• Welcome to GVSU Anthropology
  • Dear Students: A Welcome from the Chair
• Department at a Glance
• Programs & Degrees
• 2009-2010 Courses and Curriculum
• Laboratory and Outreach
  • Laboratory
  • Community Outreach
• Field Schools and Internships
• Faculty and Staff
  • Faculty and Staff 2009-2010
  • Faculty Recognition
• Anthropology Club, Alumni and Current Events
  • Events and News - Winter 2009
  • Anthropology Alumni
• Career Information
• Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategic Plan
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Anthropology Department

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Dear Students: A Welcome from the Chair

August 31, 2009

Dear new and returning students:

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year! The anthropology faculty members are looking forward to a great year, working with you in the classroom, the anthropology club, and at our special events.

We welcome a new faculty member this fall. We are pleased to announce our newest tenure track faculty member, Dr. Elizabeth Arnold. Dr. Arnold is a zooarchaeologist who uses various techniques to examine animals in the archaeological record as well as their environment. Her current research takes her to Early Iron Age settlements in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where she uses strontium isotope analysis to examine the mobility of domesticated herds of cattle and small stock and its affect on human settlements patterns and alliance networks.

She comes to us from the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign where she held a postdoctoral fellowship after receiving her Ph.D. at the University of Calgary in 2006. She will be continuing this research at GVSU. Dr. Arnold also has six years experience in cultural resource management in Canada, her home country, where she worked closely with First Nations groups.

We welcome Dr. Janet Brashler Back from her sabbatical, where she spent time conducting ethnographic research among the Lakota of South Dakota.
 
The rest of the faculty are charged up and ready to share their summer projects with students this year.

As you know we are very proud of our field schools at GVSU.  You may not know that GVSU is one of a very few undergraduate programs that offer field school experiences for our students. For example, Dr. Azizur Molla, in his second year at GVSU, completed a successful field project involving student researchers. The project, focusing on public health/radon in West Michigan, will continue this fall. 

In addition, we revised our Internship Program over the past year, developing a new website and adding many organization that will connect students to world experiences both locally and abroad.

I would like to encourage you to visit your advisor this fall, to make sure that you are on track for your major or minor. We have several courses that are not offered every semester or year and it is important that you schedule these classes in time for your graduation. Also, talk to a faculty member about planning your required field school or internship course. Make sure that you are formally registered as a major or minor so that you are on our email listing. We will be contacting students in the first few weeks of the fall semester about advising and the anthropology club. Get involved so you can meet new friends and take advantage of exciting field trips and special events! 

Finally, the Anthropology Department has several scholarships for full and part time students, majors and minors. These scholarships, The Flanders and the Koch scholarships, are available in February with March application deadlines.  Check with your professors or the department office for application forms.  The forms will be placed on the web page early in 2010.

Finally, we would also like to thank Dr. Cindy Hull for ten years of service as our Anthropology Department unit head. Dr. Hull stepped down to begin her partial retirement this year. 

Have a fantastic year! Stop by my office and let's talk about anthropology!

Dr. Russell Rhoads
Unit Head, Department of Anthropology