Kathy Reichs, Alumnae Award Recipient

For Immediate Release

September 11, 2023

For more information:

Michele Bresler, Public Relations Chair

The Alumnae of Northwestern University

847-867-5412; [email protected]

Kathy Reichs, Forensic Anthropologist and Crime Writer, to Receive 2023 Alumnae Award from The Alumnae of Northwestern University

(Photo available)

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Kathy Reichs, American crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic, is the recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s 2023 Alumnae Award. The award, established in 1976, is presented annually to an outstanding alumna who has made significant contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition. Educators, journalists, doctors, scientists, and artists are included among The Alumnae’s roster of awardees.

“As the 47th recipient of our Alumnae Award, Kathy will join a distinguished group of women bringing honor to the women of Northwestern University,” says The Alumnae president Carol Willis.

From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, as a forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has brought her own dramatic work experience to her mesmerizing forensic thrillers. For years she consulted with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. Dr. Reichs has travelled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. As part of her work at JPAC (Formerly CILHI) she aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Reichs also assisted in the recovery of remains at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead catapulted her to fame when it became a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Her other Temperance Brennan books include Death du Jour, Deadly Décisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes, Devil Bones, 206 Bones, Spider Bones, Flash and Bones, Bones Are Forever, Bones of the Lost, Bones Never Lie, Speaking in Bones, A Conspiracy of Bones, The Bone Code, Cold Cold Bones and the Temperance Brennan short story collection, The Bone Collection. 

The Bone Hacker, her most recent novel, was released on August 1, 2023.  In addition, she co-authored the Virals young adult series with her son, Brendan Reichs. The best-selling titles are: Virals, Seizure, Code, Exposure, Terminal, and the novella collection Trace Evidence. The series follows the adventures of Temperance Brennan’s great niece, Tory Brennan.  Dr. Reichs was also a producer of the hit Fox TV series, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels.

Dr. Reichs is one of very few forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, and as a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. She is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her master’s degree and PhD from Northwestern University. She now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Montreal, Québec.

Kathy Reichs will receive her award on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, at noon, at Norris Center on Northwestern’s campus. She will be introduced by Erin Waxenbaum, PhD, professor of instruction, director of undergraduate studies, Department of Anthropology; Anna Parkinson, associate professor, Department of German Literature and Critical Thought; and Brett Neveu, professor of instruction, Radio/TV/Film.

The Alumnae of Northwestern is an all-volunteer organization of women that raises funds for a wide range of projects to benefit the University. It shares the University’s academic resources with the community through its Continuing Education program, which is celebrating its 54rd year of bringing daytime noncredit courses to the public. The Alumnae has given more than $9.5 million to the University in the form of grants, fellowships, scholarships, and an endowed professorship, and has provided funds for special university projects and summer internships. For more information, visit The Alumnae website (www.nualumnae.org).

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