Congratulations Melissa Baird: Cressman Prize Winner!

The Cressman Prize is awarded in honor of Dept founder, Luther Cressman, for the best graduate student paper in Anthropology submitted to this annual competition. Melissa was awarded the prize for her paper "Frederica de Laguna and the study of pre-contact pictographs from coastal sites in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, Alaska" the 2007 Cressman Prize. As Cressman Prize committee chair Josh Snodgrass puts it, "Congratulations on the award and for shepherding the paper to publication in Arctic Anthropology. Well done!"

Tami does it again! and again!

Congratulations to Tami Hill, recipient of a UO scholarship to the tune of $2400.

In early June, Tami also received the first annual Proudfoot-Swenson Summer Research Award from the Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC) for her project, "Latin American Survivors of Political Violence Living in the U.S. Pacific Northwest."
This honor includes a $1000 stipend to support new or ongoing graduate project research. The CoDaC awards are co-sponsored by the Graduate School, the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, and the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS).

This is the first year of the Proudfoot-Swenson award, made by CoDaC and CSWS to support research on issues of gender and indigenous culture. It is dedicated in memory of the late Professors Robert Proudfoot and Steve Swenson, co-founders and leaders of the Center for Indigenous Cultural Survival. Professor Proudfoot co-founded CoDaC, and both men maintained deep histories of affiliation and collaboration with CSWS.

CONTRATULATIONS TO TAMI!

Congratulations Jen Erickson! NSF Dissertation Improvement Award

Congratulations to Jen Erickson, who is the recipient of National
Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. The award (approximately $14,000) will fund her year-long innovative research in the midwest with Bosnian and Sudanese refugees.
Kudos to Jen!

Spring Picnic on a sunny day by the river

With the spring quarter now at an end, I have a few minutes to update the goings-on around here related to the grad program.

First off though, I'd like to thank in writing Graduate Administrator Tiffany Brannon and Accounts diva Stephanie Morton for paying the coordination and energetic costs of organizing the Spring Department picnic which was held on May 19, 2007, 12 noon to...whenever.

To fill you in, this year it was held at Jasper State Park, along the Willamette River (or the north fork of the south fork of the west fork of the east fork of the river...or whatever), on a glorious sunny spring day. The libations poured, the food grilled, the kids played, the parentals invested, the grad students foraged optimally by stealing my bratworst off the grill just as it was cooked to save on processing time (which somebody was kind enough to bring in the first place so i can't complain: iterated free riding on a public goods game anyone?). Dept. chair John Lukacs emerged as king of the horseshoe pit: the grads seemed to avoid the contest, too scared of getting wiped out by the faculty in the pit it seemed, so they kept a safe distance and threw around a frisbee instead (although they claimed to be playing ultimate
but in the interests of fair reporting I refrain from characterizing their activity as such because i don't think it qualifies as ultimate frisbee if you are standing still). I heard there was softball earlier in the day as well: rumor has it that Lynn Stephen, Doug Kennett, and John emerged as stars in that one.

In sum, a good day was had by all, the weather cooperated gloriously, another random spot in Oregon proved more beautiful than one could hope for, and since the office is closed for the week for remodeling, I won't have to hear any grad student frisbee or horseshoe challenges for a while.

Ian Edwards, Fulbright Full Grant Award

I am pleased to announce that Ian Edwards' (Doctoral Candidate in Cultural Anthropology) proposal to study both local and global aspects of the wildlife trade in Mali entitled, "Negotiated Wildlife in Mali, West Africa: Global Forces, Local Logics," has been funded by the Fullbright Commission. Ian will be headed to Mali next Fall to begin field research for his dissertation. Congratulations Ian!

Aaron Blackwell, Dept. Sylff Nominee

Congratulations to Aaron for being our Dept. Nomination for a 2007-2008 Oregon University System, Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund.

In addition, kudos to Aaron for having his paper, "Is human self-sacrifice adaptive? A mathematical examination of cultural, ecological, and demographic variables contributing to suicidal self-sacrifice in humans," accepted for presentation at the May 2007 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Meetings. In addition, he is also co-author on 4 other papers or posters at these meetings, including:
"Social niche cultivation among the Shiwiar of Ecuador"
"Life history tradeoffs and the health of Shuar juveniles of Morona-Santiago, Ecuador;" and,
"Female WHR, BMI and Attractiveness."

Nick Malone to speak at Anthropology Commencement

Nick Malone, will be our commencement speaker at the 2007 Anthropology Commencement Ceremony. We look forward to an inspiring and illuminating address.

Nick Malone is currently University of Oregon Doctoral Research Fellow and
Doctoral Candidate in Biological Anthropology. He is the 2006-2007 recipient of the University of Oregon Doctoral Research Fellowship, which provides financial support for exceptional doctoral candidates as they complete their research and the writing of their dissertations. These fellowships are designed to support outstanding doctoral students and promote excellence in research at the University of Oregon. Nick was awarded this fellowship to complete his dissertation, entitled, "The Socio-ecology of the Critically Endangered Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch): Assessing the Impact of Anthropogenic Disturbance on Primate Social Systems."

