M.S., Geology, University of Chicago, 1962.
Ph.D., Paleozoology, University of Chicago, 1968.

Visiting Investigator, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1978.
Guest Scientist, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1981.
Exchange Scholar, National Academy of Sciences, 1984.
Research Scholar, Fulbright-Hays, 1985-1986.
Visiting Professor, University of Oslo, 1991-1992.
Co-Editor, Paleontological Journal (with D. V. Nitecki), Acta Paleontologica Polonica (with J. Dzik).

Problematic fossils / history and sociology of science / theoretical evolutionary biology.

Reconstruction of the history of the biosphere is among the main goals of evolutionary biology, and problematic fossil groups play a pivotal role in this, for it is they that require us to reshape our ideas of the history of life. The problematic fossils that Nitecki studies (cyclocrinitids and receptaculitids) do not fit into any living phylum, and thus represent the record of early experiments with life.