Information Technology Consult, College of Social Sciences
Volunteer, Anthropology
Volunteer Lecturer Anthropology

Email

Preferred: alan.leventhal@sjsu.edu

Telephone

Preferred: (408) 924-5722

Office Hours

M-F 10:30 - 4:30

Education

• Master of Social Science, Anthropology, CSU-San Jose, California, United States, 1993

Bio

I am a trained archaeologist/anthropologist/ethnohistorian with particular interest in California archaeology and ethnography.  During the early 1970s, I had worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in the Anthropology and Education departments.  I completed my undergraduate degree in Anthropology at City College of New York (CCNY) and continued graduate work at City University of New York and University of Nevada, Reno. 

During the mid-1970s worked as a state archaeologist at the Nevada Archaeological Survey at the University of Nevada, Reno, and taught classes in archaeology and North American Indian cultures there.  In 1978, I briefly worked as a Forest Service Archaeologist in the Lassen National Forest before coming to San Jose State University where I spent nine years in the Department of Anthropology as the Anthropology Lab Director.  I completed my Master’s Thesis at SJSU in Social Sciences with an emphasis in Anthropology/Archaeology.  My thesis was entitled A Reinterpretation of Some Bay Area Shellmound Sites: A View from the Mortuary Complex from CA-ALA-329, the Ryan Mound. 

Presently I work as on the administrative staff as an Information Technology Consultant in the Office of the Dean, College of Social Sciences and I continue to teach as a volunteer lecturer about contemporary Native American Issues in the Urban and Regional Planning Department and topics on advanced methods and theory in Archaeology in the Anthropology Department. 

I have lectured and conducted archaeological investigations in New York, Georgia, Nevada, California and Hawaii.  For the past 29 years I have worked with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Region as a tribal ethnohistorian and archaeologist.  In Indian Affairs I have also worked as a volunteer (1992-1998) on the Congressionally created (HR 2144) Advisory Council on California Indian Policy’s Unrecognized Tribal Task Force and was one of the few advocates for the Previously Federally Recognized Tribes in the state of California. 

I have worked closely with other tribes throughout California as they seek restoration and reaffirmation of their tribal status and has worked as an ethnohistorian and archaeologist for two other previously Federally Recognized tribes: the Amah–Mutsun Tribal Band of Costanoan Indians centered around Mission San Juan Bautista (since 1989) and the Ohlone-Costanoan/Esselen Nation centered around Mission San Carlos in Monterey (since 1992).

I had also served as the chairman of the board from 1980 to 1987 for the M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.O.S. East Side Action Club which was a United Way Agency for inner city youth in downtown San Jose.  I also conducted cultural workshop for recovering Native Americans at the Four Winds Lodge Alcohol Recovery Program.  I am a four year veteran of the 500 Mile American Indian Spiritual Run (1980-1983) and had worked directly with the American Indian Movement. More recently since 2004 I have also served on the American Indian Heritage Celebration planning committee in San Jose.