Jodi Jacobson

Jodi Jacobson, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Email | jodijacobson@txstate.edu

Dr. Jodi Jacobson is the Associate Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies and has over 25 years of experience and progressive responsibility in archeology, historic preservation, and Cultural Resource Management.  She was formally trained as a zooarchaeologist and has conducted faunal analysis on both prehistoric and historic era projects in the Southeastern United States, Texas, and Great Plains. Prior to working at CAS, Dr. Jacobson was employed in a corporate archaeology setting for 10 years serving in progressive roles from Staff Archaeologist, Project Manager, Practice Lead managing all natural and cultural resources staff to a Regional Market Director and National Director of Tower Services.  In that realm, Dr. Jacobson managed not only cultural resource compliance projects, but also projects requiring NEPA documentation,  Section 404 permits including wetland delineations and threatened and endangered species surveys, Phase I ESAs, and critical issues analysis for both public and private clients across many industries including transportation, communication towers, pipeline, renewable energy, power generation and transmission, and other utilities in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, California, Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania. Prior to entering the Corporate world Dr. Jacobson had been employed by other academic institutions, museums, and federal agencies as an archaeologist on all phases of archaeological investigations on multiple projects in Mississippi and Tennessee and conducted research and/or artifact analysis and reporting on projects from Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado. She has conducted  archaeological surveys, testing, and mitigation, detailed artifact analyses, historic resources viewshed surveys, cemetery monitoring and cemetery removal projects in compliance with the Texas Health and Safety Code, coordinating with Native American tribes in compliance with Section 106 (36 CFR 800.4) of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and preparing cultural resource reports. Her practical background in cultural resource management makes it possible for her to bring in diverse projects for both undergraduate and graduate student involvement, and to prepare them to be career-ready for a job in CRM when they leave Texas State.

Since coming to CAS, Dr. Jacobson has managed compliance projects for various Texas municipalities, was awarded a Master Cooperative Agreement with the National Park Service, and has been involved in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects at a facility in Utah. She is also conducting research on contract archaeology projects that involves analyzing evidence on both a micro-site and across broader occupation level for bone grease and marrow processing at numerous north and central Texas sites and utilizing faunal data in to reconstruct past environments and environmental change and its effects on human ecology.   She has a special interest in regulatory and compliance issues and currently serves as the Chair of the Council of Texas Archaeologists Standards and Guidelines Committee.