DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Administrator for the Center
- Member of the Chickasaw Nation
Christel Cooper is the Administrator for the Center. Christel is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and grew up in College Station, Texas. She graduated from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Mass Communications. Christel has many years of experience in the non-profit field, some of those years spent working for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Christel works on many aspects of Center operations, especially fundraising and membership development.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Executive Director
- Center Director and Executive Director of the North Star Archaeological Research Program / Texas a & M University
Dr. Michael Waters is the Director of the Center and Executive Director of the North Star Archaeological Research Program. He is known for his expertise in First American studies and geoarchaeology. Waters has worked on archaeological field projects in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Jamaica, and Yemen. His current research projects include the investigation of the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas, Hall's Cave, Texas, the Page-Ladsen site, Florida, and other sites. He has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and book chapters and is the author of Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective. Waters received the 2003 Kirk Bryan Award and the 2004 Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award given by the Geological Society of America. In 2017, he was named Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor.
Jim Wiederhold earned his MA from Texas A&M University in 2004. His thesis explored the functions of Clovis end scrapers from the Gault Site, Texas through high-power microscopic use-wear analysis. Jim manages the Center's microscope laboratory, where he has conducted edge-modification studies of artifacts from Debra L. Friedkin, Gault, Ryan-Harley, Page-Ladson, and other sites. He couples his analysis of use-wear with experimental studies including hide working and butchering animal carcasses.
Jordan Pratt received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Oregon in 2015. She is interested in the peopling of the Americas and Paleoindian archaeology in the northern Great Basin region of Oregon. Specifically, Jordan is interested in human behavioral ecology and exploring human adaptations to climate change. Her research interests include lithic technologies, and utilizing GIS to explore changes in mobility and settlement patterns through time. Jordan has archaeological and geoarchaeological research experience throughout the northern Great Basin, where she has worked as a field technician for the Burns Bureau of Land Management, and as a site supervisor for the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History's Archaeological Field School at a number of sites, including Rimrock Draw Rockshelter and Skull Creek Dunes. She also has field experience in the Pacific, where she worked on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). ResearchGate Profile