Beth Laura O'Leary, Ph.D
Department of Sociology & 5757 Leasburg Dr
Anthropology Box 3BV Las Cruces, NM USA
New Mexico State University 88007
Las Cruces, NM USA 88003
(H) (505) 526-2450
(W) (505) 646- 2560
email: boleary@nmsu.edu
Synopsis: Dr. Beth O’Leary has 26 years of experience in archaeology and cultural anthropology, much of this concentrated n southern New Mexico and Texas. She has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Director on multiple archaeological surveys and data recovery projects as well as cultural studies. She has written proposals and managed grants and contracts ranging from $20,000 to $956,000. She has served as an expert witness and consultant in cultural resource management law at White Sands Missile Range and in Federal District Court, Las Cruces. In April 2003 she was appointed by Gov. Richardson to the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee where she was elected Secretary.
Dr. O’Leary has successfully written both grant and contract proposals and negotiated cultural resource management projects for various management firms (including her own - ARC), universities ( New Mexico State University (NMSU); University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and University of New Mexico (UNM) and Native Americans (Cañoncito Navajo, Tutchone and Carcross First Nations, Canada). Her most recent grant (2000) was from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NASA) for space studies. She is on the World Archaeological Congress Task Force on Space Heritage. She has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in anthropology since 1991 at New Mexico State University and is currently an Assistant College Professor in the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. She teaches a graduate seminar in cultural resource management which includes curriculum on federal and state laws and regulations. Beth is on the steering committee for the College Ranch (CDRRC).
Dr. O’Leary has job experience with many environmental consulting firms and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District. She has chaired several meetings on the historic use of the El Paso and Jornada Mogollon region and on managing federal collections. She has presented papers at national and international meetings and taught seminars on cultural resource management and workshops on oral history.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1985
M.A., Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1976
B.A., Anthropology, Mount Holyoke College, 1974
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2001 - present
Archaeological Resources Protection Act Consultant (ARPA) and Expert Witness, White Sands Missile Range, NM, Office of the Public Defender, Las Cruces NM.
I served as a legal archaeological consultant on federal preservation law and regulations (i.e. ARPA) on several federal cases, most recently 2004 at WSMR. I have been an expert witness in several cases in U.S. District Court. My research involved preparing legal archeological documents on ARPA violations and testimony which called for the utmost in calm, effective, concise speech on legal issues in CRM and historic preservation law. I have also served as a consultant to an attorney in Arizona and an engineering firm in New Mexico.
2003 – present
Secretary of Cultural Properties Review Committee (CPRC)
Appointed by the Governor of New Mexico and elected Secretary of CPRC a professional policy making and advisory board for historic preservation in New Mexico. The committee consists of seven members who have achieved recognitions in their fields in the American Southwest.
1991 - present
Assistant College Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. I teach undergraduate courses in anthropology including Introductory Anthropology, New World Prehistory, Native Peoples of North America, Medical Anthropology and Human Ancestors. I teach a graduate seminar in Cultural Resource Management and a graduate course, Introduction to Anthropological Perspectives. I am on graduate M.A. thesis committees for students in Anthropology, English and History Departments. I serve on the steering committee of NMSU's Chihuahuan Desert Range Research Center. I have done several training workshops for the University Museum. I worked with the State Historic Preservation Officer and several graduate students on a nomination of a lowrider to the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties. Also, I completed a project with graduate students with funding from a NASA grant on the application of federal and international law for protecting the Apollo 11 Lunar landing site. We also presented a poster at the American Astronomical Society Meetings (2001). In April 2004, I chaired a session on Space Heritage at the Society for American Archaeology in Montreal, Canada.
Principal Investigator: Anthropology Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Texas October 1996 -June 1997. Principal Investigator of a 234 square kilometer sample archaeological survey of the McGregor Guided Missile Range at Fort Bliss Military Reservation. Supervised 30 archaeologists during field work and completed analysis and report production for GIS based archaeological project as part of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). I prepared a two volume report which was submitted to and accepted by Fort Bliss in January 1998.
Project Archaeologist: Anthropology Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas. June 1996 to October 1996. I was involved in the completion of the Ft. Bliss Green Zone Cultural Resources Project which developed and implemented a survey methodology and evaluation of sites in several military maneuver areas. I also wrote cultural resource management proposals in response to RFPs for several large prospective federal contracts (White Sands Missile Range, Fort Bliss) in New Mexico and west Texas.
