MSU recognizes former student, WWI veteran ahead of Memorial Day

University corrects name on plaque, hosts private rededication ceremony

As the nation honors the sacrifices of the veterans who have fought for its freedoms and made the ultimate sacrifice, Michigan State University is honoring the legacy of one Spartan veteran in particular for his lasting impact on campus. 

World War I veteran Cosmer Magnus Leveaux served in the U.S. Army as Corporal, Battery A, 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery, 32nd Division. Leveaux was a student in forestry and part of the class of 1918. He enlisted in the Army on May 10, 1917, and was killed in battle in France on Aug. 10, 1918. 

Leveaux’s name appears on a freestanding brass plaque commemorating him in West Circle near Cowles House on MSU’s campus. However, it wasn’t until recently that MSU multimedia coordinator Derrick Turner noticed Leveaux’s name was misspelled on the plaque and the date of his death was incorrect. 

Turner made the discovery through his own passion for both photography and history and took his curiosity to the internet where several sources, including MSU Archives and Historical Collections, confirmed the inaccuracy. He then informed Dan Bollman, vice president for Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, and Steve Troost, campus planner, about the error. 

So, on May 18, after coordinating with the Campus Archaeology Program, the Alumni Office and Leveaux’s family over the past year, MSU fixed its error and properly honored Leveaux and his sacrifices during a private ceremony with some of Leveaux’s family members. There, the university dedicated a new plaque in Leveaux’s honor and with his correct information. The original plaque was turned over to Leveaux’s family. 

“Memorial Day is a time to reflect and honor the brave heroes who have sacrificed their lives for our country and our freedoms,” said MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. “It is an honor to rededicate this plaque in memory of Corporal Leveaux and pay tribute to the life of a remarkable Spartan.”

Leveaux’s niece, Mary Abbott, her son Mark, nephew John LesVeaux and his wife, Jennie, attended the event. 

“We have been amazed at the attention given to this single veteran who gave the ultimate sacrifice 104 years ago,” said John LesVeaux. “It speaks volumes of the dedication of MSU that all of the sacrifices of our veterans shall not be forgotten.

“I am sure that if Cosmer were here with us today, he would be equally as amazed and gratified as we are at this tribute to his sacrifice. We thank MSU for its efforts.” 

Leveaux began his work for the U.S. Forest Service as a forest guard in the Superior National Forest in Ely, Minnesota, in May 1916. After an almost four-month stint, Leveaux decided to leave his job and continue his education. During his time at MSU, then named Michigan Agricultural College, Leveaux was actively involved in the international honors forestry society, Xi Sigma Pi. He was also active in the AE Theon, a local social fraternity established in 1915 that is no longer active on campus.

Leveaux’s name also is inscribed on a plaque inside the Memorial Grove of the Great War in West Circle on campus, which commemorates 33 soldiers who lost their lives during WWI. The plaque originally was dedicated on the college’s commencement day in June 1919. 

For Turner’s part, he said he was glad to play a role in helping to accurately recognize Leveaux. 

“It’s an honor to be university photographer, where the entire campus is my office,” Turner said. “Helping to preserve our campus for future Spartans to enjoy is good stewardship of our beloved campus and community. 

“All of the people involved with correcting and reproducing the plaque shows Spartans care about everyone in the Spartan family — even those who lived over 100 years ago. It’s the ultimate demonstration of Spartans Will.” 

Original story link: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2022/cosmer-leveaux-plaque-rededication

Story also covered on Fox News: https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/msu-campus/msu-honors-world-war-i-veteran-and-fixes-a-103-year-old-mistake

Joan Reid is retiring from Michigan State University after 32 years, having served in three other campus roles before becoming the Academic Program Coordinator for the Department of Anthropology in 2015.

Reid plays an invaluable role in helping Anthropology graduate students matriculate through the program, assisting them from their prospective student visits  all the way until graduation. In her role as Academic Program Coordinator, Reid keeps graduate students informed of important deadlines and program requirements, assists with paperwork and department procedures, compiles reports, maintains academic and personnel files for graduate students, and provides key support to the department chair, graduate program director, and faculty members. Further, Reid can always be found advocating for students and attending department and GSA events and fundraisers. When asked about what she enjoys about her job, Reid stated: “Working with graduate students has been the most rewarding aspect of my entire career. I am very grateful for the appreciation and respect shown by graduate students when they thank me for my help throughout their program matriculation. The feeling of accomplishment that I played a small role in helping students succeed through a very rigorous Ph.D. program and I am so happy when they graduate!”

