Ellis R. Kerley, PhD – University of Maryland. College Park

Ellis R. Kerley, born 1924 in Covington, Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati. Attended the University of Kentucky, graduating in 1950, likely studied under Charles E. Snow, PhD. Kerley was an anthropologist at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston Salem, North Carolina. This may have been one of the first appointments of an anthropology graduate at a Medical School. Kerley joined the Korean War Dead Identification work at Kokura, Japan. His research there informed his Master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1956, and then his teaching fellowship at Michigan. In 1957 he began work as a physical anthropologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, DC. He completed his doctoral degree in 1962, under Frederick P. Thieme, PhD (Anthropology).

1973, Co-founder of the Forensic Anthropology section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences

1978, Diplomate #1 of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology

Kerley’s Curriculum Vitae

data from Ellis R. Kerley Papers, National Anthropological Archives

  • Ellis Royal Kerley, born Covington, Kentucky. 1 September 1924
    • married Mary D. Adams, three daughters.  1
  • B.S. University of Kentucky 1950
  • M.S. University of Michigan, 1956
  • Doctorate, University of Michigan 1962.
  • 1950-1953 Anthropologist, Bowman Gray School of Medicine
    • (genetic, serologic, and anthropometric survey of an inbred mountain county in NC)
  • 1954-1955 U.S. Army American Graves Registration Service-Kokura, Japan
    • September 1954- January 1956
  • 1956-57 Teaching Fellow in Physical Anthropology, University of Michigan
  • 1957-1966 Physical Anthropologist, VA Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
    • Research in age changes in bone, evolutionary patterns in bone constitution and stress
  • 1965-66 Visiting Associate Professor – University of Kentucky
  • 1966-1969 Associate Professor – University of Kansas
  • 1969-1971 Professor of Anthropology – University of Kansas
  • 1972-1974 Professor and Director of Anthropology – University of Maryland
  • 1974-1978 Professor and Chairman of Anthropology – University of Maryland
  • 1978-1987 Professor of Anthropology – University of Maryland
  • 1980-1981 Sabbatical year Puerto Rico Medical School, San Juan
  • 1987-1988 Consultant U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii
  • 1988-1991 Scientific Director U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii
  • 1 June 1991 retired
  1. Whether true or not I am interested about whether it is a good practice to list your family in your professional presentation of self as a reminder to at least your self what matters. Professional and scientific objectivity background personal lives, experiences, lived lives. Here in 1991 Kerley lists his marriage and children, following only his birth, in his presentation of who he is and what he has done.
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a pdf copy of Kerley’s 1991 CV

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