Susan Krook has not one, not two, but three anthropology degrees from CU.
The College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Ph.D. alumna earned her bachelor’s from UCCS before going onto pursue her master’s and doctorate from CU Boulder.
Susan’s love for anthropology started when she took classes with Gerald Broce, Ph.D, Associate Professor Emeritus, and Thomas Wynn, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. Having been a longtime professor herself, teaching at Normandale Community College in Minnesota before retiring, Susan knows how much faculty can impact a college student.
“I have interviewed other people and other professors, and I’d say that each and every one of them have said the same thing – that they were inspired by a professor,” said Susan. “For me, it was Gerald Broce who sparked an anthropology interest in me, and it became my life. He and Tom Wynn changed my life, and that continues today.”
As Susan noted, that influence is still in her work.
“One of the achievements I’m really proud of once again goes back to Tom Wynn,” she said. “I became interested in an area of southwestern Minnesota that is a native site dating back to 200 B.C. Some of the artifacts that we have found allowed us to work through a grant for several years. I was able to obtain a grant from the David B. Jones Foundation for nearly a million dollars, and that money allowed us to explore this wonderful area that’s filled with prehistoric and historic objects. We’ve written Phase One and Phase Two papers in archaeology, and we have to finish a Phase Three paper now because we’re done there. It was a great site, and I spent nearly twelve years on it, often working there with my former colleague Pat Bonnie, so I’m very proud of what was discovered.”
Susan and her family moved to Minnesota after several years living in Colorado, and she started working at University of Minnesota as a research associate in their medical school. She later applied to Normandale and was hired to teach a night course in anthropology.
“Little by little, I sort of weaned my way away from the medical school where I was,” said Susan. “I eventually took a full-time position at Normandale because my boss at the University of Minnesota retired. I took a two-year jump over to Chico, California and taught there, then went back to Minnesota and got a full-time job at Normandale. Then, I became Chair of Anthropology for many years, and just retired last May.”
Despite her retirement, Susan’s love for anthropology keeps her pursuing opportunities. This summer, she’ll be visiting an archaeology site in Minnesota with her colleague, Dawn Whitney, instructor and current chair of Normandale’s anthropology department, and just finished a paper on the history of anthropology that pertains to Franz Boaz, the “father of American anthropology.”
“On the Mississippi River, there’s an area called Lake Pepin,” Susan explained. “It’s a fascinating area where the British and the French went in, but there are a lot of Dakota Native American burial mound sin the area. We are allowed in just one little section, a wonderful site called Villa Maria, because it’s not state property to explore, and we’re going back there in June.”
Susan urged those currently pursuing their own studies to stick with it.
“Don’t give up, finish it – that’s what I tell my friend who is finishing her Ph.D.,” said Susan.
Though she’s been in Minnesota for several years and has built a wonderful life there with her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Susan keeps UCCS and her pride at being a Mountain Lion close to her.
”I’ve never left it,” she said. “ That’s the way I would summarize UCCS. I’ve never left it and I’ve never said a bad word about it. I appreciate the opportunity to share my experience.”