Reid’s impact on student success is echoed by students across the department, with students praising her dedication to their success, her helpful and supportive attitude, and her quick email responses to last minute questions. Cara Jacob, a fourth year socio-cultural Ph.D. candidate was effusive about her working relationship with Reid, saying: “We have been so lucky to have her- for all the reasons people know and for the ones they don’t. It truly won’t be the same without her.” Jacob recalls how helpful Reid was in navigating the GradPlan process, among many other ways she received above and beyond assistance from Reid during her time in the program. Micayla Spiros, also a fourth year Ph.D. candidate, said that it is difficult to put into words how integral Reid has been during her graduate experience, and that she has felt welcomed and supported by Reid since her first visit as a prospective student. She says of Reid: “The diligence, knowledge, communication skills, and innovation that Joan provides for the Anthropology department is unparalleled”, and also states that the department will not be the same without her. Emma Zblewski, a second year Ph.D./M.D. student, says Joan has been instrumental in helping her navigate her dual degree program, and that she “helps us balance our priorities and stay up-to-date with department happenings during our med school years.”

Dr. Todd Fenton, Department of Anthropology Chair and Professor, says: “It’s difficult, if not impossible to list all the achievements, support, and dedicated service Joan has provided MSU and the Department of Anthropology. For over 30 years, Joan had dedicated her career to Michigan State University. Having joined the Department of Anthropology in spring of 2015, she has provided exceptional support to our graduate students. We’re beyond grateful for Joan’s effort and the joy she’s brought to our department for the last 7 years. We will really miss her.”

When asked about her retirement plans, Reid says she looks forward to sleeping in, spending time with family and friends, traveling, and celebrating her 39th wedding anniversary with her husband, Tom, in June. Joan will be missed by students and faculty alike, and we wish her all the best in her retirement.

We are happy to announce the award recipients for the Department of Anthropology Archaeology Fellowships. Ph.D. student Emily Milton received funding from the William A. Lovis Research Fund in Environmental Archaeology, the Lynne Goldstein Fellowship, and the Alumni and Friends Expendable Fund for Archaeology; and Ph.D. student Jeff Burnett received funding from the Lynne Goldstein Fellowship.

Each of the funds support archaeology students in the Department of Anthropology at MSU: for the Alumni and Friends Expendable Fund for Archaeology, the fund is intended to encourage archaeology students who have demonstrated the capacity to achieve educational and professional goals, the motivation to achieve these goals and the initiative to seek opportunities to further their progress. The fund is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying archaeology, and can be used for scholarships for fieldwork, fellowships, research, and travel. 

The Lynne Goldstein Fellowship is awarded to graduate students enrolled in the MSU Anthropology Department with preference given to those students who have participated in the Campus Archaeology Program, and is intended to assist students doing their dissertation research. 

With the William A. Lovis Research Fund in Environmental Archaeology, the endowment is intended to support interdisciplinary environmental archaeological research bridging anthropological archaeology and the natural, physical, biological and earth sciences. It is designed to underwrite and enhance the work of graduate students who investigate human/environment interaction for deeper time periods prior to Euro-American colonization episodes worldwide.

Ph.D. student Emily Milton received funding from the William A. Lovis Research Fund in Environmental Archaeology to support exploratory analyses for a potential new approach for reconstructing Andean and Pacific coastal diets in southern Peru. As part of her dissertation, she will be investigating how isotopic methods can inform on Early Holocene diet in Peru. Her samples will include environmental substrates including water and plants; data from these materials will also inform on anthropogenic change in the present-day environment. 

Milton was also awarded the Lynne Goldstein Fellowship to help her to create outreach materials for her research. She plans to use Storywork, an approach centered on visual art and storytelling, to share her findings with one of the communities she has worked with. Department funding will support both translated and interactive booklets, as well as support a new online project she hopes to begin this fall that will communicate her field and lab methods through immersive visual and audio media.  

