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Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies
NEWSLETTER
Summer 2013
New Series No. 5
http://www.uakron.edu/anthropology-classics/
Buchtel College of Arts & Sciences
The University of Akron
number of students continued to conduct research
under faculty supervision, both locally and afar.
For faculty, AY12-13 was marked by continued
accomplishment, in teaching and scholarship.
Message from the Chair
Hello again to alumni and friends of the Dept.
of Anthropology and Classical Studies (ACS).
ACS remains a department whose students
master a challenging curriculum and whose
faculty are active in both scholarship and
especially teaching. Consistent with UA’s
emphasis on student success, we continue to
graduate students in numbers out of
proportion to our small faculty size.
STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENT
UA suffered serious budget shortages in
2012-13, and projections for the coming year
are even worse. As the University responds
to the situation, ACS’s challenge is to
continue to demonstrate both our teaching
excellence and our research strengths. The
most recent 5-year program review
recommends extensive changes to our
program that our faculty are discussing,
along with our Dean’s office. We are grateful
to the College’s support, which strengthens
our ranks with the arrival of Dr. Isa RodriguezSoto, who joins us as a new Assistant Prof. of
Anthropology, and by Heather Pollock, who
for the coming academic year will serve as
full-time Visiting Lecturer.
The coming year poses what may be our
greatest challenges yet. By this time next
year I hope to be able to report our continued
success, which your support can enhance.
Congratulations to our graduating seniors. In Fall
2012, they included Adam Darkow, Brian Pritt,
and Natasha Reed. For Spring 2013, the list is:
Sean Alford, Carol Byron, Heather Lawrentz,
Corey Lowe, Tynesha North, Gretchen Pleuss,
James Smith, Michael Vimont, and Taryn Wood.
Anthropology student Nicolle LaNasa completed
her senior honors thesis on “Nature Deficit
Disorder in Cultural Context and Global
Perspective,” under Prof. Carolyn Behrman, and
was honored as Student Responder at August
2012 commencement.
Gretchen Pleuss conducting fieldwork in North Hill with Karen
refuges (lt.) and visiting Machu Picchu during her semester abroad
at the Univ. of San Ignacio, Cusco, Peru (rt).
STUDENT AWARDS & RESEARCH
Through the generosity of donors, many of them
UA alumni, ACS awards grants to assist students
in their studies and in conducting research or
assisting faculty in theirs. Not all programs offer
such opportunities to undergraduates, making
Akron and ACS leaders in this area.
NEWS
Academic Year (AY) 2012-13 was one of both
accomplishment and challenge. ACS’s
Anthropology major numbers maintained their
numbers despite overall declines in University
enrollment. Our students continue to stretch
themselves and our faculty, as they should. A
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and Ashley Rutkowski to participate in “Kea
Archaeology Bronze Age Survey” (Aegean
Greece).
Again, ACS is grateful to donors for making
possible these awards to deserving students.
Students Christian Gaudiing, Sarah Stepnowski, Corey Lowe, Chris
Marino, Geniro Dingle, Eric Olson and Taryn Wood working on
interview methods in the Active Research Methods lab.
With continuing generous support from our
anonymously endowed Undergraduate
Research Assistantship in Anthropology, ACS
awarded Gretchen Pleuss our AY2012-13
assistantship. The award of $7,500 allowed
Gretchen to complete her studies. As part of the
appointment Gretchen worked under Dr. Carolyn
Behrman’s supervision on a study of foodways
and food marketing among North Hill’s
Southeast Asian Karen community. An
accomplished musician, Gretchen won Public
Radio Exchange’s Searchlight songwriting
competition and after graduation and began
touring as a professional musician.
In Fall 2013, Sarah Stepnowski will hold the
ACS Undergraduate Research Assistantship,
again under Dr. Behrman’s supervision.
With equally generous support from the Conrad
Copeland Reining Memorial Fund (a UA
alumnus and applied anthropologist for many
years at Catholic University) and the Emily
Harpham Fund, ACS offered 2012 scholarships
to Michelle Bebber and LeeAnna Irvine.
