Florida Gulf Coast from 1977–1978. This project was immediately followed by a mitigation project in Mobile, Alabama, and a testing project along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Mississippi. The last project led her to be appointed as a senior research archaeologist for the Office of Archaeological Research at the University of Alabama. In this position she managed numerous large projects. Career Bense made a deal with UWF to bring her CRM contracts to the school if they agreed to allow her to establish an anthropology program. In 1980, Bense started the WSU anthropology department as well as a research unit, the UWF Archaeology Institute. In 1988, she received tenure and became a full professor eight years later in 1994. In 1991, she collaborated with the UWF History department to create a master's program in historical archaeology. In 2000, she became the department chair and introduced a master's program in anthropology two years later. In 1984, a new city hall was constructed in downtown Pensacola and in the process unearthed and destroyed some of the town's colonial history. Bense led a short salvage project and in the process recognized the importance of educating local community members and leaders about the archaeological and historical resources in their very backyard. As downtown Pensacola underwent an urban renewal, a massive urban archaeology project headed by Bense was started to preserve and detail the Spanish and British colonial history of the city. Later that same year, Bense worked with Gulf Power on another large public archaeology program. The company was building a new headquarters on a known Middle Woodland period site and a historic African American neighborhood known as Hawkshaw. Although the company was not under obligation, Bense was able to conduct archaeological excavations for two years. The information was accessible to the public through a series of programs, publications, and exhibits. Bense and Gulf Power were awarded the National Public Service Award from the Department of the Interior for the project in 1986, making the Hawkshaw project the first archaeology venture to be bestowed this honor. Cultural resources management or public archaeology became a mainstay in Pensacola culture over the next few decades. Excavations were undertaken at the Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola, British Fort of Pensacola, the Spanish Town of Pensacola, the Spanish Presidio Santa María de Galve on the Naval Air Station, and the Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa on the Gulf Islands National