Bass III, William M.

Basic Biographical Information

Education and Professorships

Dr. William “Bill” Bass (Fig. 1) was born in 1928 and raised in Virginia, receiving a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Virginia and his MS in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky. He had already earned two university teaching positions in departments of anthropology a year and a half prior to completion of his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. These appointments were Instructorships at the Universities of Nebraska and Kansas. Bass’s graduate mentors, Drs. Charles Snow and Wilton Krogman, heavily influenced him throughout his career. With the Ph.D., he earned Assistant, Associate, and full Professorships during his tenure at Kansas from 1961 to 1971. He came to the University of Tennessee in 1971 to head the Department of Anthropology and develop a graduate program, remaining chairperson until 1992. Bass became Professor Emeritus in 1998, after 6 years as Professor and Director of the...