Anthropology Department

Dr. Beth Shook

Curriculum Vitae: Beth Shook (PDF)

Education

2005 University of California, Davis Ph.D. Anthropology

1999 University of California, Davis M.A. Anthropology

1998 Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa B.A. Cultural Anthropology/Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, B.A. Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Shook has been a full-time lecturer at Chico State since 2004. While broadly trained in all four fields of anthropology, she has a research emphasis in molecular anthropology, including "ancient DNA", of Native North America (including California, the Great Basin, Plains, Northeast, and Northwest regions). Research projects have included examining patterns of genetic change over time and space in prehistoric Northeastern North America, identifying the influence of isolation on reservations and First Nations reserves on genetic diversity, and ancestry identification of historic peoples based on their DNA. Additionally, Dr. Shook has done research on DNA preservation and extraction methods to recover ancient DNA.

At Chico State, Dr. Shook has supervised graduate student research projects in forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology, in addition to training many graduate students in teaching pedagogy through the Supervised College Teaching program. She has also been active in programs prioritizing diversity (including the Diversity Academy and the Hispanic Serving Institution FLC) and co-coordinates the Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CALS$) program. Dr. Shook has written an Open Access Biological Anthropology lab book and is the lead editor of the upcoming Open Access textbook: Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology.

Courses Taught

ANTH 111 Introduction to Biological Anthropology

ANTH 113 Human Cultural Diversity

ANTH 116 Power, Violence, and Inequality

ANTH 261/AIST 261 Peoples and Cultures of Native North America

ANTH 301 Biological Anthropology

ANTH 303 Cultural Anthropology

SOSC 303 Cultural Concepts: Human Social Evolution

ANTH 411 Human Origins

ANTH 412 Human Variation

ANTH 485 Formal Methods for Anthropology

ANTH 498 Special Topics

ANTH 601 Seminar in Biological Anthropology

ANTH 698 Supervised College Teaching in Anthropology

ANTH 697 Independent Study

UNIV 101 University Life

Selected Publications

In preparation. Shook, B.A.S., K. Aguilera, K. Nelson, and L. Braff. Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology(opens in new window). This is a peer-reviewed open-access textbook that will be available for downloading as a pdf or as EPub. Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges. 

In preparation. Shook, B.A.S. Genetic Analysis of Individuals Buried in an Unmarked Cemetery in Eureka County, Nevada. In: Forensic and genetic analysis of a historic population from Palisades, Nevada. Monograph.

In Print. Shook, B.A.S. Engaging Students in the Academic Writing Process: The Research Grid. Teaching and Learning Anthropology Journal.

2017. Shook, Beth. Physical Anthropology Lab Manual.

2010. Dewar, G, J.K. Ginter, B.A.S. Shook, N. Ferris, and H. Henderson, F. A bioarchaeological study of a Western Basin tradition cemetery on the Detroit River. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37:2245-2254.

2008. Shook, B.A.S., and D.G. Smith. Using ancient mtDNA to reconstruct the population history of Northeastern North America. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137:14-29.

2004. Bolnick, D.A.W., B.A.S. Shook, L. Campbell, and I. Goddard. Problematic use of Greenberg's linguistic classification of the Americas in studies of Native American genetic variation. American Journal of Human Genetics 75:519-523.

2004. Malhi, R.S., K. Breece, B.A.S. Shook, F.A. Kaestle, J.C. Chatters, S. Hackenberger, and D.G. Smith. Patterns of mtDNA diversity in Northwestern North America. Human Biology 76(1):33-54.

2002. Malhi, R.S., J.A. Eshleman, J.A. Greenberg, D.A. Weiss, B.A. Schultz Shook, F.A. Kaestle, J.G. Lorenz, B.M. Kemp, J.R. Johnson, and D.G. Smith. The structure of diversity within Native North American mitochondrial DNA haplogroups: Implications for the prehistory of North America. American Journal of Human Genetics 70:905-919.

2001. Malhi R.S., B.A. Schultz, and D.G. Smith. Distribution of maternal lineages among Native American tribes of Northeastern North America. Human Biology 73(1):17-55.