Maritime Studies

Dr. Pearl is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Maritime Studies Program at Texas A&M University in Galveston. He has has graduate faculty appointments with the Department of Marine Sciences in Galveston and the Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University in College Station. He received his B.A. from San Diego State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. He joined the faculty of Texas A&M Galveston in 2001. He teaches Archaeology of the Old World, Archaeology of the Pacific, Social and Cultural Anthropology, International Maritime Culture, and Introduction to Museums and Conservation. His current field projects are in American Samoa. He recently wrapped up a field project funded by the National Geographic Society, with ongoing research taking place here in Texas. In 2008 he will be returning to the Pacific for field projects in Samoa and Fiji. He is also working with local foundations to develop an archaeological research program on Galveston Island.

Tom Oertling is a lecturer in the Maritime Studies Program at Texas A&M University at Galveston. He received a BS from Tulane University in Anthropology in 1977, his MA from the Nautical Archaeology program at Texas A&M University in College Station in 1984, and has 30 years of experience in the field.  He has partnered with the A&M's Institute of Nautical Archaeology on numerous projects, most recently in the excavation of the Denbigh, a Civil War blockade runner at the entrance to Galveston Bay, and has extensive experience throughout participated on projects in the U.S., the Caribbean, Canada, Spain and Turkey. Mr. Oertling oversees all aspects of archaeological conservation in the Galveston Archaeological Laboratory (GARL) and he teaches Introduction to Archaeology, Nautical Archaeology of the Americas, Texas Maritime Cultural History and the Elissa Sail Training Course.

Daniel Traber is an Associate Professor in the Maritime Studies Program at Texas A&M University. Dr. Traber specializes in American Literature, Post-Modernism, and Cultural Studies (pop-culture, film, and media studies). He has been a member of the faculty since 2001. He teaches Introduction to Literature, American Literature, Introduction to Cultural Studies, and Melville.

Carol Bunch Davis joined the General Academics faculty as a lecturer in English in the Fall of 2003.  She received a B.A. in Communication from Trinity University, an M.A. in Literature from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a Ph.D. in English (Film, Literature and Culture) from the University of Southern California. Dr. Bunch-Davis teaches Rhetoric and Composition, Introduction to Literature, African American Literature, and Research Writing in Maritime Studies.