Department of Society, Culture, Crime, and Justice Studies

Ph.D., Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo

M.A., Anthropology, University of Kansas

The formal history of the Anthropology Program at WKU began in 1968, when the university hired its first anthropologist, Jack M. Schock, then a Ph.D. candidate, to join the newly formed Department of Sociology and Anthropology as an instructor. Dr. Schock worked at WKU until his retirement as a full professor in 1994. As the first professional archaeologist to conduct sustained investigations throughout the region, Dr. Schock documented hundreds of archaeological sites during his almost three decades at the university. He routinely included students in field work, lab analyses, and report preparation, especially on applied archaeology projects, starting a tradition of hands-on student learning that has persisted in the Anthropology Program to the present. Most of the artifact collections and site documentation generated by Dr. Schock’s academic and applied research are curated at the WKU Anthropology Lab, and student and professional researchers continue to use those materials today.