It is with deep sadness that we inform you about the passing of Allen Archer (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/allen-archer-obituary?id=36219876).
Dr. Allen Archer has been an active member of the department of Geology for 27 years, until he retired in Fall 2015.
Allen received a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University in 1976 and a Master’s of Science degree from Indiana University in 1979. He earned his PhD in 1983, also from Indiana University. Dr. Archer was hired as an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University in 1989 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996. Allen contributed to the success of the Department of Geology in a variety of ways. He taught classes in sedimentation and stratigraphy and served as faculty advisor for several undergraduate geology clubs. He also helped lead the way in translating introductory geology courses into the online environment.
Dr. Archer was well known for his research on modern and ancient hypertidal depositional systems, an interest that grew out of trying to understand the structures within shales that cause shale slopes to fail. He has made seven trips of the mouth of the Amazon River (1989 – 2008), six trips to the Cook Inlet area of south-central Alaska (2001 – 2008), four trips to Europe (1989-2012 to examine high tidal areas in the Severn Estuary and around Mont Saint Michel in France. He has also conducted field work in Shanghai, China (2001 – 2005) and six trips to Patagonia (2002) along the Atlantic coast of southern Argentina.