Ronald Wetherington

“What’s past is prologue,” says Antonio in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. And so the assorted interests throughout my early years—science, literature, art, travel—guided me to both my education and profession: B.A. in zoology with minors in English and French (Texas Tech), M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology (Michigan).

I’ve been on the Anthropology faculty at Southern Methodist since 1964, with research and publications in both archaeology and human biology. These include my Excavations at Pot Creek Pueblo (SMU) and Readings in the History of Evolutionary Theory (Oxford) , respectively. After eleven authored and edited non-fiction books, my muse (Zeus’ Euterpe, perhaps?) awakened in Taos in the summer of 1992, and Kiva emerged. I am proud of this unexpected offspring—so much that a second, Wilderness, is gestating.

The educator in me has long fought for improving the way we teach and in fostering honesty and accuracy in science instruction. I was, for fifteen years (too long, perhaps?), Director of SMU’s Center for Teaching Excellence. After serving as Science Expert for the Texas State Board of Education beginning in 2008, my colleagues and I were finally successful in all but eliminating creationist challenges to evolution in Texas textbooks. The “all but” reflects the cautionary tale of perennial vigilance against that many-headed hydra. It rises still! In 2012 our efforts were memorialized in the acclaimed and award-winning documentary, The Revisionaries, featured on PBS, in theaters, and now on Netflix.

So this is me! I hasten to add that I have been supported (often with dismay, always with respect and love) by a loving wife, attorney Judith Swift, and five (now) adult children. As they say, life is good!