[2] Skibo studied anthropology at Northern Michigan University from 1978 to 1982 and received a Bachelor of Science, Magna cum laude.
[3] He then attended the University of Arizona from 1982 to 1990 studying with the late William A. Longacre and Michael Brian Schiffer.
[5] From 1999 to 2001, he was, together with William H. Walker, one of two co-directors of the La Frontera Archaeological Research Program, a four-year project to explore Joyce Well, a 14th century Pueblo located in the southwest of New Mexico.
From 2000 to 2023, Skibo, along with Eric Drake, was the Director of the Grand Island Archaeological Field Program, a joint project of Illinois State University and the Hiawatha National Forest, which not only has explored the settlement history of Grand Island but it has also included the training of archaeologists in field research techniques.
[1] During a routine research dive in Lake Mendota on April 14, 2023, Skibo became unresponsive and subsequently died at University of Wisconsin Hospital.