Brooks, Sheilagh (1923-2008)

Forensic anthropologist Sheilagh Thompson Brooks was born in California on December 10, 1923. She completed her doctorate in physical sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1951, becoming the first woman to do so. She married archaeologist Richard Brooks in 1951 and the couple had two daughters, Kathleen and Carolyn.

Sheilagh Brooks taught at various colleges throughout the western United States, including teaching summer courses at Nevada Southern University (later the University of Nevada, Las Vegas). She began teaching full-time at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1963. In 1966, the Brooks family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where Sheilagh became the first full-time professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

In addition to teaching, Brooks was involved in historic and archaeological preservation efforts in Nevada. She is noted for leading a forensic study in the 1970s of the Kiel Ranch murders. Brooks became a board member of the Nevada Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology in 1978. She received both the Distinguished Faculty Award and Distinguished Professor Award from UNLV in the 1980s. Sheilagh Brooks died on February 3, 2008. UNLV honored her by creating the Sheilagh Brooks Osteology Research Laboratory in 2011.

Sources:

Women in Nevada History. “Sheilagh Brooks.” Accessed September 18, 2025. https://womennvhistory.org/portfolio/sheilagh-brooks/