Patricia Joan O'Brien

Dr. Patricia J. O’Brien—Pat, usually—was Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Pat was born in Chicago, Illinois, and began her working career at Illinois Bell Telephone Company following her high school graduation in 1953. Taking night classes at Wright Junior College in Chicago, she completed an Associate of Arts degree in 1960. After completing a B.A. in anthropology at the University of Illinois-Urbana (1962), Pat accepted a research assistant position at the University of Illinois-Urbana and entered its graduate program in anthropology. In 1967, she joined the faculty at Kansas State University. In 1969, Pat successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “A Formal Analysis of Cahokia Ceramics: Powell Tract” (1972), a monograph published by the Illinois Archaeological Survey.

Pat regularly taught KSU's archaeological field school, and in 1984 she published Archaeology in Kansas, a book still used today. Ceramics remained one of Pat's principal interests, and Cahokia was the touchstone to her for her enduring interests in anthropological archaeology. After 30 years of teaching archaeology and receiving numerous awards, she retired as Professor emeritus in 1998. After her retirement, Pat researched the architectural history of Manhattan, Kansas, publishing Architects and Buildings of Manhattan, Kansas (2008) with the Riley County Historical Society. Her expertise on the subject supported her renovation of an older apartment building in Manhattan where she lived.

Source: Society for American Archeology