Dr. Dale F. Simpson Jr.

Dr. Dale F. Simpson Jr.

Dr. Dale F. Simpson Jr. (Ph.D. M.A., Postgrad Dip., B.A) is an anthropological archaeologist who specializes in Pacific anthropology, but is well–versed in North and South American archaeology.

He has conducted investigations in the U.S., Canada, Russia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Australia, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Dr. Simpson is the director of the Rapa Nui Geochemical Project and Illinois Simpson Archaeology. He is also associated with research institutions such as The Field Museum of Natural History (Integrative Research Laboratory), The Warrenville Historical Society Museum, and The Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum (Rapa Nui – Easter Island).

During his 11 years at the College of DuPage (COD), Dr. Simpson has been nominated as both full-time (2010-2011) and part-time (2012-2013) faculty member of the year, teaching almost 75 anthropology sections for thousands of students at COD (and Malcolm X College). He has also conducted and participated in multiple educational outreach programs throughout the world, including on Rapa Nui and in the U.S. and Australia. Twice, Dr. Simpson has been featured in COD’s Celebrating Our Own Symposium (2010, 2015), he was awarded a COD Global Initiative Grant to participate in Harvard’s Pacific Histories Conference (2012), he was awarded a COD Online Course Development Grant to create Anthropology 1130 – People and cultures of the Pacific, and has presented numerous lectures and activities for COD, the Warrenville Historical Society, and the Illinois Speaker’s Bureau. Noted presentations include COD’s STEMCOM (2018, 2021) and the Closing Lecture for the 8th Annual Responsible Conduct of Research and Academic Integrity Conference (2018).

As a researcher, Dr. Simpson has focused on Rapa Nui since 2001, and has extensively presented and published about the island’s anthropology, archaeology, geochemistry, material culture, and monumental architecture. From 2013–2017, Dale was a Centennial Scholar at the University of Queensland, where his recently completed Ph.D. (2019) concentrated on ancient Rapa Nui economic, ideological, and sociopolitical interaction, as documented by the movement of archaeological basalt from geological sources to domestic and ceremonial sites. Results from this research were showcased in over 200 media, online, and news outlets, for example, by the BBC, Smithsonian, CNN, Newsweek, Archaeology Magazine, New Scientist, and Live Science.

Dale has also appeared as a host on History Channel’s FOUND program (2015) and as a contributor for Science channel’s What on Earth program (2020). He has recently filmed on Rapa Nui for ICON Fitness (2020), making educational workout videos for exercise machines, and for RMC Production, making a documentary about ancient Rapanui architecture (2020).

During his youth, Dale was an accomplished Cub and Boy Scout, an All–American and Illinois state champ in Greco–Roman wrestling, and an all–academic athlete. He loves to visit museums, fish, travel, high–adventure exploration, juggling, and playing Frisbee.