Biography

 

Professor James Lett is a general anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, ethnology, and world geography. He was educated at the College of William and Mary (B.A. 1977) and the University of Florida  (M.A. 1980, Ph.D. 1983), and he has taught at several universities, including the University of Florida, the Florida Institute of Technology, Barry University, and the University of Utah. Since 1986, he has taught anthropology and geography at Indian River State College. Dr. Lett served as Chair of the Department of Social Sciences  at IRSC from 1993 to 1998, and he is presently a member of the IRSC Honors Faculty. Dr. Lett also occasionally teaches as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University.
 

Dr. Lett is the author of several works in anthropology and geography, including four books and more than thirty articles in a variety of scholarly and popular publications. He is a Fellow of the American Anthropological Association, where he maintains membership in the General Anthropology Division; he is also a member of the American Association of University Professors  as well as the Southeast Florida Archaeological Society, and he serves on the Executive Council of the Tampa Bay Skeptics.
 

Professor Lett has received several awards for his writing and teaching, including a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year  Award for 1987-88, two Instructional Innovation Awards from Indian River State College, an Academic Excellence Award from StudyWeb®, an Excellence Award for Teaching from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, and the IRSC President's Cup. He was selected as the 1997 Professor of the Year for Indian River State College, and he one of three finalists for the 1997 Professor of the Year for Instructional Excellence Award from the Florida Association of Community Colleges.
 

Dr. Lett was born in 1955 in Augsburg, Germany. He traveled extensively throughout his childhood, living for three years in Nancy, France and nearly a year-and-a-half in Karachi, Pakistan. In 1979, he lived on the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, conducting ethnographic research on the impacts of tourism development.
 

From 1983 to 1986, Dr. Lett worked as a television newscaster, first with PBS-Affiliate WUFT-TV in Gainesville and then with CBS-Affiliate WTVX-TV in Ft. Pierce. He is currently host and producer of a daily one-minute radio spot, Excursions in Geography, which is broadcast Monday through Friday on NPR-Affiliate WQCS-FM.
 

Dr. Lett shares his life with Teresa G. Fischer, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Indian River State College, and a pair of decorative felines named Miss Kitty and Juliette. They live in Palm City, in a house they designed themselves overlooking the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. Their recreational activities include boating, golf, tennis, athletics (running, cycling, & skating), reading, and travel.