Dr. James Kus is an Emeritus Professor (41 years teaching at California State University, Fresno) and a Registered Professional Archaeologist. His B.A. degree (History) is from Case Western Reserve University (1965) and his M.A. (Geography) is from Michigan State University (1967). Dr. Kus earned his Ph.D. (Geography, with an emphasis in archaeology) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1972.

He has lived for many years in Peru, leading several archaeology projects there and teaching at La Catolica, Peru’s top university. He and his wife used to have a house in Puerto Vallarta and he has traveled extensively throughout Central America and Mexico. Jim has also spent much time in the southern regions of South America (Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) and the Falkland Islands.

He has published extensively on Peruvian geography, archaeology, and history in both professional and popular media, including Encyclopedia Britannica (co-author of the lead article on Peru). Since retiring eleven years ago, he has led more than a dozen tours to Peru (for Smithsonian Journeys, the Archaeological Institute of America, universities and private groups) and lectured on vessels sailing around South America, along West Coast Mexico and Central America, and through the Panama Canal (including narration of the canal transit).

Between 1986 and 2004, Dr. Kus co-directed three large archaeology projects in Central California as well as consulting on more than a hundred small archaeological reports. For the seven years before his retirement (2004-2011), he directed a multi-disciplinary research program for the Federal Bureau of Reclamation related to the 152 mile long Friant-Kern Canal.

Jim first worked for Celebrity, Princess, and Norwegian; more recently he has done destination enrichment talks on Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, and Viking. Dr. Kus and his wife are owners of KHA Farms (dba Eden Ranch) in Sanger, California.

I have more than forty prepared lectures, mainly focused on Latin America. Several lectures have multiple versions (for example, northbound or southbound through the Panama Canal, or eastbound versus westbound in the Beagle Channel in southernmost South America).

SAMPLE TITLES:
"What's New at Machu Picchu"
"My Three Favorite Inka Sites (That You've Never Heard Of)"
"A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama" (can be divided into Part I and Part II)
"Patagonian Wildlife"
"Central American Wildlife"
"Why Did the Classic Maya Civilization Collapse?"
"How a Movie "Made" Puerto Vallarta"
"At the Tip of the Peninsula: Cabo San Lucas"
"The Jesuit Missions of Argentina"
"Sugar, Gold, and Diamonds: The Colonial Brazilian Booms"
"Rubber and Coffee: The Nineteenth Century Brazilian Booms":
"Why are Costa Rica and Nicaragua So Different"
"Monte Alban, Zapotecs, and Acapulco"
"How the Eire Canal "Made" New York City"
"The 1982 Falklands (Malvinas) War"
"Geography and Archaeology of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego"
"The Beagle Channel Glaciers"
"Darwin and the HMS Beagle Voyages"
"Columbus' Four Voyages"
"Early Spanish Settlement of the Caribbean Islands"
:The Spanish Conquest of Mexico"
"The Pampas of Argentina"
"The Nazca Lines"
"Peru's King Tut: The Royal Tombs of Sipan"
"Chile's Central Valley"
"Reminiscing: Five Decades of Travel in Latin America"
"The San Joaquin Valley: The World's Richest Agricultural Region"
"Prehispanic Agriculture in Peru"

I started lecturing on cruise ships in 2013 after leading more than 40 tours to Peru for Smithsonian, Archaeological Institute of America, and various universities. Between 2013 and 2016 I did five voyages on Norwegian (Sun and Pearl), five on Princess (Star, Crown, and Coral), and five on Celebrity Infinity. Since 2016 I have worked exclusively on Oceania (more than a dozen voyages on Sirena, Marina, Insignia, and Regatta) and Regent Seven Seas (twice on Navigator and twice on Mariner). All these voyages have been to/from South America, or around the Horn, or through the Panama Canal.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.