Oystein LaBianca joined the faculty of the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences in the fall 1980 and was chair of the school from 1982 until 1990 when he resigned as chair in order to spearhead development of the school's graduate programs in community and international development. His areas of research and teaching include cultural anthropology, anthropological archaeology; development anthropology and research methods.

Born in Kristiansand, Norway, Dr. LaBianca completed his undergraduate studies in Behavioral Sciences and Religion at Andrews University in 1971, including a year-abroad at Middle East College in Beirut, Lebanon and a summer semester learning French at Campus Adventiste du Salève, Collonges-sous-Salève, France. In 1971 he began graduate studies in anthropology at Loma Linda University from which he eventually earned a master's degree in 1976. From 1972 to 1973, he was a special student in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University studying zooarchaeology. In 1987, he earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.

In addition to his duties as professor of anthropology, LaBianca also served as the associate director of the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University, co-director of the Madaba Plains Project (MPP) in Jordan, and senior director of the Jordan Field School at Tall Hisban, also in Jordan. He is a trustee and member of the boards of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Boston and of the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman. He has also represented Middle East anthropology and archaeology on the steering committee of the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association. Other memberships include Sigma Xi and the Society for International Development. His research in Jordan has received research grants from Andrews' Office of Scholarly Research, the National Geographic Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of State's Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Heritage Preservation the Research Council of Norway.

Upon retiring from teaching in the summer of 2020, Dr. LaBianca transitioned into his current role of Senior Research Professor where he continues to be involved in the University through his creative scholarship and research pursuits.