Of the three dimensions that Anthropology was evaluated on, Centrality was the
dimension upon which we received our lowest score and arguably created the greatest concern
among the faculty. In particular, the low score was particularly puzzling in that we view
anthropology as a core discipline that is essential to fulfilling ECU’s mission. Accordingly, we
ask the committee to consider the following:
 Anthropology provides students with an understanding of a global
perspective and cross-cultural diversity, concepts that are central to ECU’s
Strategic Action Plan. Because of its ability to inform students about human
biological and cultural diversity, anthropology is arguably the most relevant program
in the liberal arts curriculum. Indeed, “biological variation and adaptation,” “global
perspective” and “cultural diversity” are concepts that are original to the discipline.
Within the university, Anthropology teaches the most courses with a cross-cultural
perspective. All of our foundation and upper division courses nurture an
understanding of what it means to be human, both past and present. In addition, our
faculty teaches Global Understanding and classes outside of the department including
International Studies, Asian Studies, Religious Studies, the MAIS program, the
Second Life Early High School program and honors courses and a majority of our
faculty members have research experience abroad. In short, Anthropology is unique
in that our primary focus is providing students with a global perspective on cultural
and human biological diversity—information that is essential to fulfilling the
“Education for a New Century” strategic direction in ECU’s Strategic Action Plan.
How can Anthropology not be considered “central” to achieving the university’s
mission?

Anthropology graduates receive a high quality education and have a high job
success rate that are evidence of Anthropology’s centrality to ECU’s Strategic
Action Plan. Recent economic trends suggest that anthropology skills will serve our
graduates well. A recent article in Diverse Perspectives on Social Science and
Medicine (Nov. 20, 2011), predicts robust job growth for anthropology in the next
decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment opportunities for all
anthropology majors will grow by 22% between now and 2018, and for students with
an MA degree there will be 28% growth. A recent article from Career.com lists
Anthropology at number 6 out of the top 10 fastest growing careers for students with
an MA degree. Our MA program began in 1995. In a little over a decade, we have
graduated 96 students with 75% employed in the field, 20% in PhD programs and 5%
unknown. This is a very strong track record and illustrates our commitment to
providing our master's students with a quality education and strong skills training to
make them eligible for immediate employment. Clearly, these results are evidence of
Anthropology’s centrality with respect to the “Education for a New Century”
strategic direction in ECU’s Strategic Action Plan. (Indeed, one example is the
Forensic Anthropology program spearheaded by Dr. Megan Perry that was featured
in the latest issue of East Magazine in the article "New Degrees Spur Growth in Grad
School: Novel Programs in the Medical Sciences and Technology Propel Growth in
Enrollment." How is it that Anthropology offers this important training to students
that is featured in East magazine yet is not considered central to the university?)
We were also puzzled by the relatively low score we received in Quality. Absent the
committee scores for the three categories (instructional, scholarly, and service) used to evaluate
unit quality, we will focus on examples of faculty service in national and international
organizations and the caliber of our graduate students as partial measures of the service and
instructional quality of our program.

Several Anthropology faculty hold important positions in national and
international organizations within the profession:
Laura Mazow serves on the board of trustees of the American Schools of Oriental
Research (ASOR). ASOR is the leading institute in North America committed to
supporting archaeological and historic research into, and to promoting public
understanding of, the peoples and cultures of the Middle East and ancient Near East.
Benjamin Saidel serves on the board of trustees of the W.F. Albright Institute of
Archaeological Research. The W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
(AIAR) in Jerusalem is the oldest American research center for ancient Near Eastern
studies in the Middle East (aiar.org/history.html).
Megan Perry is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Paleopathology.
She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Center of Oriental Research
(ACOR), a private nonprofit academic 501(c)(3) organization based in Amman,
Jordan. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
Holly Mathews is one of three elected board members for the Society for Medical
Anthropology, which is the largest professional society within the American
Anthropological Association, having 11,000 members nationally and internationally.
Charles Ewen is the Reviews Editor for the international journal Historical
Archaeology and recently elected President of the Society for Historical Archaeology,
an international organization concerned with the archaeology of the modern world
(A.D. 1400-present).
David Griffith, former editor-in-chief of Human Organization (the flagship journal of
the Society for Applied Anthropology), currently serves on two National Science
Foundation review panels, the University of Puerto Rico’s Sea Grant College review
panel, and on the editorial boards of Culture & Agriculture, Rural Sociology, and The
Journal of Ecological Anthropology.

Anthropology faculty attract high quality MA students from other
undergraduate institutions and place our graduates in highly regarded PhD
programs. With respect to instructional Quality, Anthropology has a highly regarded
graduate program that develops students both academically and professionally. For
example, our MA program attracts students at both the national (e.g., from New York,
Alaska, South Carolina, and Florida) and international (e.g., Mexico and China)
levels. Our MA graduates have pursued successful careers in a variety of fields
including cultural resource management (archaeology), forensic anthropology,
medical anthropology, and taught at community colleges. Other graduates have
continued their education in highly regarded PhD programs at universities such as
Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of New Mexico, University of Florida, and
University of Tennessee. In addition three of our faculty (Drs. Daniel, Ewen, and
Griffith) have advised PhD students in the Coastal Resources Management program
at ECU.
 The number of Anthropology faculty is quite normal for institutions with
graduate programs. Although not explicitly part of the PPC report, some committee
members have made claims regarding the “large” number of faculty in Anthropology.
That is, it has been asserted that the ECU Anthropology department is larger than
many PhD programs—implying that our department is too large relative to our
contributions to the university. This claim is simply not true. In fact, the number of
ECU Anthropology faculty is quite average across peer institutions with
Anthropology departments. The mistaken impression of our “large” size is based on
comparison to units that include anthropologists as part of a combined social sciences
department. Accurate claims regarding the relative size of our department should only
be made by comparison to independent anthropology departments with MA
programs. Six such departments exist among our peer institutions.* Using those data,
the average tenure-track and tenured faculty per 10,000 students at ECU's Department
of Anthropology is virtually identical (5.0) to the number (4.9) from those six
universities. These data clearly indicate that the faculty of the Department of
Anthropology at ECU is of average size especially when considering the number of
students that we serve.) Two other points worth noting are 1) the number of faculty
(14) used by the committee did not take into account that two of those are half-time,
with joint appointments in other units and 2) by the end of spring 2012 we will lose
three tenure track faculty, leaving us with 11 faculty members, two of whom are halftime. This puts us significantly below the size of comparative anthropologist
departments with graduate programs at research institutions.
*These universities include: UNC-Greensboro, Northern Illinois University, Ohio University – Main
Campus, Western Michigan University, University of North Dakota – Main Campus, and University of
Louisville.