Alison Hadley (Class of 2003)

Dr. Alison M. Hadley is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Texas A & M International University (TAMIU), where she has taught for the last nine years. She graduated from the University of South Alabama with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Geology. Her senior thesis, under the direction of Dr. Phil Carr, analyzed stone beads and tools from an archaeological site in Mississippi. Dr. Hadley’s broad training in Anthropology at USA gave her an extensive background for teaching three of the four subdisciplines at TAMIU. She went on to earn an MA at the University of Kentucky (2007), studying ancient mineral mining expeditions of American Indians in Mammoth Cave National Park. Her dissertation at the University of Kansas (2015) was a study of American Indians’ red pipestone technology from the Central Plains in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Currently, Dr. Hadley’s research in South Texas chemically tests residues from 3,000-year-old pipes to determine the diffusion of domesticated tobacco. Additionally, she is the co-founder of TAMIU’s Center for the Study of Undocumented Border Crossers (CSUBC), which utilizes a team of students and professors to study the migrant mass fatality crisis in South Texas. She strives to aid her community in historical preservation by serving on the boards for the Webb County Heritage Foundation and the Webb County Historical Commission. She is also committed to the archaeology of the Great Plains, serving as the Book Review Editor for Plains Anthropologist and volunteering in multiple service positions and committees for the Plains Anthropological Society.