Lastly, Milton was awarded the Alumni and Friends Expendable Fund for Archaeology to complete data collection for her first dissertation manuscript, which is focused on isotopic measures of seasonal change in the south-central Andes of Peru. She hopes her findings will inform best practices of how archaeologists can isotopically study the archaeological materials from Central Andean sites. The award will support 140 isotopic measurements of water and plants that she will collect in her 2022 field seasons. 

Ph.D. student Jeff Burnett received funding from the Lynne Goldstein Fellowship, and the funding will be used to support his dissertation project and to prepare him to apply for the Wenner-Gren Engaged Research Grant program, which supports engaged, community-based anthropological projects that work collaboratively with community groups. His dissertation project is an archaeological investigation of African American homeownership, community formation and memory-making in the historic Highlands area in the resort community of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. The Lynne Goldstein Fellowship will allow him to organize and host in-person research design meetings with a core group of collaborators.

Department of Anthropology associate professor Dr. Heather Howard recently published an article in Syndemic Magazine. The article is titled “First Nations, Contagion, and Canada: The Lineages of Pandemic Colonialism the Americas.” In examining the pandemic’s ties to colonialism, the article states: “If the overall “trick” of settler colonialism is to convince settlers they are natives of the lands they subjugate, in the pandemic a further trick consists of treating colonialism’s consequences as so many particular cases of “disparities,” “susceptibilities,” or “local emergencies.” What might be called a syndemic clustering of settler colonialism, systemic racism and gender discrimination has been systematically obscured.”

Read the full article at: https://syndemic.ca/2022/04/25/article-2/

The Michigan Archaeological Society, the oldest and largest avocational archaeological organization for citizen scholars in the state of Michigan, has conferred its highest award on Professor Emeritus William A. Lovis. The MAS Merit Award honors individuals “for sustained, outstanding, and significant contributions to Michigan archaeology”. This award recognizes Dr. Lovis’ half century of research into Michigan’s past, with scholarship resulting in numerous books, monographs and journal articles, as well as his long-standing association with and support for Michigan’s avocational archaeological community.

Congratulations Dr. Lovis!

On April 8th, 2022, over 220 international scholars and professors came together online to engage with pedagogical questions and practical case studies for a day-long virtual workshop on “Teaching the City”. The workshop designed around two core questions: “How do we teach about the city? What sits at the core of our educational and pedagogical explorations of urban spaces and socialities within Anthropology and its sibling disciplines? The organizing team was composed of MSU Department of Anthropology assistant professor, Dr. Lucero Radonic, Dr. Suzanne Scheld from California State University Northridge, Dr. Angela Storey from University of Louisville, Dr. Megan Sheehan from the College of St Benedict/St John’s University, and Dr. Claire Panetta from Pace University of New York. The organizing team also included three graduate students: Marwa Bakabas and Cara Jacob from MSU, and Hanadi Alhalabi from California State University Northridge. The event was sponsored by the Critical Urban Anthropology Association (CUAA).

The workshop began with a roundtable discussion on “The Challenges and Opportunities of Urban Teaching: Thinking Across Pedagogies and Practices” that featured Hiba Bou Akar (Columbia University), Najib Hourani (Michigan State University), Martha Radice (Dalhousie University), and Maria Vesperi (New College of Florida). Scholars discussed how to work with diverse student bodies to interrogate and learn from both the banal and extraordinary aspects of cities across the globe.

In the afternoon, the conference hosted two concurrent lightning talk sessions for which panelists prepared five-minute presentations to set up the floor for group conversations on pedagogical practices and approaches to teaching about and in the city. Panelists offered in depth discussions of syllabi and readings, writing exercises, and fieldwork projects.

The first session was titled “Teaching Tools: Methods, Outcomes, and Engagement”. Drawing on teaching experiences from cities in Scotland, Canada, United States, Philippines, and Indonesia, presenters discussed the use of different techniques –including digital maps, participatory mapping, and photo-elicitation— to engage students in interrogating the urban experience that surrounds them.

