Alexandra Sumner received her PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Sumner has held postdoctoral and research fellowships at institutions in Israel (Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in East Jerusalem) and South Africa (Witswaterstand University, Johannesburg). Prior to joining the faculty at DePaul University, Dr. Sumner has lectured at the Universities of the Witswatersrand and Cape Town (South Africa) and the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
Dr. Sumner is a lithic analyst and has been involved in archaeological research associated with Paleoindian populations of Eastern Canada, the Palaeolithic of southern France, Israel, Egypt, and North Sudan, the Epi-Palaeolithic of Israel and the Neolithic of Jordan. She currently carries out research associated with the Earlier and Middle Stone Ages of South Africa and the Middle Paleolithic of China. While living and working in South Africa, Dr. Sumner helped form and coordinate an archaeology educational program in Kimberley, Northern Cape Province in association with colleagues from the University of Toronto, the MacGregor Museum and Sol Plaatje University.
She is a professional archaeological illustrator.