Kudos Tami Hill!

Kudos to Tami Hill on her reciept of a $5000 College of Arts and Sciences Everett Del Monte Scholarship!

Congratulations Reecie Levin

Congratulations to Reecie Levin who was awarded a University of Oregon John L. and Naomi M. Luvaas Fellowship in Arts and Sciences!

In addition, Reecie and co-authors will be presenting her research on obsidian tools and debitage collected from a rock shelter site on the northern coast of Easter Island at the forthcoming International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, to be held in Visby Sweden. The rock shelter from which the tools and debitage were collected was used for at least eight hundred years, allowing Reece and collegues Bill Ayers and Kat Seikel to analyze Eastern Island obsidian tool technology over the course of most of the islands' settled history.

Chris Casserino: Fall 06 Graduate School Research Award Winner

Chris recieved this award will help cover expenses for his dissertation research entitled “Paleopathological Analysis of the Skeletal Remains from Paquime: Implications for Disease, Warfare and Massacre in the Greater Southwest.” Good going Chris!

Emily Henderson: Fall 06 Graduate School Research Award Winner!

Emily recieved the Graduate School Research Award to cover expenses associated with her microwear analysis of cercopithecine diet using Low Magnification Stereomicroscopy in Nairobi Kenya, during Winter, 2007. Emily is currently in Kenya conducting this research. Congratulations Emily!

Josh Fisher: Fall 06 Department Travel and Research Award Recipient

Josh recieved this award to present his paper “The Fair Trade Zone: Gender and Class in the World’s First Free Trade Zone” at the American Anthropological Association meetings in San Jose, California. Congratulations Josh!

Kevin Turley: Fall 06 Department Travel and Research Award

Kevin recieved this award to travel to the American Museum of Natural History to scan the Talo-Crural Joints of Macaca and Hominid fossils. Congratulations Kevin!

Jennifer Erickson: Fall 06 Department Travel and Research Award

Jen recieved a Departmental Travel and Research Award to present her paper, “Genocide in Sudan: Darfur, the South, and Gendered Representations of ‘Sudanese’” at the American Anthropological Association meetings in San Jose, California. Kudos Jen!

Aaron Blackwell: Fall 06 Department Travel and Research Award (DTRA) Winner!

Aaron Blackwell recieved a DTRA to help defray research expenses for a Nov-Dec trip to Ecuador to set up your research on the costly signaling of illness, and on healthcare provisioning among the Shuar, Morona Santiago, Ecuador. During that trip he also cross-checked a mountain of data from the Sucua Children's Health Diagnostic, analyzed another mountain of data for our Ecuadorean collegues' presentation on health to the Shuar and Achuar Federations of Paztaza and Morona Santiago Provinces, and helped hammer out the next phase of the Shuar Life History Project. Way to go Aaron!

Chris Casserino Kudos!

In Jan 2007, Chris Casserino has received a grant from the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies for his dissertation research. He will investigate skeletal evidence of violence in the human remains from the final phase of habitation at Paquime, Mexico.

Helen Vallianatos

In Fall 2007, Helen Vallianatos published her dissertation, “Poor and Pregnant in New Delhi India,” an exploration of how women interpret the cultural dietary norms for pregnancy based on their reproductive histories, socioeconomic status, and family structure, and, in turn, how their food practices shaped their nutritional and health status. Helen received her Ph.D. from our Dept. and is currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta.

Congratulations Josh: Sasakawa Award Winner

In Sept. 2007, Joshua Fisher was awarded the Sasakawa Award ($6,000) to help fund his dissertation research "Religion, Revolution, Redemption: On the Moral Economy of Fair Trade in Nicaragua.". The research will be conducted in Nueva Vida, Nicaragua (at the 'Fair Trade Zone,' the world's first worker-owned free trade zone) and in El Porvenir, Nicaragua (an organic, fair trade coffee cooperative) beginning in the summer of 07., and he has preliminarily titled the project

Pat O'Grady Ph.D

Pat O’Grady successfully defended his dissertation, “Before Winter Comes: Archaeological Investigations of Settlement and Subsistence in Harney Valley, Harney County, Oregon” on Thursday, September 21, 2006. His committee members are Mel Aikens (Chair), Doug Kennett, Dennis Jenkins, and Esther Jacobson.

Jeanne McLaughlin nominated for UO Dissertation Research Award

Jeanne McLaughlin was nominated for a prestigeous UO Dissertation Research Award. Jeanne's dissertation investigates current forensic missing persons identification practices in Oregon, shows how these practices result in a number of individuals who go unidentified, and lays out a more systematic plan for the forensic identification of human remains in Oregon. Congratulations Jeanne.

Congratulations Gwen Robbins

Congratulations to Gwen Robbins, who has accepted a tenure track assistant professor position in the Department of Anthropology at Appalachian State University. She will defend her dissertation on demography, family growth & development in India spring term 2007. Way to go Gwen!