The second session was titled “Experiential Teaching and Big Concepts”. Panelists drew on course-based activities that took place on and off campus, virtually and in person, to discuss how they approached teaching core and complex concepts including inequality, infrastructure, affect and emotion. Presentations also highlighted how in teaching the city students (and faculty) are offered the opportunity to query the relationship between their institutions and the surrounding urban environment(s).

The event closed with a keynote address by John L. Jackson Jr. who is the Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This talk was titled “What Anthroman Might Still Teach Us about Urban Ethnography” and it discussed the many demands and expectations of ethnographic research and how to mitigate some of the methodological (and even psychological) challenges of qualitative urban research.

Reflecting on the workshop, Dr. Radonic highlighted how “the online format allowed us to create a learning community across borders and across disciplines to exchange insights on pedagogy and the potential intersections between teaching and research in and about the city. It was inspiring to see how the zoom chat was always active as participants exchanged recommendations for exercises, readings, and engaged in discussions about accessibility, inclusion, and ethics.” MSU Ph.D. student and co-organizer Marwa Bakabas echoed Dr. Radonic, saying that the conference was an excellent opportunity to engage with a “wide variety of research centered on urban anthropology being conducted globally”, and that she enjoyed taking part in planning the workshop, reviewing proposals, handling logistics, and networking.

As a next step the organizing team is planning to create a repository for syllabus and teaching materials to be hosted on the website for the Critical Urban Anthropology Association (https://cuaa.americananthro.org). Recording from the panel and lightening talks will also be made available there. Dr. Radonic remarks that “the fact that people are already sending materials to us speaks to the generosity and collegiality that can be fostered in academia.”

Department of Anthropology Ph.D. student Kelly Kamnikar and assistant professor Dr. Joe Hefner recently published a chapter in Avances en Antropología Forense. This chapter reviews population affinity estimation using macromorphoscopic trait analysis. The authors focus on the application of this method to Latin American groups and discuss refining broad categories used in population affinity estimation, like Hispanic. They aim to provide a starting point for investigation into biological distance and population affinity for practitioners working with Latin American populations to improve methodology used in identification of migrant remains at the Mexico-US border, and victims of violence that may occur in transit from one country to another.

Department of Anthropology Ph.D. student Kelly Kamnikar, assistant professor Dr. Joe Hefner, and co-authors Dr. Timisay Monsalve, and Dr. Liliana Maria Bernal Florez recently published an article in Forensic Anthropology. The article is titled “Craniometric Variation in a Regional Sample from Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia: Implications for Forensic Work in the Americas.” This publication examines a sample from Antioquia, Colombia within a population affinity estimation framework. The authors aim to investigate intraregional variation via social labels within Antioquia and craniometric variation on a broad level, when pooled, as compared to other global, comparative samples. This research directly contributes to the refinement of the ‘Hispanic’ category in population affinity estimation models. While Colombians are not considered as one of the top clandestine migration groups to the U.S., the country has hosted a decades-long civil war where the missing and unidentified number into the 100,000s. Additionally, Colombia is geographically proximate to Venezuela and involved in current migration events, which could have forensic implications. This paper serves as a tool for forensic practitioners in the region who may encounter unidentified remains in their casework as a means for identification.

Read the full article at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsir.2021.100252

Abstract: “Population affinity estimation is frequently assessed from measurements of the cranium. Traditional models place individuals into discrete groups―such as Hispanic―that often encompass very diverse populations. Current research, including this study, challenges these assumptions using more refined population affinity estimation analyses. We examine craniometric data for a sample of individuals from different regions in Antioquia, Colombia. We first assessed the sample to understand intraregional variation in cranial shape as a function of birthplace or a culturally constructed social group label. Then, pooling the Colombian data, we compare cranial variation with global contemporary and prehistoric groups. Results did not indicate significant intraregional variation in Antioquia; classification models performed poorly (28.6% for birthplace and 36.6% for social group). When compared to other groups (American Black, American White, Asian, modern Hispanic, and prehistoric Native American), our model correctly classified 75.5% of the samples. We further refined the model by separating the pooled Hispanic sample into Mexican and Guatemalan samples, which produced a correct classification rate of 74.4%. These results indicate significant differences in cranial form among groups commonly united under the classification “Hispanic” and bolster the addition of a refined approach to population affinity estimation using craniometric data.”