He came to linguistics and anthropology after teaching Spanish as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Carriacou, Grenada, 1971-74. From this experience he developed a deep and abiding interest, some might say obsession, with the role of "non-standard" languages in education, and this is reflected in his doctoral research. As a four-field trained anthropologist, Professor Kephart teaches and writes about a range of topics that includes language, human evolution, human biological and cultural diversity, and the uses of anthropology in helping to explain and solve human problems. As a scientific anthropologist, he is dedicated to research that is empirically based and that has the potential to lead to nomothetic explanations of human nature.