Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Texas A&M-San Antonio
Michael J. O’Brien was born in Houston in 1950 and graduated from St. Thomas High School in Houston in 1968.
His undergraduate degree is from Rice University (1972) and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin (1977). After graduation he served as a research associate at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln until 1980, when he joined the University of Missouri as an assistant professor of anthropology and director of the American Archaeology Division, the research arm of the anthropology department. He became director of the Museum of Anthropology several years later and joined the College of Arts and Science dean’s office as associate dean for research. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 1989 and became dean of arts and science in 2006 following a national search.
O’Brien is best known for his work in evolutionary archaeology and biology and has authored or edited 26 books and written over 150 articles, which have appeared in journals such as Science, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Journal of Human Evolution, and Journal of Theoretical Biology. O’Brien and his wife, Gloria, have five grown children and a rather lazy cat, Marley.
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