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MSU Anthropology alum finds success in the business world
“Rarely is there another person in any meeting room that I’m in that has the background that I have,” MIchigan State University alumnus Jeffrey Bennish laughed good-naturedly. Bennish is the Vice President of QuVA Pharma Inc., a 503B pharmacy drug manufacturer, who graduated with a degree in anthropology. “I think you can use a lot of the skills from an applied anthropology standpoint that translate incredibly well into business environments, and find yourself with a unique skill set amongst your peers and those business environments that make you stand out,” he said. Bennish attributes his success to his early training…
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Department Statement on RVSM and Title IX
Please Note: This statement refers to events that may trigger traumatic memories for members of our community. Resources and assistance are available through the Center for Survivors1, MSU Safe Place2, Counseling and Psychiatric Services3 and the Employee Assistance Program4. The Department of Anthropology is committed to fostering an inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment where all faculty, staff and students are valued, respected, and celebrated. Foremost in our priorities is the physical and emotional safety of our students, faculty, and staff. We also validate and stand by survivors of sexual harassment and misconduct, sexual abuse, and relationship violence; recognizing that all too often…
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MSU Alumnus Don Weir – The artifacts of a career devoted to archaeology
As a kid, Don Weir followed his dad — an amateur archaeologist working with University of Michigan in the 1930s — around archaeological sites, collecting arrowheads and attending meetings. Looking back, it was a unique way to grow up, surrounded by people unearthing and analyzing artifacts. But as a kid who has many other important interests, meetings and digs weren’t Weir’s favorite. That was until he came to Michigan State University in 1968 as part of an archaeology work study with the MSU Museum followed by a 10-week archaeological field school in in Northern Michigan directed by Charles Cleland, Ph.D.,…
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MSU Forensic Anthropology Lab participates in Operation UNITED
This September, the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (MSUFAL) participated in Operation UNITED in collaboration with the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, the Detroit Police Department (DPD), and several other local universities and law enforcement agencies. Operation UNITED is an acronym which stands for “Unknown Names Identified Through Exhumation and DNA.” Operation UNITED began as a grassroots effort between DPD Sgt. Shannon Jones and FBI Special Agent Leslie Larsen to solve as many cold case homicides in Detroit as possible. By exhuming the remains of unidentified homicide victims and comparing their DNA with family reference samples, Operation UNITED seeks to make identifications…
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PhD Student Juan Carlos Rico Noguera wins Whiteford Cultural Anthropology Field Work Scholarship
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that the inaugural Whiteford Cultural Anthropology Field Work Scholarship was awarded to PhD student Juan Carlos Rico Noguera. With the financial support of MSU Anthropology alumni Aaron and Jill Whiteford, the Whiteford Cultural Anthropology Field Work Scholarship has been established to support graduate students in sociocultural anthropology in their field work endeavors, with preference given to those students conducting research in Latin America. Rico Noguera’s research involves different ways of understanding the human experience, including the conceptual definition of the State, the role experts have in modern politics, and the way collective…
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Dr. Joe Hefner receives five-year NIH funding to develop graphical library for craniofacial anomalies
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Department of Anthropology Assistant Professor Joseph T. Hefner (Co-PI) and colleagues at the University of Kentucky (PI: Dr. Melissa Clarkson) a five year $1,447,281 grant to develop a standardized graphic library to assist clinicians and biomedical researchers in communicating anatomical concepts and patient-specific anatomy. The project—Developing standardized graphic libraries for anatomy: A focus on human craniofacial anatomy and phenotypes—began Summer of 2021. The purpose of the graphic library is to support rapid and anatomically-accurate…
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Dr. Kurt Rademaker publishes in Science on the evolution of the hepatitis B virus
Department of Anthropology Assistant Professor Kurt Rademaker recently coauthored a publication in the prestigious journal Science. The article is entitled “Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution.” In this new study, researchers uncover the evolution of the hepatitis B virus since the Early Holocene by analyzing the largest dataset of ancient viral genomes produced to date. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major health problem worldwide, causing close to one million deaths each year. Recent ancient DNA studies have shown that HBV has been infecting humans for millennia, but its past diversity and dispersal routes remain largely unknown. A…
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Dr. Stacey Camp featured in film on WWII Japanese-American internment experiences
By Katie Nicpon A Buddhist temple, a church, a hotel, grocery stores, homes, a barbershop – Nihonmachi or “Japantown” in Santa Barbara, California, was thriving in the 1920s and 1930s. But that was before February 1942, when President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that allowed the United States government to incarcerate over 120,000 Japanese-Americans. The new feature film, Sonzai: Japantown in Santa Barbara, tells the story of this community through oral histories, research and archaeological artifacts to examine life before and after the Japanese-American residents were forcibly removed from their community and their presence was erased. Stacey Camp, PhD, who…
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MSU Department of Anthropology hosts the 2021 Midwest Archaeology Conference
The Michigan State University Department of Anthropology is hosting the joint annual meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference and the Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference October 7–9, 2021, on MSU’s campus. Jodie O’Gorman, MSU associate professor and archaeologist, is leading the team responsible for organizing the conference. “Our membership gets together to share the research we’ve been doing. It’s an important opportunity for us to see colleagues, meet new and prospective students, and debate and discuss issues that are important to all of us,” O’Gorman said. The Midwest Archaeological Conference is the regional association for archaeologists and students working in the…
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Associate Professor Najib Hourani Receives College of Social Science Dean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Award
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that Dr. Najib Hourani has received the inaugural 2021 College of Social Science Dean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Award. Dr. Hourani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Global Urban Studies Program, and core faculty in the Muslim Studies Program. The Dean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Award “recognizes a faculty member who plays a leadership role in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion by demonstrating activities which may include serving underrepresented populations, developing or implementing innovative programs that enhance participation and opportunity, or enhancing the ability and…