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Alumni & Friends of Archaeology Fund Update
The Alumni and Friends of Archaeology Expendable Fund, established to enhance research and learning of undergraduate and graduate students in the archaeology program through the MSU Department of Anthropology, provided two student awards Spring 2017. This was the inaugural year for the Alumni and Friends of Archaeology Research Enhancement Award. The Enhancement Award was granted to two doctoral students, Kate Frederick and Susan Kooiman. Dr. Bill Lovis serves as the doctoral advisor for both students. Ms. Frederick was able to complete the fieldwork/data collection portion of her dissertation using these funds, which allowed her to spend two weeks in the…
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News from Around the Department
Graduate student and PhD. Candidate Susan Kooiman received the 2016-2017 Moreau Maxwell Scholar Award. This award is given to an Anthropology graduate student for an outstanding research contribution in Anthropology. The award is named in honor of the late Professor Moreau Maxwell, who is internationally recognized for his research contributions in Arctic archaeology. This award was presented in recognition of Ms. Kooiman’s two journal articles published in 2016, and co-authoring two more in the year 2017. Congratulations Susan for your recognition. Dr. Gabe Wrobel and his Central Belize Archaeological Survey project (CBAS) have recently published an article in Antiquity on…
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Graduate Students of Anthropology (GSA)
Our Graduate Student Association has been busy this fall. The first order of business was elect new officers. Congratulations to President Caitlin Vogelsberg, Vice President Jack Biggs, Information Officer Amber Plemons and Treasurer Kelly Kamnikar. So far this semester, the GSA has awarded two scholarships, hosted our annual Chili & Cornbread Cookoff, participated in the Puerto Rico Rises donation campaign and held a workshop for undergraduates. Amber Plemons and Alex Goots were awarded Academic Enhancement Scholarships to fund things like travel, technical training, and software and equipment purchases. The Annual Chili & Corn bread cookoff saw 10 chili entries, 5…
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Adjunct Feature: Dr. Erica Dziedzic
Dr. Erica Dziedzic is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, who has taught for the department several times. At the young of 8, Erica decided she wanted to become an archaeologist and made it a reality in August of 2016 when she received her doctorate from our department under the guidance of Dr. Lynne Goldstein. Early during her collegiate career, the love for archaeology had her gravitating towards anthropology because of its ability to answer questions about human behaviors by focusing on cultural groups rather than individuals. The way in which groups of people use art to…
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Alumnae Dr. Jane Wankmiller, Director of FROST
We are very proud to announce that our recent alumna, Dr. Jane Wankmiller, is the new Director of the Forensic Research Outdoor Station (FROST), and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Northern Michigan University (NMU). FROST, is currently under construction, and will function as an outdoor forensic anthropology research and training facility located in Marquette, MI, near the NMU campus. Her position is part of a new major in anthropology started Fall Semester 2017. Currently, NMU offers concentrations in either cultural anthropology or archaeology, and Dr. Wankmiller will be bringing a third concentration in physical anthropology to the program. She will…
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Researching Anti-Muslim Sentiment Effects on Women
Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Muslim Americans have been the focus of increased scrutiny and surveillance. More recently, however, the period since and leading up to the American presidential election shows that: 1) anti-Muslim hate crimes are on the rise, according to FBI data and 2) anti-Muslim public discourse and everyday aggression are coalescing against Muslim women, and especially hijabis or women wearing headscarves. Meanwhile, in France, a similar pattern has emerged in the public targeting of Muslims, and especially hijabi women. As a New York Times article notes, in recent years in France “80 percent of the anti-Muslim…
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Featured Faculty: Dr. Stacey Camp
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to introduce our new Associate Professor in archaeology and Campus Archaeology Program (CAP) Director, Dr. Stacey Camp. Dr. Camp’s research centers around an interest in how social inequality is manifested and expressed through material culture and the built environment. More specifically, she employs critical race theory to understand how marginalized groups respond to social isolation and discrimination through their consumption patterns. In her first book, The Archaeology of Citizenship, she examined how different marginalized groups, especially migrants, in the United States made claims to nationality and citizenship via material culture. Through this work, she…
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PhD Student Andy Upton receives Wenner-Gren
Andy J. Upton has been awarded three prestigious grants to assist in the completion of his dissertation research. In 2017, he was awarded the American Anthropological Association Archaeology Division Student Membership Award; a Wenner-Gren dissertation fieldwork grant for “Modeling Networks of Interaction, Identification, and Exchange through Mississippian Period Pottery in the US Midwest,” and a National Science Foundation Archaeology Program Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for “Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Network Relationships in Intercultural Contact.” In 2016, he was awarded the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund Individual Grant for “Factionalism, Migration, and Conflict in the Late Prehistoric Central Illinois…
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Congratulations Graduates!
Congratulations to all of our December 2017 graduates. Pictured below, our PhD grads, from left to right: Fayana Richards, Kelly Colas, Dr. O’Gorman, Ryan Klataske, Adam Haviland, Dr. Tetreault, Sharmin Sadequee, Dr. Louie, and Dr. Morgan
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Message from the Chair: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman
Fall Semester 2017 has come and gone, final grades are in, and MSU is under a blanket of snow. It was a busy and exciting semester. As I reported in the last newsletter, Dr. Fredy Rodriguez-Mejia joined the faculty in August as an undergraduate teaching-focused Assistant Professor. This fall he organized the First Annual Anthropology Undergraduate Symposium and Showcase, and it was a fantastic success. On December 7th, twenty undergraduate students with posters or PowerPoint presentations talked with faculty, graduate students, fellow undergraduates, family and friends about their research. They filled the Erickson Kiva and the excitement in the room…