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New Graduate Program Director
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce Associate Professor and affiliated faculty member of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program, Dr. Mindy Morgan is our new Graduate Program Director. Dr. Morgan previously held the position of Associate Chair and enjoyed having input on department policies and practices and when this position arose, it seemed like another opportunity for her to be able to help shape the direction of our program. After having the opportunity to teach the incoming core theory course for many years, Dr. Morgan always enjoyed getting to know the incoming students and to help them…
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Featured Faculty: Dr. Joe Hefner
Dr. Joe Hefner joined the Department of Anthropology in the Fall semester of 2014 as an assistant professor in forensic anthropology. He currently teaches graduate level Human Osteology and Multivariate Statistical Analysis along with undergraduate Introduction to Physical Anthropology, Hominid Fossils and Time, Space and Change. Previously, Dr. Hefner worked as a contract archaeologist throughout the Southeastern United States and then at Mercyhurst College after completing his PhD in 2007 from the University of Florida. Joe reports stumbling into anthropology inadvertently during his undergraduate studies at Western Carolina University. As a philosophy/art/psychology major, he took an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology…
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Featured Graduate Student, Kehli Henry
Kehli Henry, PhD candidate, developed an interest in anthropology early on, deciding to pursue it as her major at Central Michigan University. The nuance of anthropological theory, as well as the attention to cultural factors gave her an appreciation for the complexity within the field. Her previous work with an American Indian tribe allowed her to see the utility of anthropological theory in the issues she dealt with. MSU provided the perfect fit for her graduate studies because of the faculty, and the focus on both medical anthropology and applied work. Since her undergraduate work, Kehli has been deeply concerned…
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News Around the Department
Congratulations to Marcella Omans for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship she received for her project entitled “La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico: China’s Gateway to Latin America.” Her work focuses on providing insight into how newly arrived Chinese immigrants and business people leverage preexisting Chinese networks to gain economic footholds in Latin America; and on revealing how perceived Chinese identity in Latin America and the mediation of the expectations associated with this have shaped the Sino-Latin American narrative. Through her NSF funding, she plans to conduct multilingual (Spanish and Mandarin Chinese) ethnographic fieldwork in La Mesa Barrio Chino, Tijuana, Mexico…
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Message from the Chair: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman
This past spring semester in the Department of Anthropology has been a tumultuous time. We’ve celebrated great achievements and made important plans for our future, and at the same time we have been, and continue to be, stunned and outraged by the Nassar scandal. All across campus and in our department, faculty struggled to cope with the knowledge that the sexual predation that occurred was possible at MSU. Our hearts go out to the young women and their families who came forward and to those who have not yet found their voice. The well-being of our undergraduate and graduate students…
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Congratulations Graduates!
A heartfelt congratulations to all of our May graduates! You earned it. Advanced Degree Ceremony (Left to Right):Seven Mattes, Todd Fenton, Caitlin Vogelsberg, Joe Hefner, Mindy Morgan, Bill Lovis, Kate Frederick, Susan Kooiman, Lynne Goldstein, Nicole Geske, Deon Claiborne (front center) The College of Social Science also held its first annual PhD Recognition Ceremony for doctoral graduates. In attendance were Nicole Geske, Dr. Lynne Goldstein, Deon Claiborne, Dr. Todd Fenton, and Seven Mattes (not pictured). Click here to read the full newsletter.
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Graduate Students Recognized by MSU Museum
MSU Museum highlighted two Department of Anthropology students this semester as their “Featured Students.” Both Blair Zaid and Grace Krause are PhD. candidates in archaeology. Blair Zaid, a Ph.D. Candidate in both African American and African Studies (AAAS) and Anthropology, received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan State University. For the past two years Ms. Zaid managed the volunteers and curation projects for the anthropology and archaeology collections at the MSU Museum under the supervision of Dr. William Lovis. Work with archaeological collections inspires her because it offers an opportunity to learn about a wide breath of Michigan…
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Outstanding Senior, Becca Albert
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce Rebecca K. Albert (aka Becca) as our Outstanding Senior in Anthropology for the class of 2018. Each department in the College of Social Science selects one graduating senior who is the first to walk across the stage at graduation and attend the Outstanding Senior Ball held in their honor. Becca was selected based on her GPA, her inclusion in the Honors College, her standing as current President of the Anthropology Club, and her extensive independent research resulting in a number professional conference and on-campus presentations, as well as first authorship on a…