James
Callaghan is a Board Member of Kaxil Kiuic, A.C. and
is the Director of Kaxil Kiuic's Biocultural Reserve.
He has been a resident of Merida, Yucatan since 1970
and his experience includes: M.A. in Anthropology,
Founding Director of Mayab University's Institute
of Maya Culture 1988-1992, Founding Director UADY's
(Autonomus University of Yucatan) Non-Profit Organization,
Professor of Maya Civilization for Study Abroad Programs
since 1991. Mr. Callaghan's goal is to put Kaxil Kiuic's
Biocultural Reserve on the map internationally as
a model for research-based development and management
of biocultural resources. Kiuic is uniquely rich in
flora, fauna and cultural history. Mr. Callaghan sees
Kaxil Kiuic as an interactive project which continues
to grow based on links between the local community,
state and federal entities (both governmental and
private), and educational institutions in Mexico and
abroad. He also feels his work gives him an opportunity
to give back to the community in which he lives and
help provide a rich future for his and all children.
Tomás
Gallareta
Negrón is
an internationally known archaeologist, who has conducted
research for Mexico's INAH in the Northern Maya Lowlands,
for over 25 years. He has worked at such important
Maya sites as Cobá, Uxmal, Chichen Itzá,
and Isla Cerritos. A former Chairman of the Archaeology
Section of INAH in Yucatán, and member of the
National Council of Archaeology in Mexico, he is currently
the Director of the Labná and Xocnaceh archaeological
projects. The idea to create Kaxil Kiuic grew out
his desire to undertake a new way of doing archaeology
in Mexico that considers the biological and cultural
resources as well as the archaeological remains. Born
in Yucatán, Mexico, Tomás is co-Director,
with William Ringle and George Bey, of the Kiuic-Labná
Region Project, and the main representative of Kaxil
Kiuic in México.
George
Bey is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Millsaps
College where he also serves as the Associate Dean
of Sciences. He is also an associate research fellow
of the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane
University. He graduated from the University of New
Mexico in 1977 with a double major in English and
Anthropology. He received his M.A. (1984) and Ph.D.
(1986) in Anthropology from Tulane University. Dr.
Bey has worked and taught in northern Yucatan since
1984. He was co-director of the Ek Balam project from
1984-1999 and also developed "Living in Yucatan"
a summer program in environmental citizenship offered
each summer. He presently co-directs the Labna-Kiuic
Regional Archaeological Project with Tomas Gallareta
and William Ringle. He is one of the founders of Kaxil
Kiuic and serves on its board of directors.
William
Ringle is Professor and Chair of the Anthropology
Dept. at Davidson College, Davidson, N.C. He received
his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 1985, where he
wrote his doctoral dissertation on the settlement
patterns of Komchen, Yucatan, a Formative community
north of modern Merida. Since then he has done settlement
mapping at El Mirador, Guatemala and between 1984-1999
he co-directed the Ek Balam Project with George Bey.
Presently he is co-director of the Labna-Kiuic Archaeological
Project, with Bey and Tomas Gallareta, where he has
primary responsibility for the mapping of Kiuic. His
other interests include Maya art and epigraphy, and
the application of computer methods to archaeology.
Sarah
Armstrong is Professor and Chair of the Department
of Biology at Millsaps College and the Director of
Biological Research for Kaxil Kiuic. She received
her B.A. in botany from the University of Texas, Austin,
her M.A. in Biology from UCLA and her Ph.D. in Zoology
from Duke University. Her responsibilities include
organizing and promoting and supervising student research
experiences at the biocultural reserve, as well as
supervising student research projects onsite and coordinating
biological research activities at the reserve. Since
assuming responsibilities for directing biological
research at Kaxil Kiuic, she has presented a number
of papers on the issues and logisitics of developing
an undergraduate field biology program.
John
Hayden grew up on a farm in East Putnam, Connecticut
where much time was spent growing vegetables and ornamental
plants and exploring the nearby woods. He attended
the University of Connecticut where he earned a Bachelors
degree in 1973 with honors in Biological Science.
He then entered the graduate program in Botany at
the University of Maryland, earning first a masters
degree in 1976 and then a PhD in 1980. After a brief
term of employment at the National Science Foundation
(DEB, Systematics), he joined the faculty of the Department
of Biology, University of Richmond in August 1980.
At Richmond, John Hayden has taught courses in general
biology, general botany, plant anatomy, plant morphology,
plant systematics, and tropical marine biology. While
at UR he served as chair of the Department of Biology
for 5 years, he held the D.A. Kuyk endowed chair for
12 years and he continues to curate/manage the herbarium
and greenhouse. Since 2000, he has participated in
Millsaps College's Living in Yucatan course. His research
since graduate school has centered on the anatomy,
morphology, and systematics of plants in the family
Euphorbiaceae. Other research projects pursued at
Richmond include several floristic inventories and
one current research project is the compilation of
an inventory of the vascular plants at the Helen Moyers
Biocultural Reserve at Rancho Kiuic, Yucatan. He is
also studying many species of Euphorbiaceae from the
Yucatan peninsula for various ongoing floristic projects.
