Message from the Chair

Anthropology ushered in a bustling and exciting fall semester. It is important to note, with great appreciation and admiration, the adaptability, creativity, and empathy that faculty, students, and staff demonstrated while navigating the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In true WSU form, we drew together even while physical boundaries at times kept us apart.

In 2020, WSU Provost Elizabeth Chilton launched the Cluster Hire in Racism and Social Inequality in the Americas program. Support provided through that program will allow us to welcome a new faculty member who is collaboratively engaged with Native American and Indigenous communities in North America. Similarly, we are searching to fill additional positions and eagerly anticipate making introductions to our new faculty in the fall of 2023.

Enrollments across the institution have experienced a decrease as we rebounded from the pandemic. However, despite fewer total students in Pullman, the number of Anthropology majors in Pullman is stable, and our Global campus Anthropology enrollment and number of majors have steadily grown over the past two years, as has the number of majors in Human Biology in Pullman.

Our graduate program continues to welcome students who actively engage in their academic studies and are again able to conduct field research. Our faculty continue to advance their nationally and internationally recognized research. Both WSU Pullman and WSU Vancouver are offering archaeological field schools this summer.

Yet, we are not immune from change and loss. Diane Curewitz, curator in the Museum of Anthropology, retired last summer after a lengthy tenure of service. Sadly, Jeannette Mageo, a faculty member in cultural anthropology since 1993, recently passed away. Shannon Tushingham, archaeology faculty member and director of the Museum of Anthropology, will move to a position at the California Academy of Sciences next year, and Luke Premo, a member of the evolutionary faculty, also will move next year. At the same time, we look forward to welcoming several new faculty and will continue to update you about developments within the department.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter covering just some of our recent activities and achievements, including names of the newest holders of graduate degrees and titles of recent faculty publications. To see what else our faculty and students are doing, you can check “Anthro in the news” on the department homepage or Anthropology’s social media accounts, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (also linked on our homepage).

Your support is vital to our mission. Donor support to the Anthropology Excellence Fund underwrites research opportunities for our graduate and undergraduate students, and we have several funds dedicated to supporting research, guest speakers, and student success. If you are interested in supporting Anthropology at WSU, you’ll find several options at the “I Want to Give” link at left. If you have any questions about the department, donations, or a particular interest you’d like to support generally, please feel free to contact me at duff@wsu.edu.

Sincerely,

Andrew Duff, Chair