Professor Emeritus Charles Faulkner passed away at age 84 on July 11, 2022. Charlie was a member of the department for more 40 years. A nationally-recognized archaeologist and beloved teacher, mentor and friend, he worked extensively in the Knoxville area and upper East Tennessee. He founded the historical archaeology program and accompanying laboratory within the Anthropology department. During his long career, he was a Chancellor’s Research Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Humanities at UT. The Eastern States Rock Art Research Association and the Southeastern Archaeological Conference recognized his work with lifetime achievement awards.
[For online version of the newsletter: WBIR featured Dr. Faulkner and his legacy here. His obituary can be found here. The Southeast Archaeological Conference published a celebration of his career here.]
Gregory Button died on August 26, 2022, at age 76. Greg was a US. Congressional Fellow in the United States Senate, and for many years was a reporter and producer for public radio, covering the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, Love Canal, and the eruption of Mount St. Helens. He earned his PhD in anthropology, specializing in cultural anthropology, and served on the faculty of the Department of Anthropology from 2007 to 2014. During this time he co-directed the Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights program and the Center for the Study of Social Justice, while conducting extensive fieldwork studying the aftereffects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Greg was a nationally recognized expert on disasters and extreme and catastrophic events.
Steve Ousley passed away Nov. 6, 2022, at age 61. Steve was a proud graduate of UT, earning his MA in 1993, and PhD in 1997. After graduation, he took a job as director of osteology in the repatriation office of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Thereafter he took a position at Mercyhurst University in anthropology, ultimately moving to the Department of Math and Data Science. After his retirement, he joined the faculty at UT as adjunct professor. Steve was one of the most creative and original thinkers in our field. He was a master of languages, both computer and natural. Because of his quantitative skills he had collaborations and consultations too numerous to mention. Most notably he was responsible for the development and commercial success of Fordisc, and for putting the forensic data bank online. The disciplines of forensic anthropology and biological anthropology will miss his innovative solutions to so many problems.