Spring 2013 Robert Little Fellowships went to:
Michelle Bebber to attend the “Birth of Europe
Neolithic Field School” in Bulgaria
Meghan Pearson to study “Ecological Factors’
Impact on Social Proximity in Mantled Howler
Monkeys” in Costa Rica;
Kudos to Anthropology majors on the Spring
2013 Dean's List: Michelle Bebber, Shannon
Boggess, Jillian Bryson, Brittany Caldwell,
Brooke Carrel, Ryna Crano, Bryan Cullen,
Geniro Dingle, Matthew Fiske, Tannya Forcone,
Christian Gauding, Leanna Irvine, Heather
Lawrentz, Lucy Merendino, Corey Lowe, Tynesha
North, Eric Olson, Andrew Pavlenda, Meghan
Pearson, Gretchen Pleuss, Megan Powley, Beth
Robb, Destiny Ross, Ashley Rutkowski, James
Smith, Leslie Tetrick, Michael Vimont and Taryn
Wood.
Classical Studies minors on the Spring 2013
Dean’s list include: Nicol Bowen, Jason
Frederick, Giselle Lupino, Tynesha North,
Nicholas Nussen, Julie Polsinelli, and Leslie
Tetrick.
Fall 2012 Dean’s List students include Shannon
Boggess, Matthew Brady, Miriam Bratcher,
Jillian Bryson, Brittany Caldwell, Sarah
Caldwell, Emily Cavalier, Stephanie Coia, Ryan
Crano, Bryan Cullen, Geniro Dingle, Tannya
Forcone, John Gifford, leanna Irvine, Kenneth
Kaufman, Heather Lawrentz, Corey Lowe, Eric
Olson, Andrew Pavlenda, Gretchen Pleuss,
Megan Powley, Brian Pritt, Natash Reed, Beth
Robb, Destiny Ross, Isaac Smith, Sarah
Stepnowski, Leslie Tetrick and Michael Vimont.
Classical Studies minors on the Fall 2012
Dean’s list include: Nicol Bowen, Giselle
Lupino, Nicholas Nussen, Julie Polsinelli, and
Leslie Tetrick.
FACULTY NEWS
Our biggest news is the arrival of Dr. Isa
Rodriguez-Soto as a new full-time Asst. Prof. of
Anthropology. Dr. Rodriguez-Soto recently
completed her PhD at Arizona State University,
where she completed research on
intergenerational variation in body-size models in
Puerto Rico. Her presence strengthens our
cultural-anthropology program, and aligns ACS
even more closely with the University’s strategic
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goals. Students, take note: Dr. Rodriguez-Soto
will teach a range of courses, some new. As she
continues her research in Puerto Rico and perhaps
elsewhere, look for opportunities to conduct your
own research under her guidance.
Also, we welcome Heather Pollock to our fulltime ranks as a Visiting Lectureship for AY201314. Ms. Pollock is familiar to many students
from her long, accomplished service as a parttime lecturer, and will continue her teaching
excellence in the coming year.
Buchtel College faces considerable challenges; its
support of ACS is both appreciated and a
measure of its commitment to anthropology at
Akron, and the breadth of teaching and research it
offers.
FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
AY12-13 was another productive one for faculty.
ACS teaching and research are complementary
vocations. Research-active faculty enhance
students' education and provide opportunities to
participate in faculty research.
Carolyn Behrman lectured on “Miss
Communication and Trashformation: The Story
of how Good Data Are Not Always Influencing
Policy,” co-chaired a symposium and served as
discussant in another symposium, all at the
Society for Applied Anthropology meeting in
Denver. Dr. Behrman also was invited by Case
Western Reserve University to lecture on
“Narrative Data Elicitation: Comparison of
Methods.” Finally, she continued her local
research project and submitted with collaborators
a major proposal to the US Dept. of Health and
Human Services to study how volunteer and
citizen-based grassroots infrastructure both
developed and functioned in the aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy on the east coast. If the
proposal is funded, Prof. Behrman’s project can
involve ACS students conducting supervised
research in applied anthropology.
Clayton Fant continued his research on the
Roman marble trade.
Anthropology major Jordan Bell (l.) and other crew members
collecting resistivity data at Ziyaret Tepe, August 2012.
Timothy Matney continued his long-term
excavation at the Assyrian ruins of Tepe Ziyaret
(TZ) in Turkey, funded recently by private
donations. He published several papers, including
one in Earth and Planetary Science Letters that
demonstrates the relevance of archaeological data
and research to a wide range of modern issues.
Prof. Matney also published “Uncovering a
provincial capital of the Assyrian empire: The
Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Expedition 19972010,” in Proceedings of the 7th Intenational
Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near
East, and delivered the invited keynote address at
a conference on Assyrian archaeology held at the
McDonald Institute at Cambridge University,
England. Finally, he received a grant from the
National Geographic Society to continue
fieldwork and analysis on the Ziyaret Tepe
project.
