Marianne Stoller, Dec. 13, at age 86. A professor of anthropology from 1969 until her retirement in 1998, Marianne left enduring marks with both her research and her contributions to the Colorado College experience.

She grew up in Colorado’s San Luis Valley and earned a B.A. in art from Adams State College in Alamosa. From there, she received a master’s in anthropology from the University of Denver, where her studies and a Fulbright scholarship took her to New Zealand, Fiji, and Tahiti in 1951 and 1952.

In Tahiti, Stoller grew interested in ethnographic history, the study of people in historic times. She arrived at Colorado College in 1969 and in the 1970s taught an average of 7½ blocks per year as an adjunct professor, while working with advisees and senior thesis students. In 1979, she was made full-time, and in 1980 received tenure.

That same year, she helped English professor Joseph Gordon establish CC’s Southwest Studies program, the first regional interdisciplinary program in the country. Her work with students was highlighted by her two-block “Ethnohistory of the Southwest” course, which gave students a chance to conduct fieldwork in Santa Fe and work with the New Mexico State Archives, and her “Art and Culture of the Southwest” course. During summer digs in La Cienega, New Mexico, she and teams of students helped unearth the largest 17th-century Spanish colonial settlement in New Mexico.

Marianne twice chaired the Anthropology Department and served on the Board of Managers for the Woman’s Educational Society of Colorado College, for which she helped raise more than $50,000 in scholarship funds. As professor emerita in 2014, she was honored with the Gresham Riley Award, which recognizes faculty, administrators, and staff who have made significant contributions to the life of the college.

Marianne received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. She is survived by a daughter, Moana Kutsche; a granddaughter, Brigid Kathleen Ehrmantraust; and a nephew, Fred Stoller Tessler. A Celebration of Life will be held from 4-6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15 at Shove Memorial Chapel.