About

About Vernon L. Scarborough

Vernon L. Scarborough is a Distinguished University Research Professor and a Charles Phelps Taft Professor in Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. His topical interests remain settlement, land use, and water management in the context of the archaic state. By examining ancient engineered water systems and landscapes, he addresses societal sustainability issues from a comparative ecological perspective. To achieve this end, he has emphasized cross-disciplinary exchange and international fieldwork. He has taught and conducted fieldwork at the University of Khartoum, Sudan (postdoctoral exchange with Southern Methodist University—1981-82), the University of Peshawar, Pakistan (Fulbright Fellowship 1986), and the University of Texas at El Paso (1982-1986).

In addition to ongoing land use and water management studies in Belize and Guatemala, he has worked in the Argolid, Greece (1994) and Bali, Indonesia (1998). He has been directly funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Balinese support) in addition to several grants from the Taft Foundation Fund and the University of Cincinnati. He received a Weatherhead Fellowship (1995-95) and two Summer Resident Scholarships (1996, 2000) from the School of American Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2004, he was awarded the All-University Faculty Rieveschl Award for Creative and Scholarly Works from the University of Cincinnati. Most recently he received a Taft Center Fellowship for the academic year 2006-07. He has published 7 books and over 70 book chapters and journal articles. He is currently editing the volume Water and Humanity: A Historical Overview for UNESCO, a major initiative of their International Hydrological Program (Delft).

Vernon is also a member of the Scientific Steering Committee with IHOPE (Integrated History for the Future of the People of Earth—an effort of the IGBP—International Geosphere and Biosphere Programme and the Stockholm Resilience Center) for both the global (Berlin meeting) and the regional Asia (Akita, Japan) and Americas (Santa Fe) initiatives. Since 1992, he has been co-director of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, a large, annually active, research project in northwestern Belize.

Education
PhD, S Methodist U, 1980.

Honors & Awards
2010 Charles Phelps Taft Professorship at the University of Cincinnati, .

2010 Distinguished Research Professorship at the University of Cincinnati, .

2009 Elected to the Fellows of the Graduate School at the University of Cincinnati.

Service
Board Member, Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund Executive Board, 2007 to 2011.

Member, Latin American Studies Committee, 2006 to 2007.

Editor of Journal, UNESCO “Water and Humanity: A Historical Overview” 2006 to 2009.

Review Board/Panel, J.I. Staley Book Prize Anthropology Review Panel, 2004 to 2005.

Member, Interdisciplinary Council Subcommittee for Education and Research, 2003 to 2004.

Member, Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund Faculty Awards Committee, 2003 to 2004.

Member, Headship Search Committee, 2002.

Committee Chair, Review Committee for the establishment of a Ph.D. Program in Anthropology , 2000 to 2001.

Member, Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund Lectures and Conferences Committee, 1998 to 2001.

President, Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society) UC Chapter, 1998 to 2000.

Member, Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund Chair Search Committee, 1998.

Other, Speaker Coordinator, 1997 to 1998.

Committee Chair, Academic Leave Committee, 1997.

Member, Merit Review Committee, 1996.

Member, Headship Review Committee (Classics), 1994.

Member, Headship Review Committee, 1993.

Member, University Research Council Review Committee for Faculty Grants, 1992.

Member, Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund Publications Committee, 1991 to 1994.

Member, Headship Review Committee, 1991.

Member, Curriculum Review Committee, 1990 to 1991.

Other, Evening College Coordinator, 1989 to 1992.

Other, Director of Graduate Studies, 1989 to 1990.

Member, Latin American Studies Program Committee, 1989 to 1998.

Member, Blegen Chair (Classics) Search Committee, 1989.