Archeological sites in progress throughout Texas will be the subject of the next Speakers & Issues Series at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Dillard 101. Guest speaker Joe Rogers will present “A Brief Tour of Texas: Recent Archaeological Investigations around the State.”

Rogers will give an overview of several archaeological operations in progress using recent activities of the Texas Archaeological Society (TAS), the Texas Archaeological Steward Network of the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Tech University archaeology department, and avocational efforts. He will discuss sites of prehistoric Native American cultures from the paleo past to just before European contact, Spanish Colonial interests, the Republic of Texas, an African American presence, recent archaeological efforts in conflict archaeology, and even some marine archeology.

Before teaching history and archaeology part time at West Texas A&M University, Rogers taught history and vocational trades in public schools for more than 30 years. He became interested in archaeology in 2000 while attending a summer field school for the TAS in Marfa, Texas. He is past president of both the TAS and the Panhandle Archeological Society. He also served as TAS Region I director, and as an archaeological steward for the Texas Historical Commission for almost 20 years. He lives in Hereford, Texas, with his wife Cindy.

The next Speakers & Issues guest is Towana Spivey at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU Texas. Spivey will speak about “The Battle for Medicine Bluffs.”

The Speakers and Issues Series began in 2001 with the idea of bringing informed and creative speakers to the academic and municipal communities. Since then, speakers have come to MSU from all corners of the country. It is supported by the Libra Foundation, MSU’s Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Wichita Falls Times Record News, KCCU-FM NPR Radio, and KFDX-TV3.

Admission is free; donations are welcome. Contact Associate Professor of History Whitney Snow for more information.