Madalena Monteban and Asher Rosinger win 2011 University of Georgia Graduate School Dean’s Awards

Two anthropology graduate students who both devote some focus to medical anthropology have each been awarded the University of Georgia Graduate School Dean's Award.

Madalena Monteban, whose Andean region research has focused on the relationship between ethnoecological knowledge and health, and Asher Rosinger, who views the relation of water and childhood health in Bolivia in terms of economic decision making, were selected from an extremely competitive pool of applicants to receive this $1,000 research award. Madalena's major professors are Drs. Virginia Nazarea and Susan Tanner; Asher's major professor is Dr. Susan Tanner.

Alice Fazlollah receives Best Graduate Student Paper Award at state-wide conference

Alice Fazlollah, a student in the M.S. program of Archaeological Resource Management, recently received the Best Graduate Student Paper Award at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science, Anthropology Section.  The conference was held on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26th, 2011, in Gainesville, Georgia.  The title of Alice's paper was "Comparison of Age-At-Death Estimation Methods Using Data from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sample and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection."  Alice is completing her M.S. with an emphasis on forensics studies under the mentorship of MariaTeresa Tersigni-Tarrant.

Dr. Jared Wood, Archaeology Lab Manager, says, "Alice's paper was great and certainly one of the most professional ones given in our section."

Two Anthropology Students Win Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

Five UGA students have been awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for the upcoming spring 2011 semester study abroad programs. These students were selected from nearly 2,900 applications (850 awards) during the spring 2011 application cycle.

The Two Anthropology Majors: Mariam Abazeri, France $4,000.00 (UGA- Lyon 3 Exchange) and Terese Gagnon, Peru $4,500.00 (ISA- Lima, Peru).

Georgia Academy of Sciences Awards Two UGA Student Paper Prizes

In the 2010 annual meeting of the Georgia Academy of Sciences, held at Columbus State University at the end of March, undergraduate Vanessa Hanvey and M.S. ARM student Ben Storey were awarded prizes for academic papers submitted. Vanessa, a rising senior from Concord, GA, won the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Paper Award for "Pottery Analysis of Burnt Village Site (9TP9)." Ben, a fall 2009 graduate of the M.S. ARM program, received the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award for his paper, “Edwards’ 1952 Excavation at Tugalo, 9ST1: A Classification and Analysis of the Artifacts.”

Joe Lanning and Carla Haddon Awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowhips

The National Science Foundation has singled out the research of two UGA Department of Anthropology students as worthy of investing in over a three-year period. Joe Lanning, a first-year cultural anthropologist, and Carla Haddon, a first-year archaeologist, have been awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program annually awards fellowships to “graduate students in science and engineering who exhibit the potential to make significant contributions and innovations in research and teaching.” The award is for $30,000 per year for three years. The selection process for this nationwide program is exceedlingly competitive. For 2010, the GRFP awarded 2000 awards. Of these, 24 went to students in the field of cultural anthropology, and just 21 were awarded in archaeology. The University of Georgia had eight winners among scientific disciplines; only the Department of Anthropology was awarded more than one.

Joe Lanning studied and worked in Malawi for ten years before coming to UGA. His research, “Water as the Commons: Livelihoods, Irrigation and Technology in Rural Malawi,” continues his involvement with the African nation. Joe plans to comparatively examine how households that use common agricultural property adjust livelihood strategies as a reaction to new irrigation technology introduced by international development agencies. Joe’s major professor is Dr. Bram Tucker and he is a member of the Behavioral Ecology and Economic Decisions Laboratory (BEEDL)

Carla Haddon has designed a research project that incorporates her experience with coastal archaeology. Carla is researching the effects of hurricanes on settlement patterns and site abandonment on the Gulf Coast during the Woodland period, a term encompassing pre-Columbian cultures from 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. Dr. Elizabeth Reitz is Carla’s major professor.

Tracy Yang Awarded National Truman Scholarship

Tracy Yang, an anthropology major and Honors student from Macon, has been awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a national award recognizing outstanding juniors who are planning careers in government or other public service. Each scholarship provides up to $30,000 for graduate study. Recipients display outstanding leadership potential and communication skills. The 60 Scholars for 2010 were chosen from among 576 candidates nominated by 245 colleges and universities.

Tracy is involved in many campus organizations and mentors a local elementary student. She is interested in health disparities and improving public health, and has explored these topics with Dr. Susan Tanner in her coursework. She’ll pursue this interest in graduate school, as she hopes to earn M.P.H. and M.D. degrees, which she plans to use in a career as a physician policymaker or a health program administrator.

Matt McDaniel Receives Janis Faith Steingruber Award

Graduate Student Matt McDaniel has received the Janis Faith Steingruber Student Travel Award for 2010. This award is presented in memory of Ms. Steingruber, whose life and travels, although she pursued a career in library science, were informed by her undergraduate anthropology studies and field work. Matt will use this travel funding to investigate potential field sites in Panama with his major professor, Dr. Julie Velásquez Runk, and to meet university, political and non-governmental organization officials who can assist him with his dissertation research. His field work will compare land tenure regimes among black and indgenous groups in Panama and Columbia.

Ben Steere Chosen for Future Faculty Program

Ben Steere was one of just 15 University of Georgia teaching assistants who were invited to join the Future Faculty Program for the 2010-2011 academic year. This program is sponsored by the Dean of the Graduate School and coordinated by the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia. Participants in this program are experienced teaching assistants who have been recognized at the institutional level for their outstanding teaching and are preparing for careers in higher education. The purpose of the program is to provide preparation for future faculty roles, to develop instruction strategies and to increase departmental peer mentoring. Each year, ten to 15 TAs are selected from a variety of disciplines as program participants. These TAs engage in a year-long mentoring experience that includes group discussions on teaching, individual mentoring by faculty members, and mentoring by and for TA peers.

