Alan C. Swedlund (born 1943) is a biological anthropologist and Emeritus Professor at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

. Early in his career he was an assistant professor at

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona. History In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering. The college was originall ...

, Prescott, AZ. His research focuses primarily on the history of the human population, and on health and disease. He is the author of ''Shadows in the Valley: A cultural history of Illness, Death and Loss in New England, 1840-1916''.

Early life and education

Swedlund was born in Sacramento, CA and grew up in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

Career

Swedlund was hired as

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1974 and joined George Armelagos in developing a curriculum and Ph.D. degree in biological anthropology. Swedlund served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology from 1990 to 1995, completed his academic career at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the Department.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swedlund, Alan American anthropologists University of Colorado Boulder alumni 1943 births Living people University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty