Professional Involvement: Richard Stamps was raised in a multi-ethnic community in California where he developed an early interest in peoples and cultures. After two years of junior college, he traveled in 1962 to Hong Kong and then Taiwan, the Republic of China, where he served as a missionary for the Mormon Church for two and a half years.
Returning to the States in 1965, he pursued his education in Anthropology/Archaeology and Asian Studies. His archaeological studies took him to study the Yurok Indians in California, the Fremont Culture in central Utah, the Anasazi Culture in the American Southwest, the Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the neolithic cultures of central Taiwan, the Yami of Orchid Island, the Silk Road of Central Asia, various prehistoric cultures in Michigan and 19th century historic sites in Michigan and Illinois. Richard has pursued purely academic as well as applied research. He authored or co-authored 35 research reports reviewed by the State Archaeologist’s office that summarized the results of various contract projects. These contract projects provided on the job work experience for his students. His work directing excavations at the boyhood home of Thomas Edison in Port Huron, Michigan, between 1976 and 1994, was an example of successfully blending teaching, research and community service (paper presented at the Society of Applied Anthropology Annual meetings 1992).
Professor Stamps also has a passion for China and things Chinese. He has lived and traveled in China for 7 of the past 40 years. He has made 18 trips to China with side visits to Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Soviet Central Asia. On thirteen occasions he has led study tours to China.
Professor Stamps is strongly committed to teaching and is involved with various student organizations. He has won the University Teaching Excellence Award, the student Link award and the Honorary Alumni Award. He is on the Boards of the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, the Clinton Valley Chapter of the Michigan Archaeological Society, and serves as a member of the Rochester Historic Districts Committee and the Oakland County Historical Commission.
Personal:
Married with five children and 17 grandchildren. Professor Stamps is involved in various family, church and community activities.
