Dr. John Reid was a professor at Barnett College, in the geology department. While trained as a geologist, he fancied himself quite the archaeologist. On his untrained recommendation, Dr. Mulbray purchased a Mexican statue, which Indiana Jones later proved to be a fake, by breaking it to show the cross-section. Marcus Brody didn't think highly of Reid and couldn't see what the geology department had had in mind when they selected him.