Oswald J. Werner has been Professor and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Linguistics at Northwestern University, where he researched the Navajo language and culture.
He received his Bachelors in Applied Physics from the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany in 1950. He received his Master's in Anthropology from Syracuse University and his Doctorate in Anthropology at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, in 1963 under the anthropological linguist, C. F. Voegelin
During his professorship at Northwestern University (1965-1998) Werner helped implement a program in Anthropology and Public policy within the Department; undertook applied multi-year research programs in Navajo medicine and education with the Navajo Tribe, and Northwestern University Summer Field School in Applied Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology.
Werner has been active in his profession and served on committees of the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Anthropological Association, the Linguistic Society of America, and the Central States Anthropological Society. He also served with Cultural Anthropology Methods (renamed Field Methods) in 1989, and writes a regular column for the Journal.
