicholas Bernard Dirks

1987 - 1997
Professor of Anthropology, History
Director of Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Sarah C. Humphreys

1987 - 2000
Professor of History, Anthropology, Classical Studies

Janet C. Hart

1988 - 2010
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Melvin D. Williams

1988 - 2016
Professor of Anthropology

Lawrence A. Hirschfeld

1989 - 2005
Professor of Anthropology, Psychology

Daniel E. Valentine

1990 - 1998
Professor of Anthropology
Director of International Institute

Roger C. Rouse

1990 - 1997
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

John C. Mitani

1990 - 2019
Professor of Anthropology

Fernando Coronil

1991 - 2008
Professor of Anthropology, Linguistics

Brinkley M. Messick

1991 - 1998
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Jennifer Robertson

1991 - 2019
Professor ofAnthropology & Women's Studies
Professor of Art & Design

Kim R. Hill

1992
Associate Professor of Anthropology

David W. Cohen

1993 - 2009
Professor of History, Anthropology

Carla M. Sinopoli

1993 - 2018
Professor of Anthropology
Curator of Museum of Anthropology

Patricia J. Zavella

1994
Presidential Professor

John Stephen Lansing

1995 - 1999
Professor of Anthropology, Natural Resources

Sharon K. Stephens

1995 - 1998
Professor of Anthropology

David Andrew Merriwether

1996 - 2003
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Biology

Edward Webb Keane Jr.

1997
Professor of Anthropology

Katherine M. Verdery

1997 - 2005
Professor of Anthropology

Gillian Freeley-Harnik

1998 - 2012
Professor of Anthropology

Elisha P. Renne

1998 - 2017
Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies and Anthropology

Janet Leigh Finn

1999 - 2002
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Assistant Professor of Social Work

Judith T. Irvine

1999 - 2019
Professor of Anthropology & Linguistics

Augustin F. C. Holl

2000 - 2009
Professor of AfroAmerican & African Studies
Professor of Anthropology
Curator, Museum of Anthropology

Marcia C. Inhorn

2001 - 2008
Professor of Anthropology
Professor of Women's Studies
Professor of Obsretrics & Gynecology

Mariam Ticktin

2004 - 2008
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Assistant Professor of Women's Studies

Julia Felice Paley

2004 - 2012
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Mark B. Padilla

2006 - 2012
Assistant Professor of Health Behavior & Health Education
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Laura Lein

2009 - 2019
Professor of Social Work and Anthropology
Dean of Social Work