Board Members

Erik is a field archaeologist and surveyor with experience in Greece, Turkmenistan, and the Americas. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and University College London in Qatar. His primary interests include Mycenaean archaeology and archaeology endangered by conflict.

Pat is a graduate of Metropolitan State University with degrees in Anthropology and Geography, combining this knowledge to work in sustainable development. She has done studies or related fieldwork in varied locations to include Nepal, Costa Rica and Peru. A longtime member of AIA, Pat has been on the AIA Denver Board since 2002.

Aaron holds degrees in history and archaeology. His interests include application of geographic information systems in archaeology and history, Neolithic Europe, the European Bronze Age, the history of archaeology, and the intersection of archaeology and fiction.

M. Dores Cruz graduated from Binghamton University (SUNY) with a Ph.D. in anthropology. Her interests are interdisciplinary and cross both archaeology and socio-cultural anthropology, focusing particularly in archaeology of the recent past, heritage studies and landscape archaeology in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Europe. Her research is cross-disciplinary, intersecting with historical archaeology, African Studies and landscape anthropology, and with special interests in landscapes, colonialism, material culture, and social construction of memory. Her current research focuses in the biography of a landscape in Southern Mozambique during the 19th and 20th centuries.

She has held a number of international teaching and research positions, most recently at the Universities of Cologne and Freiburg (Germany), at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Denver. Currently, Dores is the English editor for Nyame Akuma, the Society for Africanist Archaeologists bulletin.

Dennis Murphy is a long time member of the AIA and an avid “avocational archeologist”. He is focused on the study of ancient water systems, primarily in Southern Turkey, and has presented the results of his work at AIA annual meetings and international conferences. He holds a Liberal Arts Degree from the University of Calif. At Long Beach and is an active member of several European Archaeological Societies (Frontinus Gesellshaft & Deutsche Wasserhistorische Gesellschaft) through which he publishes the results of his studies. When not researching ancient water systems he is engaged in the aerospace industry and is currently a consultant on the NASA Orion Mars Exploration Spacecraft program.

Jim is 1967 graduate of the University of New Mexico where he majored in history with minors in biology and anthropology. He served nearly five years in the United States Navy as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Jim has participated in 16 seasons of archaeological excavation and/or survey work in Calabria, Italy working on Hellenized Italic and Greek sites. He has also served twice as the President of the Denver AIA and presently sits on both the board of directors of the Foundation of Calabrian Archaeology and the board of trustees for the Archaeological Institute of America based in Boston. In addition, he serves on the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Society Committee, Chairman of Outreach Grant sub-Committee, and Nominating Committee for the Archaeological Institute of America. He is a senior vice president of RBC Wealth Management where he oversees a number of investment portfolios.