Years at Knox: 1973 to present

Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, 1975, Indiana University
M.A., Anthropology, 1972, Indiana University
B.A., Anthropology, 1967, Wichita State University

Professional Interests
"I've always been an incorrigible generalist with a strong interest in how the various fields of knowledge relate to one another and to the big questions of human existence. One of my current teaching and research interests is in how cultures develop popular myths and art forms to define their 'authentic' heritage in a world that is also aware of other cultures."

Teaching Interests
Human evolution, American culture, American Indians, utopian societies, myth and folklore

Recent Scholarly Achievements
Publications
Deep Space and Sacred Time: Star Trek in the American Mythos. With J. Lundeen. Praeger Publishers, 1998.

"The Bishop Hill Colony." America's Communal Societies, 1997.

Politics and Change in the Middle East. Co-authored with Knox faculty Roy Andersen and Robert Seibert. Prentice-Hall; eighth edition, 2006.

Presentations
"Evolutionary Anthropology in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Potentials, Challenges and Strategies for the 21st Century." 84th Annual meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Minneapolis, MN, 2007.

The Uses of Field Stations in Teaching Across the Curriculum.  PEW Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium conference, Effective Use of a Field Station for Undergraduate Education in a Changing Liberal Arts College Environment, Green Oaks Biological Field Station, 2005.

Field Director, ACM Tanzania Program in Human Evolution and Ecology, 1999

Grant-funded travel and study in Malaysia, Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as part of an interdisciplinary Knox team teaching and writing about Islam

Contact
309-341-7433 
jwagner@knox.edu

What Students Say
"Professor Wagner pushes you to do your best.  He expects you to know your material well and be able to think critically about it.  He wants to challenge what you think you know. Professor Wagner is very concerned with how well his students are doing. He always makes himself available and receptive to students and their comments."
—Crystle D. Clark, Sociology-Anthropology and Spanish Major