Featured Speaker

Dr. William M. Bass

Unfortunately, limited space has necessitated a smaller gathering for the banquet this year. We realize everyone would like to hear Dr. Bass’s talk, but only presenters, their pre-arranged guest, judges, and special invitees will receive a banquet ticket with their name tag at the symposium. Our deepest apologies!

Dr. William M. Bass is a professor emeritus in the Anthropology Department at the University of Tennessee. Crucial to the development of the forensic anthropology specialty shortly after his arrival at the university in 1971, Dr. Bass soon found worldwide fame when he established the Anthropological Research Facility in 1980. This facility, also known as the “Body Farm,” is an outdoor field laboratory wherein scientists explore postmortem changes in the human body in order to better estimate time of death. Dr. Bass’s human identification and skeletal analysis services have proven invaluable for various state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as for Tennessee medical examiners and district attorney offices.

Dr. Bass holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and is a diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. He has been involved in anthropological research and teaching for over 50 years and has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the National Park Service, among others. His excellence has been honored many times over, but notably, he has been named the National Professor of the Year by The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (1985-86), and received the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He was also the seventh recipient of the Adelaide Medal from the International Association of Forensic Sciences for his amazing career in forensic sciences.

More recently, Dr. Bass has embarked on a popular crime mystery writing career, with five completed fiction novels in his Bones series (with author and documentary film-maker Jon Jefferson under the name “Jefferson Bass”); the latest novel, The Bone Thief, had a 2010 release. He also has two non-fiction works and has consulted with author Patricia Cornwell on her best-selling crime novels. Dr. Bass will have books available for sale at the awards banquet.