Gordon F.M. Rakita

Gordon F.M. Rakita is a bioarchaeologist and Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work. He also serves as Associate Vice President for Faculty Excellence & Academic Engagement. Prior to joining the faculty at UNF in 2003, he was Principal Investigator and Analytical Director for SWCA Environmental Consultants of Flagstaff, Arizona. He earned his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico. In 2016, he was named the junior laureate of the Lloyd Cotsen Prize for Lifetime Achievement in World Archaeology and he is UNF's 2020 Distinguished Professor. His work focuses on bioarchaeology, anthropological approaches to mortuary and other ritual behavior, emergent social inequality and complexity, analytical data management and statistical analyses, and evolutionary theory.