Michael Shott published “Toward Settlement
Occupation Span from Dispersion of TobaccoPipe Stem-Bore Diameter Values” in Historical
Archaeology 46(2):16-38, an essay on the
archaeological record in The Encyclopedia of
Global Archaeology, and other papers. He also is
editing a research volume for publication and
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working to complete a research project on
prehistoric obsidian .quarries in the Great Basin.
Christine Thompson continues to direct the
Hacksilber Project, studying ancient Phoenician
colonial expansion from silver artifacts
Anthropology majors Ryan Crano (left) and Beth Robb (right)
cataloguing artifacts at this summer’s Kea, Greece field school.
Linda Whitman manages our Community
Archaeology Program (CAP). MetroParks for
Summit County continues its substantial support
for her local archaeological research. She recently
completed projects for the Biology Department,
the City of Akron and Metro Parks and is
teaching two field schools this summer, in
Hudson and in Kea, Greece.
Dr. Eugenia Gorogianni returned to ACS after a
year as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of
Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study. She
was supported for part of the year by another
post-doctoral fellowship, from the Institute for
Aegean Prehistory. Dr. Gorogianni continued her
scholarly productivity, having several articles in
press. This past year she completed a lengthy
scholarly study of Ayia Irini, an important node
in a Bronze Age exchange system across the
Aegean. The University of Cincinnati will
publish her monograph in the site in the next
year.
Dr. Lynn Metzger (Distinguished Senior Lecturer
Emerita) directed the design and construction of
an exhibit of Arctic, western, and southwestern
ethnographic and archaeological artifacts from
the Jim and Vanita Oelschlager collection, which
was staged at UA’s Center for the History of
Psychology (CHP) in 2012. Fran Ugalde and
Anthropology graduate Rachel Fox worked under
Dr. Metzger’s guidance, and continue to do so as
she brings a second Oelschlager exhibit of Plains
and Great Lakes ethnographic material to the
CHP in Fall 2013.
Dr. Trisha Vinyard presented on “Comparative
Analysis of Covariance Structure in Skulls and
Post-Cranial Skeletons of Living Apes” at the
annual meeting of the American Assoc. of
Physical Anthropologists.
DEPARTURES
In AY2012-13, we were fortunate to have Dr.
Courtney Kurlanska as Visiting Lecturer in
Anthropology. Dr. Kurlanska’s research on
cooperatives in Nicaragua enriched her teaching in
introductory and advanced courses. She left Akron at
the end of the academic year.
Our colleague Janai Tegland taught introductory
courses and those of her own design (The Incas, and
The Maya). After many years as a part-time
colleague, Janai retired in December 2012.
We wish Dr. Kurlanska and Janai well in their future
endeavors.
ACS students with the “victim” at last year’s pig dig, a forensics
field course. No live pigs were harmed in the course of this work
but the dead one shown here was dressed up, buried and then later
excavated by students to simulate crime-scene investigations.
CURRICULUM NEWS
AY12-13 continued our practice of constant curricular
revision, notably in the introduction of a set of upper-
5
level physical anthropology courses that examine in
detail the human evolutionary past. Stay tuned next
year as we revise our courses in light of campus-wide
changes to the General Education curriculum.
Tim Matney offered a course on ceramic petrography
in May, and will offer another special-topics course on
materials analysis in Fall 2013.
CALLING ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
Please contact us with reports of recent activities,
career or life changes, or to reminisce about the
department and campus. Send e-mail communications
to shott@uakron.edu, mharmon@uakron.edu, or to
your favorite professor or ACS contact.
NEEDS
Despite ASC's accomplishments, our needs remain
great. In particular and despite the University's best
efforts, student expenses rose rapidly in the past two
decades as state support declined. Most of us who
attended public universities like UA paid much lower
costs, even adjusted for inflation, than do current
students.
Despite other urgent needs, we ask you to consider
only one beneficiary: our students. Today's annual
costs for tuition and fees approach $9,000. Even $500,
$1000, or $2000 can help a good student to complete
his or her studies.
DONATION
I AM PLEASED TO SUPPORT ASC
STUDENTS WITH MY GIFT OF:
$1,000 $500 $250
$100
$50 Other
$________
Please make checks payable to:
Department of Anthropology and Classical
Studies, and send them to:
Dept. of ACS
University of Akron
Akron OH 44325-1910
All donations are tax-deductible and will be
acknowledged by receipt to your return
address.
The University of Akron is an equal education and equal
employment institution.