In August I returned from a year of sabbatical and leave, and although I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in my research for an extended period of time, I missed our students and working with the faculty and staff. I am glad to be back. At our August retreat I took the faculty on a tour of LEADR, the learning lab featured in our cover story. Having worked with the Chair of History, Dr. Walter Hawthorne and our own Dr. Ethan Watrall, co-Director of Matrix, to propose the lab and acquire university and college funding, it was wonderful to see the exceptional facility and hear about the innovative projects they’ve been involved with over the last year. Following the tour, even more faculty members began working with LEADR staff to integrate digital learning into their courses. The lab is a huge success and Anthropology is proud to have a role in it.
As you can see in this newsletter and through social media, exciting developments are emerging from the efforts of our faculty members. We are leading the way in digital technology innovation in Anthropology. We offer our students exceptional experiential learning opportunities in our laboratories. And, Forensic Anthropology has recently had notable success in acquiring external grants that will further expand learning opportunities, innovations in research, and provide funding to graduate students. Our undergraduate and graduate students are phenomenal and it is truly a pleasure to be back seeing their excitement and engagement with Anthropology.
This article is in the Department of Anthropology’s Fall 2015 Newsletter, see the entire newsletter here.