Craig Gerlach

Originally from Oklahoma, Craig Gerlach earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University in 1989 and worked at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1988 to 2013. He served as the Curator of Archeology at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, was a professor in the Anthropology Department, for the Resilience and Adaptation Program (IGERT) at the Institute of Arctic Biology, and with the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, and was director of the Alaska Quaternary Center. He taught courses, supervised graduate students, and conducted research related to Arctic archeology, sustainability and food security, traditional ecological knowledge, and sustainable livelihoods and community well-being. Craig began his career as an archaeologist, working mostly in the Brooks Range and with the Nunamiut in Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, as well as along the Bering and Chukchi Sea coasts. He transitioned into historical and contemporary subsistence research, land use mapping, socioeconomic impact assessment associated with oil and gas development, ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and the collection of local environmental knowledge. In 2013, he became a professor in the Anthropology Department and the Academic Coordinator for Sustainability at the University of Calgary, but continues to do research in Alaska with a focus on sustainable food, water and energy systems in remote northern villages, and the intersection of climate, weather, policy, community health, food security and sovereignty.