Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff,
I am writing to share the sad news that George T. (Tom) Jones, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, died on Friday.
Tom was a nationally and internationally recognized scholar. Three of his colleagues in the Anthropology Department, when nominating him for the Dean’s Career Achievement Award that he won in 2015, wrote, “He has published some of the most highly cited works in Paleoindian archaeology. An overview of the Paleoindian archaeology of the Great Basin, published in 1997, has become one of the most widely cited papers both regionally and nationally.”
In addition, a monograph he co-published in 2009 with his wife, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus Charlotte Beck, was cited by a member of the National Academy of Sciences as the best piece of work ever written on the Paleoindian record of the Great Basin. They said Tom and Charlotte’s work “on theory, method, and prehistory has been widely cited both nationally and internationally,” and that he “has published, singly, with Charlotte, or with other researchers, over 60 articles in refereed journals, including top-tier journals such as American Antiquity, Current Anthropology, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Journal of World Prehistory, Quaternary Research, and Science.
Tom was also a highly regarded teacher, having received, with Charlotte, the Samuel and Helen Lang Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2001. He and Charlotte arrived at Hamilton in 1985 and the following year they began offering students the opportunity to participate in a popular archaeological field school in the Great Basin region of the United States that they knew so well. “Because of their research,” his colleagues wrote, “archaeologists probably have the most detailed knowledge of mobility patterns in the Great Basin compared to anywhere else in the world. How exciting must it have been for Tom and Charlotte’s students to be part of that legacy.”
One of Tom’s colleagues said, “Tom was a dear friend, supportive colleague, and tremendous fun as a co-teacher, deeply thoughtful, always extending his own areas of knowledge to connect with others.” Another wrote that “Tom was one of the most kind, thoughtful, and wise members of our community who was an excellent mentor to young faculty and always present for our students.
On behalf of the College, I extend our sympathies to Tom’s family, friends, and colleagues.
Ngoni
