{"id":125017,"date":"2026-02-27T11:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125017\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:30:10","slug":"anthropology-professor-dies-at-73-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125017\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropology professor dies at 73 \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Professor<\/a> <\/p>\n

Professor emerita Susan Niles is the only woman to have served as clerk of the faculty for Lafayette College. (Photo Courtesy of Schisler Funeral Home)<\/p>\n

Susan Niles, a former Lafayette College anthropology professor and expert on ancient Incan culture, died on Feb. 17 of an undisclosed illness. She was 73.<\/p>\n

Niles joined the college in 1981, and from 2008 to 2014, she served as the clerk of the faculty \u2014 the first and only woman to hold the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember her warm smile as she greeted colleagues at the door before faculty meetings,\u201d Dean of Faculty Lauren Anderson wrote in an email. \u201cHer leadership shaped not only our meetings, but our sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

An author of four books and an expert in Inca architecture and culture, Niles was a representative of the U.S. government to Peru, dealing with ways to better preserve Andean artifacts. Her work brought her and her students across the globe, returning to ancient Incan architecture and spearheading a study-abroad program in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

In an email, anthropology professor Caroline Lee wrote that Niles \u201cloved shepherding students on study abroad,\u201d and highlighted Niles\u2019 passion for student thesis and EXCEL research.<\/p>\n

Niles spent much of her Lafayette tenure advocating for better conditions for women on campus. She joined several faculty members in penning letters to the editor in 1985 for The Lafayette.<\/p>\n

\u201cLafayette is such a male institution: the pictures in the conference rooms are still all white men; sexist comments are still made about women candidates by male faculty members,\u201d one letter reads.<\/p>\n

Susan Basow, a psychology professor emerita, called Niles \u201ca force of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSharp mind, sharp wit, sharp elbows,\u201d wrote Basow in an email, who was another signatory to the 1985 letters.<\/p>\n

In her time at Lafayette, Niles did everything from teaching popular courses on folklore to advising anthropology theses in archaeological histories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have certain teachers that we always are going to remember and hold everybody else up to a very high standard,\u201d said Alisandra Carmevale \u201806, who worked with Niles on her thesis. \u201cShe\u2019s definitely one of those for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carnevale\u2019s thesis, \u201cShaping History Through Folk Narrative,\u201d was conceived in her first year as a result of Niles\u2019 introductory anthropology class. That next summer, Carnevale received a package containing \u201cThe Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm,\u201d alongside a note from Niles saying she thought Carnevale might find it interesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember being absolutely so touched,\u201d Carnevale said. She added that she still has the collection in her bookshelf.<\/p>\n

Niles also served as a library liaison, working with Skillman Library to fill its anthropological collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell the students with absolute authority if they try to bluff me and say, \u2018We don\u2019t have a book on such-and-such\u2019 that, no, that\u2019s not true; I know we\u2019ve got it because I\u2019ve ordered it,\u201d Niles said in a 1996 interview<\/a> for the library newsletter.<\/p>\n

Outside of research pursuits, Niles also had a knack for the culinary arts, with anthropology professor emeritus Dan Bauer noting that Niles attended the Culinary Institute of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe baked me an incredible chocolate raspberry torte for my 30th birthday,\u201d Lee wrote.<\/p>\n

Bauer visited Peru several times in his research, comparing notes with Niles during their time at the college. The pair eventually formed a strong friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere became a spot that was just Susan\u2019s chair,\u201d Bauer said, with Niles becoming a mainstay at Bauer-hosted meals. \u201cEverybody knew that\u2019s where Susan is going to sit. She\u2019d walk in and sit there and be part of all of our discussions, no matter who it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bauer added that he and his wife would be creating an archeology scholarship with the Chijnaya Foundation, a southern Peru nonprofit, in Niles\u2019 name. He also recounted his discovery of a brass disc in Peru, which, upon his return to the United States, Niles identified as ancient Peruvian tweezers. Bauer plans to make replica tweezers to be buried in Peru.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plan is to have her name on it: Susan Niles, archeologist, 1952 to infinity,\u201d Bauer said. \u201cSo that if somebody found this thing 100 years, 200 years, 300 years from now, as an archeologist and say, \u2018Oh, let me find out what that woman did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Niles\u2019 death was announced in a campus-wide email from college President Nicole Hurd. Hurd noted that plans for a memorial service will be announced through the Lafayette Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Professor emerita Susan Niles is the only woman to have served as clerk of the faculty for Lafayette…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-125017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}