• Weaving together anthropology, art, and socio-environmental justice with PhD student Kelsey Merreck Wagner

    Anthropology PhD student Kelsey Merreck Wagner describes her work as living at the nexus of aesthetics, anthropological inquiry of environmental ruin at human hands, and hope for socio-environmental justice. Wagner’s research interests include the cultural norms and institutions that define our human-environment relations and seek pathways towards sustainability and coexistence. She is especially interested in […]

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  • Dr. Carolyn Isaac, Forensic Anthropologist of the MSUFAL

    Assistant Professor Carolyn Isaac joined the Department of Anthropology in Fall 2019 and is one of the three acclaimed forensic anthropologists of the Michigan State University Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (MSUFAL) with Dr. Todd Fenton and Dr. Joseph Hefner. Dr. Isaac is the Director of the MSUFAL and oversees the lab’s operations and involvement with forensic […]

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  • Alumnus Dr. Henry Miller Awarded J.C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology

    The Department of Anthropology is thrilled to congratulate Dr. Henry Miller for being awarded the Society for Historical Archaeology’s J.C. Harrington Medal for 2020. This recognition is the highest international award for scholarly contributions to the field of historical archaeology. An alumnus of the MSU Department of Anthropology, Dr. Miller earned his PhD in 1984 […]

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  • Online Teaching in the Department with Drs. Adán Quan and Ethan Watrall

    Since the onset of the pandemic, classes at MSU have been primarily online to promote health and safety efforts. The shift from in-person to remote classes prompted significant reconfigurations of the fall and spring semesters’ courses to online formats. Throughout this transition, Dr. Adán Quan and Dr. Ethan Watrall have provided tremendous support in modifying […]

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  • The Morton Village Archaeological Project with Dr. Jodie O’Gorman

    Associate Professor, and previous longtime Chair of the Department, Jodie O’Gorman has co-directed the Morton Village Archaeological Project for the past twelve years. Dr. O’Gorman’s research focuses on post-migration cultural interactions and the question of violence and cooperation in the pre-Columbian mid-continent of North America. Dr. O’Gorman became interested in late prehistoric villages of the […]

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  • Investigating and improving water conservation programs in urban Tucson, AZ with Dr. Lucero Radonic

    Over the past six years, Assistant Professor Lucero Radonic has conducted ethnographic research on the strategies used by cities and urban residents to adapt to climate change and make a home where drought and extreme heat events have become protracted conditions. Dr. Radonic’s research has specifically focused on people’s intimate relationship to water by examining […]

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  • Understanding the past through bones: Dr. Gabriel Wrobel and the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory

    In the MSU Bioarchaeology Laboratory, graduate and undergraduate students learn how to read the lives—and deaths—of individuals and groups from the past. The laboratory was established in 2012 by Associate Professor Gabriel Wrobel, who has conducted numerous excavations and research projects on ancient Maya sites in Belize. As a bioarchaeologist, Dr. Wrobel focuses on the […]

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  • Fieldwork Photography Contest Winners 2020

    Congratulations to the winners of our 2020 Anthropology Fieldwork Photography Contest. Thank you to everyone who entered photos and to our judges from across the department. The photos were truly amazing and are a stunning reflection of the fieldwork in this department. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ To read the full newsletter, click here.

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  • College Recognizes PhD Student Micayla Spiros as Outstanding Researcher

    This spring, PhD student Micayla Spiros received the inaugural College of Social Science Graduate Student Research Award. This award is presented to one graduate student from the entire College of Social Science who initiates and conducts original research and demonstrates a clear potential for continued research excellence. Spiros is a graduate student in the MSU […]

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  • Dr. Chantal Tetreault Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award

    Associate Professor Chantal Tetreault has won a coveted Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award. Dr. Tetreault specializes in linguistic and cultural anthropology and her recent work has primarily focused on issues of migration and social change in France. More generally, her research illuminates how cultural processes of identity construction are achieved through everyday language use. Dr. […]

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