Cultural Resources Manager: Physical Science Laboratory (PSL), New Mexico State University. April 1995 to October 1995. I was responsible for creating a cultural resources management program at PSL. I prepared, with team members, the proposal for cultural resources at Ft. Bliss.
Chairperson:December 1995 I served as the chairman of the symposium “Protohistoric and Historic Period: Research in the Jornada Mogollon” at the Seventh Jornada Mogollon Conference. I was a co-editor of the Proceedings of the Seventh Jornada Mogollon Conference .
Principal Investigator: May 1992 I conducted ethno-archeological research on the Southern Tutchone of the Champagne/Aishihik Band, Yukon, Canada.. My most recent (May 1992) project with the band was completion of a Photo Archive and Data Compendium of the Neskatahin Village Preservation Project, an investigation into a large historic trading village in the southwest Yukon. With three other Canadian colleagues, I presented a paper at the Northwest Anthropological Conference in April 1992.
Principal Investigator: Human Systems Research, Inc., Las Cruces, NM , September 1993 to December 1994. I directed a contract for a 6,000-acre archeological survey of selected parcels of land on Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. It included administration of monies, personnel, and analysis of cultural resources for designated lands which include prehistoric and Post Cold War historic facilities on the base. I prepared five reports on the investigations.
Proposal Consultant: 1994 I have prepared proposals and budgets for archeological projects within the Southern New Mexico area for various cultural resources management firms, including Human Systems Research, Inc. and Geo-Marine, Inc. I also prepared an ethnographic proposal on Traditional Cultural Properties on the Navajo Reservation for P-III Associates.
Senior Archaeologist: Batcho & Kauffman Associates, Las Cruces, NM: October 1989 to August 1991.
As senior archaeologist, I was responsible for all phases of cultural resources compliance for clients of the firm in southern New Mexico and west Texas, including a large project along the border at Santa Teresa, NM. I served as Principal Investigator on several survey and excavation projects for the firm. My duties included the preparation of Programmatic Agreements (PA), research designs, and data recovery plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Bureau of Reclamation overviews and cultural resource surveys, Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) permits, US Army COE Section 404 permits, research and museum curation agreements. I coordinated state and federal projects with both the New Mexico and Texas State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. I was the Project Director for the excavation of a 17th century historic mission site at Ysleta del Sur, Texas. My job required excellent communication skills and extensive knowledge of federal and New Mexico and Texas cultural resource laws and regulations.
Archaeologist: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District, Albuquerque, NM, August 1987 to September 1989. My major duties involved all phases of cultural resource compliance for the Environmental Section of the Albuquerque District which included NM, southern Colorado, eastern Arizona and west Texas. This work included preparation of scopes of work for data recovery plans, technical contract proposal evaluation, historic properties management plans, preparation of Memoranda of Agreement, and review of archeological reports.
Archaeologist: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District, Albuquerque, NM, August 1987 to September 1989. (continued)
I received a commendation for the permitting of a particularly complex and controversial project. I coordinated with the New Mexico and Texas SHPOs, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and negotiated with a Native American tribe on human burial remains. My daily work demanded detailed knowledge of all relevant cultural resources regulations and laws including the National Environmental Policy Act and the National
Archaeologist: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District, Albuquerque, NM, August 1987 to September 1989 - continued
Historic Preservation Act. I prepared a plan for COE District collections housed at various curation facilities according to 36 CFR Part 79.
Contract Liaison: GBFEL-TIE Project, White Sands Missile Range, Office of Contract Archeology (OCA), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, May 1987 to June 1987. For two months, I served as a liaison between OCA, the U.S. Army at White Sands, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project involved multi-phase fieldwork for a one million dollar archaeological contract for the construction of military facilities.
Project Director: Santa Teresa Border Crossing, Office of Contract Archeology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, September 1986 to May 1987. I directed a nine-member crew of archaeologists in excavating 40 features in the New Mexico portion of a land exchange near El Paso, Texas at the international border crossing. This was a several hundred thousand dollar contract with the BLM for which I produced a final report titled Prehistoric Land Use in the Southern Mesilla Bolson, UNM Press 1987.
Program Director: Cañoncito Historic Project/Cañoncito Navajo Band, Cañoncito, NM, June 1986 to May 1987. I wrote a grant funded by the New Mexico Humanities Council to document historical and community events with the Cañoncito Band. The project produced a series of videos of events and activities which were considered significant by the community, especially the elders. I taught Navajo high school trainees video and photographic skills and how to collect oral histories at historic sites.
