• Undergraduate Research Symposium and Showcase

    photo of msu anthropology undergraduate research symposium
    2017 Department of Anthropology Undergraduate Research Symposium

    The Department of Anthropology held its First Annual Anthropology Research Symposium and Showcase for Undergraduate Students on Thursday, December 7th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. The idea for this symposium blossomed out of conversations between Dr. Fredy Rodriquez and the department chair, Dr. Jodie O’Gorman, about the need to create an open house for our undergraduate students to show off their hard work and excite other students about research. The two quickly agreed that a research symposium and showcase would be the most beneficial for students as a supportive audience of peers, friends, parents and faculty would provide an opportunity for exchange and feedback. Many of the participants then turned their presentations into entries in the larger University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum.

    undergraduate explains his research poster to an onlooker
    Mike Gates explains his research, “Lithic Analysis of the Perrin Mink Farm Site.”

    The Anthropology Research Symposium and Showcase offers an opportunity for parents, friends and others to learn more about our undergraduate students’ independent work and collaboration with faculty and graduate students around the university. All anthropology majors, minors and those who had collaborated on anthropological research initiatives with faculty members or independently were invited to participate. The student research projects were displayed in recorded Power Point and poster presentation formats. Dr. Rodriguez and other faculty members mentored students who had never had the occasion to share their research prior to the event. Twenty projects in all were showcased at the 2017 Symposium with research topics ranging from medical anthropology, archaeology, forensic anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, and social media anthropology. Light snacks and coffee were provided, and we are happy to announce that we received close to 120 attendees.

    undergraduate stands by her research poster
    Amy Hair presents her photogrammetry work, “Craniometric Analysis Using 3D Modeling.”

     

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  • Dr. Lovis named editor for Midwest Archaeological Perspectives Series

    Dr. William LovisDr. William (Bill) Lovis has been named the inaugural Editor for a new book series, Midwest Archaeological Perspectives, launched by a partnership between the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc. and the University of Notre Dame Press.  The series will include the most compelling and current works of archaeological narrative and insight for the American Midwest region, exploring standing questions from new vantage points, and innovative new questions arising from the deployment of cutting edge theory and method.

    The American Mid-continent, stretching from the Appalachians to the Great Plains, and from the Boreal Forests to the Gulf of Mexico, is home to a rich and deep multi-ethnic past that even after 150 years of exploration continues to fascinate scholars and the public alike. Beginning with colonization by the first Native American big game hunters, through the origins of domestic food production and construction of the largest earthen monuments in North America, and ultimately the entry of multiple colonial empires and their varying interactions with native populations, the story of the region is an exciting one of changing cultural and environmental interactions and adaptive strategies. The diverse environments that characterize the region have fostered a multiplicity of solutions to the problem of survival, ranging from complex sedentary agriculturally intensive societies to those with highly refined seasonal resource strategies keyed to timed movement and social flexibility.

    For more information about this series, check out the Midwest Archaeological Perspectives page here.

  • NEW Alumni & Friends Fund for Archaeology

    The Department of Anthropology is proud to announce the creation of The Alumni and Friends Expendable Fund for Archaeology. The purpose of this fund is to target the needs of MSU archaeology students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and enhance the visibility of MSU’s archaeology program at home and abroad. Through the funds accumulated by donations from our alumni and friends we will be able to offer student assistance for professional development in the forms of scholarships for fieldwork, research, travel and fellowships. By enhancing the recruitment of a diverse archaeological student cohort and establishing an annual, invited lecture series in archaeology, this fund will serve to strengthen and carry on the strong tradition of archaeology at MSU.

    Our first event sponsored by the fund brought Dr. Donna Yates, lecturer in Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime at the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research to campus for a week. During this time, she visited archaeology classes, met with faculty and students, gave a public lecture, and offered a graduate workshop. Over 90 people attended her lecture from campuses and cities across the state and over two dozen watched it streaming online. The fund provided the lecture with the foundational funding to secure co-sponsors for the event. Needless to say, it was an enormous success and we are excited to be in the planning stages for our next annual lecture.

    kate fredrick cache pits
    Graduate Student Kate Frederick lining her experimental cache pits, part of her dissertation fieldwork.

    This spring, research proposals from two graduate students, Susan Kooiman and Kate Frederick, were selected for awards from this fund. The support will enable them to expand and enhance their dissertation research projects. Kooiman will use the funds to analyze diet from lipids, isotopes, and microbotanicals extracted from pottery at the Cloudman site. Frederick will use her award this summer as she maps and conducts test excavations of possible cache pits just south of Cheboygan, Michigan.

    This fund is a concerted effort by our archaeology alumni to offer enhanced opportunities to current MSU archaeology students as they start their careers, become alumni, and continue the well-established heritage of archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at MSU. Contributions to the fund may be sent directly to the Department with the note “Archaeology Alumni and Friends donation” or click here to donate now.

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