Department of Anthropology

  • Anthropology Department Recognizes Graduating Seniors

    This past Saturday, the Anthropology Department recognized the success of 29 undergraduates that either have completed, or will complete, their degree requirements this spring or summer. The department hosted a reception following commencement, in further recognition of our students’ achievements. As part of the festivities, we asked all of our graduates to provide us with a short description of their interests, successes, and their future plans. We congratulate everyone on their accomplishments, and wish them the best of luck with their future endeavors, wherever anthropology may take them!

    Erikka Arno: Erikka is primarily interested in cultural anthropology, and as such participated in numerous study abroad opportunities while at MSU, including to Belize, India, and Ireland. She has been accepted into the AmeriCorps City Year program for the 2019-2020 school year, and then will be applying to graduate school.

    Adam Austad: Adam in primarily interested in digital anthropology and studying humans in digital environments. He thanks Dr. Mara Leichtman, Dr. Lucero Radonic, Dr. Andrea Louie, and Dr. Masako Fujita for inspiring him to continue to study interactions within digital environments. He plans on continuing in anthropology and getting his PhD.

    Emma Bignall: Emma is interested in biological/physical anthropology, and has spent time while at MSU working with Dr. Masako Fujita in the Biomarker Laboratory for Anthropological Research. She is planning on applying to dual graduate programs in social work and public health.

    Jacqueline Boger: Jacqueline initially came to MSU interested in forensic anthropology, but since then has learned that she would rather apply her skills to working with living people.  She is going to continue this as she pursues her teaching certificate for Elementary Special Education in the future.

    Emily Davila: Emily is interested in physical anthropology. She participated in the Human Identification and Forensic Study abroad experience, and plans on going into clinical research.

    Sabrina DeGroot: Sabrina participated in a variety of activities while at MSU, including presenting research at the Undergraduate Symposium and volunteering in the MSU collections. She will be starting a new job in Colorado after graduation.

    Anna Doyle: Anna is interested in Forensic anthropology and volunteered with Dr. Joe Hefner in the Forensic Anthropology Lab. She will be doing an archaeology internship over the summer with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corp, and then working for the Columbus Historical Preservation Society as an Osteology lab assistant. She plans on eventually pursuing her Master’s degree and Doctorate in Forensic Anthropology.

    Mike Gates: Mike has been interested in archaeology since his first field season at Morton Village in 2016. He has presented research projects several times while at MSU. He would like to thank Dr. O’Gorman, Dr. Watrall, and Dr. Camp, as well as Jeff and Autumn Painter for assistance and support. He will be pursuing a professional archaeology career.

    Valerie Kemp: Valerie Kemp is graduating this spring with a BA in Anthropology and a BS in psychology. During her time at MSU she worked with Dr. Hessling-O’Neil on her collaborative project in Benin, as well as presenting at conferences. This fall she will begin her PhD at the University of Michigan, where she will study the effects of media on children. 

    Peter Mercier: Peter was this year’s Anthropology Department Outstanding Graduating Senior.  Peter is graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in anthropology with a focus in ancient Maya bioarchaeology. Peter worked in Dr. Wrobel’s bioarchaeology lab for three years and specialized in the 3D Photogrammetry of human mandibles.  In addition to on-campus research, Peter spent two summers in Belize. Peter would like to thank Dr. Hefner and Dr. Fenton for research as well as moral support, and he would like to extend a very special thank you to Jack Biggs and Dr. Wrobel for working alongside him in the lab, helping with his research, and making him an anthropologist. 

    Valeria Montero: Valeria is interested in medical and physical anthropology. She interned at a medical research facility while at MSU, and has accepted a full-time position as a research assistant at the University of Michigan’s Anesthesiology department’s division of pain research. During this time she will explore research interests and work towards applying to schools for a master’s in public health.

    Emily O’Brien: Emily’s focus has been on cultures and religion. She currently has an internship at a museum in Traverse City for the summer, but then will be taking a gap year before going to graduate school for museum studies. 

    Chloe Wilson: Chloe is interested in cultural anthropology. She has participated in a study abroad as well as presented her research while at MSU. Her future plans include applying to graduate school after a long and glorious gap year, and eventually working with research and documentaries. 

    Huabin Zhou: Huabin is interested in sociocultural anthropology, especially on the topic of Chinese Diaspora in North America. He thanks Dr. Andrea Louie, Dr. Mara Leichtman, and many other professors who have been his instructors. He is planning to take a gap year for internship experiences, then applying for an anthropology Master’s program in Canada. 

  • Professor Joe Hefner Quoted in Washington Post Article on Sri Lanka Easter Bombing

    In a recent Washington Post article (subscription required) Dr. Joe Hefner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, discusses the Easter terrorist bombing in Sri Lanka. Hefner, a board-certified forensic anthropologist who assisted in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, provided The Washington Post with his expert perspective on the incredible challenges in identifying victims in a disaster of this magnitude.

  • PhD Student Jordi Rivera Prince Awarded the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Predoctoral Fellowship

    The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that PhD student Jordi Rivera Prince has been awarded a prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Predoctoral Fellowship to support her dissertation research.

    This year the program awarded approximately 70 predoctoral fellowships in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation. The awards are made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.  

    Jordi’s research focuses on the bioarchaeology of ancient maritime communities in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru. Through skeletal analysis, her project seeks to reconstruct the paleodemography and health status of individuals excavated at the Jose Olaya site in Huanchaco (15 km north of modern-day Trujillo). Furthermore, she seeks to investigate the role of migration, maritime resource exploitation, development of social stratification, and gendered labor divisions ca. 400 BC-200 AD in the locality. This project is deeply tied to local communities, where she will continue mentorship of Peruvian archaeology students at the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and local Huanchaco students. 

  • Dr. Lynne Goldstein Receives Society for American Archaeology Lifetime Achievement Award

    Dr. Lynne Goldstein Receives Society for American Archaeology Lifetime Achievement Award

    The Department of Anthropology is extremely happy to announce that Dr. Lynne Goldstein (Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Campus Archaeology Program) has received the Society for American Archaeology Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious award is in recognition of her pivotal theoretical and empirical contributions to the field, in the areas of mortuary archaeology, Midwestern prehistory, historical archaeology, archaeological ethics and repatriation, and public engagement, as well as professional and institutional leadership.

    Lynne Goldstein

    Lynne Goldstein earned her BA degree in Anthropology from Beloit College in 1971 and her MA and PhD from Northwestern University (in 1973 and 1976, respectively). Her commitment to archaeology began even earlier, in her high school days through volunteer work at the Field Museum of Natural History and participation in the Kampsville Project. Over the course of her career, she taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1976-1996) and Michigan State University (1996-2018), and also chaired both departments. She retired from MSU in August 2018 and now holds emerita status. A letter detailing all of Professor Goldstein’s contributions to our profession could easily fill many dozens of pages. Here, we attempt to more succinctly summarize some of her key contributions in the areas of scholarship, mentorship, and service, referring the committee to the attached letters of support and curriculum vitae for additional information about specific aspects of her distinguished career.

    Lynne Goldstein’s first scholarly publication on Midwestern archaeology appeared in 1971; in 2018 she published four scholarly articles. Over this 48 year period (and more than 65 publications and 200 conference papers), she has made fundamental theoretical and empirical contributions to our field, in the areas of mortuary archaeology, Midwestern prehistory, historical archaeology, archaeological ethics and repatriation, and public engagement. Her early work on Mississippian mortuary archaeology (the focus of her doctoral dissertation) remains foundational and widely cited. Notably, Lynne’s ongoing contributions to mortuary studies has moved this area of study well beyond its early focus on reconstructing prehistoric social organization to more nuanced understandings of identity and variability in mortuary practices in the past. Throughout her career Dr. Goldstein’s research has focused on the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods of the Midwest U.S. where she conducted important and scientifically rigorous fieldwork in Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin, particularly at the site of Aztalan and its surrounding region. Her important contributions on these topics are themselves worthy of SAA recognition. However, one of the additional hallmarks of Goldstein’s career that we wish to highlight here has been her intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm about taking on new projects and exploring a range of different research questions. This curiosity led her to a multi-year project at the Russian cemetery at Fort Ross, California, and to the Tucson Basin, where she was part of large inter-disciplinary team documenting the historic Tucson Cemetery. Publications from these projects have made important intellectual contributions; Goldstein’s leadership of them (and impressive record of external funding) also attests to her remarkable organizational skills, field expertise, and ability to marshal and collaborate in large interdisciplinary research teams.

    Lynne Goldstein’s intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm, coupled with her advocacy for public engagement with archaeology and her passion for communicating archaeological knowledge to diverse audiences, have also driven her involvement in an array of other projects. She served on the steering committee that established the Florida Public Archaeology Network, and then served on their board of directors for 12 years. At Michigan State, she developed and led the University’s innovative Campus Archaeology Project, persuading University leaders and grounds people alike that documenting the campus’s history through archaeological investigation was a valuable and significant undertaking. As Lynne has frequently advised us and her students, one should never undertake research without clear research questions, and in addition to providing countless students with field training and community engagement opportunities (as well as financial support), her work on the MSU campus has contributed significantly to the study of 19th and 20th century midwestern US history and the growth and significance of US land grant universities. An early and enthusiastic adopter of new technologies, she also has played a critical role in the expansion of digital humanities initiatives in archaeology. Recent work in this area include co-development of the MSU.seum mobile app to communicate aspects of MSU heritage across campus and co-directing of the “Institute on Digital Archaeology Method & Practice,” with Ethan Watrall (2014-2017).

    Her undergraduate and graduate teaching (including many years of offering field schools) have been acknowledged by multiple awards; she has chaired 18 dissertation committees, served on dozens more, and mentored even more graduate (and undergraduate) students in programs around the US, in the United Kingdom, and beyond. She is a generous teacher and mentor, with an uncanny ability to cut through academic jargon and pomposity to help her students identify big questions and address them rigorously and clearly. Beyond her own students, she has mentored hundreds of other young anthropologists through her “standing room only” annual workshop at the AAA meetings on academic careers, which she offered for 17 consecutive years. As an academic administrator and mentor, she has brought the same clear-sightedness, straightforwardness, keen humor and sense of the absurd, and strategic thinking to her own leadership roles and to the guidance she provides others.

    Her service to the SAA has been recognized by five Presidential Recognition Awards, spanning from 1991 to 2017. Her service on the SAA Task Force on Repatriation from 1990-2000 (and as an advisor from 2000-2010) made important contributions to the form and implementation of NAGPRA legislation (she also served on the Smithsonian Repatriation Committee for many years). Lynne also served as Secretary of the SAA (1988-1991), editor of American Antiquity (1996-2000), as co-Chair with Barbara Mills of the Task Force on Gender and Research Grants Submission (2013-2019), and currently chairs the SAA Publication Committee (2018-2021). She was similarly active in the American Anthropological Association, where she served as Publication Director for the Archaeology Section (2013-2017), Liaison to the Register of Professional Archaeologists (2016- 2018), and on several additional committees. And this does not even touch upon her leadership in the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Wisconsin Archaeological Survey, Florida Public Archaeology Network, American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other national and regional organizations.

    The Society for American Archaeology will honor Lynne at the Annual Business Meeting and Awards Presentation on April 12, 5:00 to 6:30 pm, in the ACC Kiva Auditorium at the 2019 Annual Meeting in Albuquerque.

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  • Annual Anthropology Fieldwork Photo Contest for 2019

    The Department of Anthropology is pleased to open the call for submissions to the 2019 Annual Anthropology Fieldwork Photo Contest.

    This contest is open to MSU Department of Anthropology graduate students, undergraduates, alumni and faculty. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. We will accept photographs from the last five calendar years (taken in 2014 or later).

    Help the department spread the message about who we are and what we do by sharing your experiences through photographic images!

    Submissions are due by March 11, 2019.

    For more information, check out the contest submission form.

  • Dr. Moniruzzaman appointed as WHO Task Force Member

    photo of Monir Moniruzzaman
    MSU researcher Monir Moniruzzaman visits a slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    As previously reported here, Dr. Monir Moniruzzaman, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Michigan State University has been appointed as a member of the inaugural Task Force on Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues at the World Health Organization (WHO). This Task Force was established by the Member States at the 70th World Health Assembly in 2017 to advise and assist the WHO and other Member States, in disseminating and implementing the WHO Guiding Principles. These guiding principles address the ethical aspects of organ transplantation such as the voluntary and unpaid donation of human tissues and organs, issues of universal access to transplant services, and the availability, safety and quality of these procedures worldwide.

    The Task Force on Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues also assists Member States in establishing and/or strengthening their systems in organ-tissue donation and transplantation at a national level or through regional cooperation. This Task Force, the first of its kind, is comprised of 31 selected experts, who have extensive knowledge on this issue across various fields such as medicine, surgery, ethics, law, patients’ rights, public administration and health systems and who come from regions across the world. We are grateful to Dr. Monir for his dedication and work on such an important topic.

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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  • Adjunct Faculty, Dr. Amanda Tickner

    Dr. Amanda Tickner at Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands
    Dr. Amanda Tickner at Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands

    Dr. Amanda Tickner is a librarian specializing in GIS in the Maps Library and an Adjunct lecturer in the Department of Anthropology. Amanda helps people find data, use GIS in research, teach GIS to beginners, and troubleshoot GIS problems, she also sits on several PhD committees in Anthropology. The interdisciplinary quality of her GIS work allows her to help people from all disciplines, which dovetails well with her anthropological background. Dr. Tickner received her PhD in archaeological paleobotany from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in 2009 and began at MSU in 2015.

    Currently, Dr. Tickner is transitioning from using her anthropology background as a paleobotanist to working with more cultural subjects. She is very interested in using ethnographic methods in usability studies via contextual analysis, which she can do as a part of her job as a GIS librarian. Amanda is also interested in landscapes more generally – especially people’s perceptions of virtual spaces in relation to physical spaces. Regrettably, she has not been able to do much of her own research since switching career paths because her library work takes up most of her time.

    Dr. Tickner enjoys her current positions because librarians are helpers and her adjunct position with anthropology allows her the ability to share cultural references with people who speak her own language. It also allows her to help students in a variety of ways. Amanda finds it satisfying to help people succeed in their projects and to gain job skills because she can teach interested people new skills without the pressure of giving grades, something she feels is a wonderful change. Dr. Tickner’s current work builds upon her previous experiences because her background in both ecology and social science allows her to work with a wide variety of disciplinary problems in a coherent and helpful way. This is important because it allows her to help people with GIS research from all departments, from English to Forestry.

    Dr. Amanda Tickner at Uxeau France

    Her first interest in anthropology came from a fascinating World Archeology course from Prof. Peter Wells at University of Minnesota, where she studied for her undergraduate. While this course was initially selected to fulfill a requirement, Dr. Tickner soon realized she really enjoyed this subject the most. Grinning while studying for World Archaeology became a norm. This enjoyment led her to value a holistic approach in her thinking and understanding which anthropology also values. Amanda’s interest in both the sciences and the humanities kept her firmly in archeology, since it is a wonderful hybrid of these things.

    When Dr. Tickner was starting out, and in her past anthropology teaching (historical ecology, food and culture, and four fields anthropology), she was very interested in getting students to break down their ideas of a nature/culture dichotomy and recognize that humans are as natural as anything else in the world, while at the same time acknowledging our role in shaping our natural world. This is a value she hopes she has imparted in her students. Now, Dr. Tickner enjoys hearing from students that her assistance helped them finish their master’s thesis or that skills she taught them in a workshop helped get them a job. Currently, she is excited about the new digital scholarship lab in the library as she has had a lot of fun working with the 360 immersive display space and looks forward to helping more classes use it.

    We are extremely happy to have Dr. Tickner here at MSU and are glad that she decided to move across the country even though Michigan winters are not her favorite thing. Having grown up in Minnesota, Amanda thought maybe she would be able to handle winter better now that she is older, but so far, she reports this is not the case.

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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  • Great Lakes Digital Cultural Heritage

    Dr. Heather Howard, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Affiliated Faculty of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program and the Native American Institute here at MSU, was awarded a grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada as co-Principal Investigator with Principal Investigator Heidi Bohaker (History, University of Toronto) and co-Principal Investigator Margaret Bruchac (Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania).

    Their project, “Widening the Circle: Building a Community Knowledge Sharing Digital Platform with Great Lakes Indigenous Cultural Heritage Research Data,” will provide just over $40,000.00 to create and test a new public website for the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC). GRASAC is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural alliance of researchers from Indigenous communities, universities, museums, and archives who share the common goal of creating deeper understandings of Great Lakes Indigenous arts, languages, identities, territoriality, and governance. GRASAC houses over five thousand detailed records of Great Lakes material culture and documentary art, thirty thousand high resolution digital photographs, audio and video recordings, as well as language resources including glossaries of Cayuga and Anishinaabemowin.

    This project will ensure responsible data sharing grounded in respectful and meaningful Nation-to-Nation conversations helping to develop long-term data governance policies for GRASAC. Using Mukurtu, an open source software developed specifically for Indigenous cultural heritage, we will work with community partners to develop appropriate cultural protocols to protect data and to test the usability of the platform by Indigenous community members, including contemporary makers, teachers, and students. This project builds on work Dr. Howard has been undertaking with Michigan Indigenous makers and the collections of the MSU Museum over the last three years.

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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  • Alumna, Dr. Megan McCullen

    Dr. Megan McCullen at Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site
    Dr. Megan McCullen at Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site

    We are very proud to announce that our alumna, Dr. Megan McCullen, is the new Director of the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology & Planetarium at Wayne State University. Dr. McCullen’s position was created as a full-time position in 2017 by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Wayne State. Prior to this, a faculty member in the Anthropology Department was the Museum Director in addition to their regular faculty duties, and the Planetarium had a similar set up within the Physics Department. The goal of creating a new position was to have a person who can take the lead on managing the unique resources of the college that are used not only by students, but also by the community.

    As Director of the Anthropology Museum and Planetarium, Dr. McCullen fills many rolls as each have distinct missions. Officially, she works for the Dean’s Office, so part of her role as Director is to conceptualize how the public community sees and uses college resources – as well as how the university and departmental communities use these same resources. Her day to day job includes grant writing, working with the college’s advancement team, marketing, developing exhibitions and programming, creating, and maintaining community partnerships, curating the museum’s collection, and supervising student projects in the museum. She also oversees the student employees, who are the only other staff of the museum.

    The driving factor of Dr. McCullen’s work is her interest in making the resources of the University more accessible to the community surrounding them. One of her goals is to increase the number of community members coming to campus to visit the Museum and Planetarium, and to bring these resources out into the community as well. Megan has been working to fund programs to reduce barriers to access of the museum. She became interested in this when she began volunteering in museums as an undergraduate and has continued to work in museums and outreach since that time. Her experience curating, cataloging, and researching museum collections in graduate school here at MSU prepared her for her current collections management efforts.

    Dr. McCullen’s favorite thing about her job is that she enjoys working with the public and developing new ways to engage communities both on and off campus. The Director position also requires her to learn many new things, like astronomy and the history of her new museum. As an academic these learning opportunities are welcome. Megan also enjoys being in a position to think holistically and broadly about future projects. Part of her role is to think about what they want to be doing five or ten years down the road, what they need to do to get there, and how to collaborate with other sectors of the College and the community to do so. This includes everything from exhibitions to curation plans. She has always been one for thinking about connections and relationships, so she truly enjoys being in a position where building and maintaining these kinds of relationships is an important part of her work.

    Megan’s interest in archaeology started in a course in Egyptology. As the class studied pre-dynastic Egypt and she learned about the stone tools ancient peoples made, she became fascinated with how archaeologists decode material culture to understand how past societies lived. This led her to graduate school and she earned her Ph.D. from our department in 2015. Dr. McCullen says that MSU prepared her for her current career connecting her with a job at a cultural center during her first year. Her advisor, Dr. O’Gorman, was on the center’s board and informed her about the job opening which gave her experience in K-12 education and outreach, community partnerships, grant writing and small-scale exhibit development. Her advisor also allowed her to participate in a funded project to re-evaluate a large museum collection, which led to her dissertation project and further research using museum collections. All these wonderful experiences within our department and at MSU offered her the preparation needed for her current Director position.

    Dr. McCullen still keeps in touch with her MSU mentors. Last fall, Dr. John Norder rescued her when her car broke down on the highway outside Lansing. “You can’t ask for that kind of help if you don’t keep in touch,” she says. She has called her dissertation co-chairs (O’Gorman and Norder) several times during her first year at my current position seeking advice, and to discuss shared research interests.

    Currently, the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology at Wayne State University just opened an exhibit entitled The Secret Life of Things: Sixty Years of Museum Anthropology at Wayne State, which highlights sixty objects from their collections that reflect the breadth and depth of their work. Dr. McCullen invites everyone to come by, say hello and explore their free museum.

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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  • Dr. Hefner and NIJ Helping to Identify Children

    Dr. Joseph T. Hefner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University, and Dr. Nicholas Herrmann, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, received a National Institute of Justice award to improve the accuracy of age estimates for unidentified remains of children and adolescents. The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and Triservice Orthodontic Residency Program, 59th Dental Group will also collaborate on this research.

    The project entitled, “Investigation of subadult dental age-at-death estimation using transitional analysis and machine learning methods,” was funded for approximately $900,000 and focuses on tooth root and crown development to estimate age in children and adolescents using transition analysis and machine learning methods. Currently, standard methods often underestimate the age of children and adolescents by one to more than two years as age increases.

    Their goal is to provide forensic anthropologists and odontologists an accurate and precise age estimation method using a large, demographically diverse, modern sample of children and adolescents by collecting data from radiographs obtained from living children and adolescents from different populations in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and other locations around the world.

    Dr. Hefner states, “as forensic anthropologists, we are routinely involved in the identification effort when unidentified human remains are discovered. Refined age estimates are a critical component of identification, especially when the skeletal remains under examination belong to a child.”

    To read the rest of this newsletter, click here.

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