Research Archaeologist: Office of Contract Archeology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, June to September 1986. I was contracted to research Native American sites on Coal Lease Land of the BLM on reservations from Zuni to La Plata. I analyzed ethnographic and archeological reports for sites with possible ceremonial significance.
Owner and Principal Investigator: Archeological Research Consultants (ARC), Las Cruces, NM, 1982- Present. I currently hold an Archaeological Survey Permit for all state and state trust lands in New Mexico. In 1982 I started my own archeological consulting business. As Principal Investigator, I have successfully negotiated CRM contracts with various oil, gas, utility, geological, development, and engineering firms as well as several Native American groups. These contracts included proposal writing, field survey, supervision of employees, and production of cultural resource reports for the following companies: Jemez Electric Co-op, Cuba, NM; Stratigraphic Geophysical, Inc., Denver, CO;
Owner and Principal Investigator: Archeological Research Consultants (ARC), Las Cruces, NM, 1982- Present (continued)
Sandbar, Inc., McCune, KS; Capital Oil and Gas, Kilgore, TX; MCI Communications, Dallas, TX; La Luz del Sol, Albuquerque, NM; San Luis Water Association, San Luis NM; Wilson and Company Engineers, Albuquerque, NM; Scanlon and Associates, Albuquerque, NM and Carcross Indian Band, Carcross Yukon, Canada.In 1982, I directed the collection and evaluation of known previous historical, ethnographic, and archeological research of the large historic trading and fishing village used by the Champagne/Aishihik band in the southwest Yukon, Canada This multi-phase study was begun in 1979 as the Neskatahin Village Preservation Project (NVPP) for Champagne Aishihik band who, within the last year, received the area as a part of a land claims agreement. One final goal of this project involved
Owner and Principal Investigator: Archeological Research Consultants (ARC), Las Cruces, NM, 1982- Present. – continued
the development of a Heritage Resources Management Plan. In March of 1991, I was an Oral History Workshop Facilitator for the Champagne/Aishihik First Nations in Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. In 1990, I conducted a two week workshop in collecting historic data and oral history for land claims for the Carcross Band, Yukon, Canada. Since 2002 I am writing an oral history of a First Nations Elder, Marge Jackson.
Assistant to Curator - Chaco Canyon National Monument Collection, Maxwell Museum, UNM Albuquerque, NM. 1986 . I inventoried prehistoric artifacts in museum collections.
Project Director - Kaiser Steel Corporation. Summer.1982 Completed archeological survey in excavation of historic and prehistoric sites for lands in Raton, NM. Completed site reports and a history of Colfax County as part of the final compliance document.
Project Director, BLM Rio Puerco Resource Areas, Albquerque, NM. July - October 1980. Directed an archaeological survey of 6,000 acres of BLM lands along the Rio Puerco. I created the sampling design and supervised nine archaeologists in field survey.
Archaeologist, Division of Conservation Archeology, Bloomfield, NM. Summer 1979. I conducted archeological clearance surveys
Consultant 1979, Louis Berger and Associates, Orange, NJ, on a proposal for an archeological and ethnographic survey of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory.
Consultant 1979, Carcross Indian Band, Yukon, Canada. I directed a three week workshop on cultural resource management for the Carcross Indian Band, in the Yukon Canada. I worked with elders and tribal officials in preparing a grant proposal to locate historic sites using Native consultants for land claims negotiations.
Archaeologist 1978 - 1984, University of New Mexico (UNM), Office of Contract Archeology(OCA), Albuquerque. I conducted various archeological surveys for the Office of Contract Archeology, UNM, Albuquerque, NM.
Research Assistant 1978 - 1979, OCA at UNM Cochiti Reservoir Project. I prepared an analysis of excavated sites and helped to edit Volumes 3 and 4 of Archeological Investigations in Cochiti Reservoir, UNM Press, 1979.
Director of the Faunal Laboratory for UNM Archeological Field School Summer 1979 at Tijeras Canyon for Dr. Linda Cordell,
GRANTS AND PROPOSALS
2000 - Grant, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NASA), Travel and Research Grant for anthropological studies on Space Heritage with Dr. Jon Hunner and two graduate students
1998 - Proposal written in response to RFP for Fort Bliss Military Reservation, Texas for cultural resource management, Anthropology Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso.