He began his academic career at Central Washington University and most recently served at the University of Notre Dame in a number of different roles, including Director of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts as well as Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology.

Beginning in fall 2020, he has served as professor in the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University.

[3] One of Fuentes' major impacts on the field of primatology has been his work on human and non-human primate interactions.

[5] He has also done extensive work in the area of human social evolution, particularly relating to the neurological aspects.

[6] It is this increased complexity along with primate biology and a changing environment that he believes is responsible for the success of humans in terms of expansion beyond the limits of most animal species.