Judith A. Bense


Judith Ann Bense is an American academic, Florida historical archaeologist, and a former president of the University of West Florida. She is also the chairwoman of the At the University of West Florida, she served as a faculty member and department chair in the anthropology program, which she started at the school. In 2008, she started her 7-year term as president of the university. Prior to this promotion, she was the former executive director of anthropology and archaeology at UWF. During her career, she was fundamental in drafting the legislation to create the Florida Public Archaeology Network .

Early life

Bense was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Panama City, Florida, where she lived on her family’s dairy farm with both parents and two brothers. By the time she was eight, she knew she wanted to be an archaeologist, a decision heavily influenced by family trips to historical state parks. She attended Panama City’s Bay High School and graduated in 1963.

Education

Bense graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1967. She then went on to receive her master's in anthropology with a focus on archaeology from this institution in 1969. Her Master’s thesis research, working with David S. Phelps, focused on a Late Woodland shell ring located in Wakulla County, Florida. Phelps's personal work on colonial period Spanish sites was influential to Bense and is reflected in her later career focus on this period. After graduated from FSU in 1969, Bense and took a job in Cultural Resource Management working for the Florida Division of Archives, History, and Records Management on the Interstate 10 survey. Later that same year, Bense went on to receive her Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington State University in 1972. At WSU, Bense worked with prominent archaeologist Richard Daugherty and her advisor Frank C. Leonhardy. Her dissertation research focused on prehistoric climate change along the lower Snake River. In 1972, Bense graduated at 27 years old and moved back to Florida to help take care of her family in the light of both her parent’s passing, her father in 1967 and mother in 1972.

Early Career in Archaeology

After graduating with her doctoral degree, Bense spent the next five years focusing on business endeavors related to her family’s north Florida farm. In 1977, she began teaching anthropology and archaeology classes at UWF and taught an archaeology field school at Kings Point site, St. Andrews Bay, Florida. This was the first field school ever taught by UWF. Next, Bense headed the cultural resource reconnaissance of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Florida Gulf Coast from 1977–1978. This project was immediately followed by a mitigation project in Mobile, Alabama, and a testing project along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Mississippi. The last project led her to be appointed as a senior research archaeologist for the Office of Archaeological Research at the University of Alabama. In this position she managed numerous large projects. The reports of which are all available on the list of and speak to the extensive nature of projects on which she served as the lead archaeologist or principal investigator.

University of West Florida Anthropology Program

While Bense enjoyed both teaching and research she was turned off by large university departments such as the ones she had experienced at FSU, WSU, and then again at the University of Alabama. She made a deal with UWF to bring her CRM contracts to the school if they agreed to allow her to establish an anthropology program. In 1980, Bense started the WSU anthropology department as well as a research unit, the UWF Archaeology Institute.
In 1988, she received tenure and became a full professor eight years later in 1994. In 1991, she collaborated with the UWF History department to create a master’s program in historical archaeology. In 2000, she became the department chair and introduced a master’s program in anthropology two years later.

Public Archaeology in the Florida Panhandle

Her true passions were ignited in 1984 when a new city hall was constructed in downtown Pensacola and in the process unearthed and destroyed some of the town’s colonial history. Bense led a short salvage project and in the process recognized the importance of educating local community members and leaders about the archaeological and historical resources in their very backyard. As downtown Pensacola underwent an urban renewal, a massive urban archaeology project headed by Bense was started to preserve and detail the Spanish and British colonial history of the city.
Later that same year, Bense worked with Gulf Power on another massive public archaeology program. The company was building a new headquarters on a known Middle Woodland period site and a historic African American neighborhood known as Hawkshaw. Although the company was not under obligation, Bense was able to conduct archaeological excavations for two years. The information was accessible to the public through a series of programs, publications, and exhibits. Bense and Gulf Power were awarded the National Public Service Award from the Department of the Interior for the project in 1986, making the Hawkshaw project the first archaeology venture to be bestowed this honor.
Cultural Resource Management or Public Archaeology became a mainstay in Pensacola culture over the next few decades. Excavations were undertaken at the Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola, British Fort of Pensacola, the Spanish Town of Pensacola, the Spanish Presidio Santa María de Galve on the Naval Air Station, and the Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa on the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Because of the focus on disseminating this information to the general public, both public interest and knowledge in Pensacola’s heritage grew.

Underwater Archaeology at UWF

In the early 1990s, the Pensacola Shipwreck Survey was conducted for the Bureau of Archaeological Research and uncovered a 16th century Spanish shipwreck, named the Emanuel Point, off the shoreline. In 1997, BAR and UWF Anthropology partnered together to finish the excavation. Following this, Bense decided that underwater archaeology needed to be incorporated into the UWF curriculum. She felt strongly that underwater resources in the area needed equal attention. In 1999, UWF began excavating the remains of frigate and flagship of the Spanish Windward Fleet names the Rosario.

Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN)

In 2004, Bense worked alongside other CRM professionals and public archaeologists to write the legislature and obtain funding to start the Florida Public Archaeology Network This program is housed out of UWF but has offices and representations throughout the state of Florida. Employees and volunteers raise awareness of Florida archaeology through public outreach, work with local government to protect and curate cultural resources, and provide assistance to the .

Unearthing Florida Public Radio Show

When Bense began doing public archaeology within both the Pensacola community and the broader state of Florida, she recognized that the information could be distributed in multiple ways to the public. She started a radio show through the UWF NPR channel called Unearthing Pensacola. The show has now morphed and discusses more broadly Florida historical archaeology and is produced under the name

Service

Bense has provided significant service as well to the archaeological community. She served from 1984-1999 on the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Society of American Archaeology’s ; as the conference chair for the in 1984 and 1999 and their board of directors from 1980-1985 and 1997-1999; vice president of the from 1992-1993; from 1995-1997 on the Florida Archaeological Council’s board of directors; chair of the Stewards of Heritage Awards Committee from 1994-1995; and on the Florida Archaeological Week Committee in 1993.

UWF Presidency (2008-2016)

Bense was appointed interim president of the University of West Florida in 2008 and served until 2016. She was not only the first woman president of the college but also the first anthropologist to become the president of a public university in the US. She had taken her approach of involving the community in archaeology to her position as president in which she has sought to involve and embed the UWF community within the community of Pensacola. During her time as president, she was able to secure a grant to fully fund and establish a football program at the school.

Awards