Ben Steere Wins 2009-2010 UGA Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

Ben Steere is one of a select group of teaching assistants recognized by UGA for significant teaching contributions with the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. Among other requirements, winners must teach consecutive terms and be enrolled full time in the application period. Ben's major professor is Dr. Stephen Kowalewski.

Three Anthropology Majors Awarded Hague Scholarships

Charlotte Byram, Trang Kieu-Thi Le, and Tyler Stumpf are this year's Hague Scholars. The scholarship was created in remembrance of Melissa Hague, an undergraduate anthropology major who died before graduating. Each of this years winners, determined by grade point average and other factors, received $1,000 toward tuition and expenses.

Melissa Hague Field Study Award 2009-2010 recipients

Undergraduate Gianna Gandossi and graduate student Joe Lanning were selected to receive the Melissa Hague Field Study award this year. This award was established in 1994 to honor Melissa Hague, an undergraduate anthropology major who died before she was able to realize her dream of doing field work. With her award, Gianna will attend the Czech American Field School program through the College of DuPage in Illinois, a bioarchaeological field school excavating the Great Moravian state that existed between the ninth to the early tenth century. Joe Lanning, a graduate student whose major professor is Dr. Bram Tucker, will be travelling to return to his long-term environmental research and conservation efforts in Malawi. Joe is working with international organizations to equitable and safe water access in rural areas

Ashley Bozarth wins 2009-2010 Head’s Award

Senior Ashley Bozarth, a double major in both anthropology and French, was selected to receive the Department Head's Award, which recognizes graduating seniors for outstanding accomplishments in the classroom, research or service. Dr. Stephen Kowalewski, who nominated Ashley, made it plain that she had met all three crieteria, including producing "publishable quality" research. Ashley graduated this spring as a First Honor Graduate, meaning that she maintained a 4.0 grade-point average throughout her time at UGA; only 16 of 4,000 graduates accomplished this feat.

Shiloh Moates wins AAA Netting Award

Ph.D. candidate Shiloh Moates is the 2009 winner of the second annual Robert M. Netting Student Paper Award in Agricultural Anthropology, sponsored by the Culture and Agriculture Section of the American Anthropological Association. His paper, "Clasificadores: 'Living Off the Trash' and Raising Hogs at the Urban Margin," is a component of his dissertation research conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay. Shiloh compares agricultural and livestock rearing strategies of populations at the urban margin. Dr. Robert Rhoades is Shiloh's major professor.

Graduate Committee selects nominees for Graduate School Dean’s Award

The Department of Anthropology Graduate Committee congratulates Susannah Chapman, Heather Gallivan, Carla Hadden, and Patrick Huff for their selection as the department's nominees for the Graduate School Dean's Award. Their proposals were excellent and the committee wishes them luck in the next round of the selection process. The Graduate School Dean’s Award assists graduate students in defraying the cost of doing research for their dissertation; only ten students are selected to receive it each year. Each department may nominate four students to be considered for these highly competitive awards.

Wit Recognized

We’ve enjoyed Nemer Narchi’s humor—Now, his wit goes international . The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) recently sponsored a cartoon competition to launch its new education and outreach site, “Discover Anthropology.” RAI received entries from all over the world in response to their call for “cartoons that explore anthropological topics and ideas in a comical, original and engaging way.” Nemer’s cartoon, “Overcoming the Hunter-Gatherer,” was among the fourteen selected for publication. His cartoon will go online soon; we’ll share it when it does. Nemer's major professor is Brent Berlin.

2009 Field Research award winners

Patricia Dunne and Madalena Monteban have won 2009 Tinker Graduate Field Research Summer Travel Awards, given by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute, with generous support provided by the Tinker Foundation and the UGA Graduate School and the Franklin College. These $2,000 awards are granted to highly qualified students interested in conducting research in the Spanish- or Portugese-speaking Latin American and Caribbean region. Patricia will be conducting research in Peru, working with Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental and with UGA's Center for Integrative Conservation Research, which is directed by Dr. Peter Brosius. Dr. Julie Velásquez Runk is her major professor. Madalena will be doing predissertation fieldwork on the relationship between biodiversity and maternal and infant health in the region of Cusco, Peru. Dr. Virginia Nazarea is her major professor.

Fulbright Grant award winner

Christine Beitl has received a 2009-10 Fulbright grant, of $11,550, for work on her dissertation. She'll be conducting research in the provinces of El Oro and Esmeraldas, Ecuador, where she'll be preparing to write on "Collective Action and Social-ecological Resilience on the Ecuadorian Coast." Dr. Robert Rhoades is Christine's major professor.

2009 Field Research Summer Travel Award winner

David Meek has won a 2009 Tinker Graduate Field Research Summer Travel Award, given by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute, with generous support provided by the Tinker Foundation and the UGA Graduate School and the Franklin College. These $2,000 awards are granted to highly qualified students interested in conducting research in the Spanish- or Portugese-speaking Latin American and Caribbean region. David will be conducting pilot research in Sao Paolo, Brazil, examining facets of the Landless Workers' Movement. Dr. Peter Brosius is his major professor. 

2009 Outstanding Teaching Assistant

Tad Brown is a recipient of UGA's 2009 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. His TA work included revising the syllabus and course content for the course Historical Ecology, taught by Dr. Robert Rhoades. Tad's background in sustainable agriculture, as evidenced in his work with Spring Valley EcoFarms and Agrarian Connections Farm, enriched the student experience. His major professor is Robert Rhoades.