September 21-22, 2000
ITEM 108-2003-R0900������ Authorization
to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Anthropology upon Dr. Tom E. Roll;
Montana State University-Bozeman
THAT:����������������������������������� Upon
the occasion of the retirement of Thomas E. Roll from the faculty of Montana
State University, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for
his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of
the State of Montana.
EXPLANATION:����������������� Dr.
Roll received his undergraduate degree from the University of� Montana (Missoula) in 1962.� He completed his work for a Master of Arts
degree in Anthropology at the University of Nebraska in 1968, and received a
Ph.D. in Anthropology from Washington State University in 1974.� His professional training and research
specialization lie in the archaeological study of ancient peoples and cultures
of western North America.
Dr. Roll joined the Department of Sociology at Montana State
University as an assistant professor of anthropology in 1971, and was promoted
to Associate Professor of Anthropology in 1978.� He served as Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
from 1994 until
2000.� In addition, Dr. Roll has held an
appointment as an Associate Curator of Anthropology, Museum of the Rockies
since 1976.
Dr. Roll has been the
core member of the anthropology teaching faculty at Montana State University
for much of his career.� During this
time he has taught anthropology to over 8,500 MSU undergraduate students.� More than 7,100 of these students have been
introduced to the discipline in his popular course Introduction to
Anthropology.� In all, Dr. Roll has
taught more than twenty different introductory and advanced undergraduate
anthropology courses, and he has received high praise for his teaching at all
levels.� Students have benefitted
greatly from Dr. Roll's courses on Old
World Prehistory and Native North America, and they reserve the
highest praise for Dr. Roll's innovative and
inspiring Replicative Studies Seminar, which provides students with
hands-on experience in stone tool manufacture and analysis.� In addition to Dr. Roll's archaeological expertise, for many years he also taught Physical
Anthropology and the full array of cultural anthropology courses, including
Social and Cultural Anthropology, Language and Culture, Descriptive
Linguistics, Social Organization, and Anthropological Theory.� Dr. Roll's courses have been the most
popular anthropology courses offered at the university. Throughout his teaching
career Dr. Roll's courses set a high standard for the anthropology program and,
at the same time, the courses were quite well received by students.� Twice he received an Award of Excellence in
teaching from the Montana State University Alumni Association and Bozeman
Chamber of Commerce, at the instigation of his students.� He has had an enduring influence on a number
of MSU anthropology undergraduates who went on to pursue graduate degrees in
this discipline.� In short, Dr. Roll has
been the single most important person to establish and maintain a high quality
anthropology program at Montana State University.
As a scholar and
professional archaeologist, Dr. Roll has made important contributions to a
better understanding of prehistoric Plains Indian bison hunting, Plains tipi
ring studies, and aboriginal lifestyles and adaptations in the Rocky Mountains
of northwestern Montana.� The
exceptional quality and importance of Dr. Roll's archaeological investigations
along the Kootenai River and Koocanusa Reservoir in northwestern Montana led to
an invitation to co-author an article for the Smithsonian Institution's seminal
series the Handbook of North American Indians (Volume 12: Plateau).� Dr. Roll has become a leading authority on
Montana bison kill sites, having conducted extensive investigations at more
such sites in Montana than any other professional archaeologist.� His earliest investigations took place at
the Bootlegger Trail bison kill on the south shore of Lake Elwell in
north-central Montana, where he carried out large scale, meticulous excavations
in 1975 and 1976.� The results of that
research continue to provide a foundation for the development of new knowledge
about bison hunting through comparisons to sites he has subsequently excavated.� These include the Seline bison kill in
eastern Montana, Ulm Pishkun bison kill in north-central Montana, and the
Yonkee bison kill in southeastern Montana.�
The new knowledge on bison hunting stemming from Dr. Roll's research has
been of� considerable significance for
archaeologists throughout the Great Plains of North America.
Much of Dr. Roll's archaeological research has
been implemented in order to assist federal and state agencies such as the
Bureau of Land Management and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife &
Parks fulfill their cultural resources management responsibilities.� He has been very successful at conducting
high quality scientific research in this context.
In addition to his accomplishments in Montana
prehistory, Dr. Roll has made significant contributions to the archaeology of
Late Prehistoric Period cultures of the Pacific coast in Washington and
Oregon.� Through his own extensive
excavations at the Minard archaeological site and comparisons with other
coastal sites, his research has clarified the range and diversity of adaptive
strategies and forms of social organization, and the geographic distributions
of these cultural systems in this region.
Dr. Roll currently maintains active
archaeological research interests and has an ongoing research agenda.� He is nearing completion of several research
projects, and recently has negotiated with the Bureau of Land Management to
begin field research at a very extensive prehistoric stone quarry near White
Sulphur Springs, Montana, where ancient Native Peoples procured chert from
which they made tools integral to their livelihood.� Dr. Roll's future projects will continue his longstanding
tradition of providing first-rate learning opportunities for MSU anthropology
students.
Throughout his career, Dr. Roll has engaged in
numerous public outreach activities that have reflected well on MSU and that
have strongly benefited the public.� He
has given generously of his time and expertise for many years to teach students
from grade school through Elderhostel about the joys and trials of
anthropology.� He has delivered
countless slide lectures on Montana prehistory at communities throughout the
state.� He held an appointment to the
Governor's Preservation Review Board from 1979 through 1985.� More recently, Dr. Roll served as an advisor
to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Parks as they developed an
archaeological interpretive display on bison hunting by prehistoric Native
American peoples at� Ulm Pishkun State
Park Visitor Center.� Dr. Roll truly
exemplifies a life of service to anthropology in Montana, on the Great
Plains/Rocky Mountains and in the Pacific Northwest.� His record of achievement as a teacher at Montana State
University is unmatched and his many contributions to the pursuit of
anthropology and the promotion of archaeology to the people of the state of
Montana warrant the recognition of emeritus status.�
For these and other contributions, the Board of
Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer upon Dr. Tom E. Roll the rank
of Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Montana State University and wishes
him well for many pleasant years in the future.