Joan B. Silk (born December 16, 1953) is an American primatologist, Regents Professor in the

School of Human Evolution and Social Change The Industrial Arts Building on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Arizona, later known as the Anthropology Building and now known as the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, was built in 1914. It was listed on the National Regi ...

(SHESC) at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. Her research interests include evolutionary anthropology, animal behavior, and primatology. Together with her

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

husband,

Robert T. Boyd Robert Turner Boyd (born February 11, 1948) is an American anthropologist. He is professor of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC) at Arizona State University (ASU). His research interests include evolutionary psych ...

(also a professor in the same school), she wrote the textbook ''How Humans Evolved''.

Life

Silk was born in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. She studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

at the

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

, Claremont Colleges, earning a bachelor's degree in 1975. She earned a master's degree in anthropology at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

in 1978 and completed her Ph.D. in anthropology from Davis in 1981. After postdoctoral research in the Department of Biology at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, she became an assistant professor at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

from 1984–1986. From 1986 to 2012, Silk was on the faculty of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Department of Anthropology and served as Department Chair for six years. She is currently a Regents Professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.

Honors and awards

Silk is a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

, a Fellow of the

Animal Behavior Society The Animal Behavior Society is an international non-profit scientific society that encourages and promotes the professional study of animal behavior. It has open membership and also provides a certification and directory for animal behaviorists. T ...

, and a Fellow of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...

Books

Silk is the coauthor or coeditor of: * Boyd, Robert; Silk, Joan B. (2017). ''How Humans Evolved, Eighth Edition.'' W.W. Norton. . * Mitani, John C.; Call, Josep; Palombit, Ryne A.; Silk, Joan B., Eds. (2012). ''The Evolution of Primate Societies.'' . * Kappeler, Peter M.; Silk, Joan B., Eds. (2010). ''Mind the Gap: Tracing the Origins of Human Universals.'' .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silk, Joan 1953 births Living people American mammalogists Women primatologists Primatologists Pitzer College alumni University of California, Davis alumni Emory University faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty Arizona State University faculty 20th-century American zoologists 21st-century American zoologists