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Departmental Awards

The Department of Anthropology each year awards a number of awards and prizes to undergraduate and graduate students in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in the program. This includes the Undergraduate Paper of the Year award, which is awarded at spring commencement to an outstanding course paper, and the Cressman Prize, which is awarded to a graduate student based on submission of a research paper. The awards and prizes carry different rewards, ranging from small cash prizes to substantial funds for support of research projects. Other awards, such as the Stern and Barnett Fellowships, provide guaranteed graduate teaching fellowship (GTF) support and allow students to teach their own course.

Beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year, the Department of Anthropology will award the Johnston Scholarship Graduate Research Fellowship, which will provide funding for Ph.D. students in biological anthropology. This award was made possible by the establishment of the Thomas L. Johnston and Helene S. Johnston Scholarship fund through the generous donation of Thomas Lovell Johnston. For a brief biography of Tom Johnston and more scholarship information, click here.

The departmental awards and prizes include the following: Undergraduate Paper of the Year; Cressman Prize; McFee Award; Juda Memorial Endowment Fund Award; Health Education Award; Barnett Fellowship; Stern Fellowship; Anthropology Research Award; Anthropology Travel Award ; Undergraduate Research Award; and The Cheryl L. Harper Fund Scholarship.

Undergraduate Paper of the Year Award

2012

Tabatha Rood, Senior, “Lefthandedness in Captive Bonobo Group” (advisor: Frances White)

2011

Winner:
Sara S. Quinn, Senior, “Justice in the Highlands: Women, Community Organizing, and Solidarity in Rural Guatemala” (advisor: Lynn Stephen)

Honorable Mention:
Stefan Andreev, “Power, Meaning, and Illness: A Negotiation” (advisor: Terry O’Nell)

Luther S. and Dorothy C. Cressman Prize

Emily Henderson's paper on platyrrhine dental eruption won the Cressman Prize and was also published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology

The Cressman Prize, named after the founder of the UO Department of Anthropology, is an annual competition for the top research paper by an anthropology graduate student. The prize competition takes place annually in the spring term, and the award is announced each June. The award consists of a one-term tuition waiver, the student being able to decide when he uses the tuition waiver in the year of the award. The prize winner typically presents his or her paper at a Department Colloquium in the following academic year.

Recent Cressman Prizes:

2013: Klaree Boose (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Sex differences in tool use acquisition in bonobos (Pan paniscus).” Paper accepted for publication in the American Journal of Primatology.

2012: Kevin Turley (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Tibial Shape and Presentation among Catarrhine Taxa.”

2011: Bryce Peake (Graduate student, Anthropology), “The voice as diagrammatic icon in the linguistic ecology and soundscapes of Main Street, Gibraltar.”

2010: Michel Waller (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Are bonobos territorial? Pan paniscus ranging, inter-group behavior, and implications for human evolutionary models.”

2009: Josh Fisher (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Motherwork and the Logic of Sweat in The Fair Trade Zone”

2008: Emily Guthrie (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Platyrrhine dental eruption sequences”

2007: Melissa Baird (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Frederica de Laguna and the study of pre-contact pictographs from coastal sites in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, Alaska”

The Malcolm McFee Award

The McFee Award is an annual prize competition that supports graduate students in research or conference travel. The award competition takes place annually in the winter term. The award consists of a cash prize of $500. The prize winner typically presents his or her paper at a Department Colloquium in the spring or in the following academic year.

Recent McFee Awards:

2013: Theresa Gildner (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Effect of sleep quality and duration on cognitive function among older adults from five middle income countries: Results from the Study on global AGEing and adult health”

2013: Noah Simons (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Genetic diversity of North American captive-born gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)” The paper was recently published in Ecology and Evolution.

2012: James Daria (Graduate student, Anthropology), “A Celebration of Resistance: The Popular Guelaguetza and the Oaxacan Conflict.”

2011: Erica Midttveit-Squires (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Diurnal cortisol rhythms among Latino immigrants in Oregon”; $500

2010: Bryce Peake (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Toward an Ethnohistorical Semiotics of a Sioux Elk Whistle: Performance Mask or Musical Instrument”; $500

2009: Aaron Blackwell (Graduate student, Anthropology), “Are quantity-quality tradeoffs reflected in the immune function of human children? An analysis of immune function, illness frequency, and family composition in a Shuar village” (travel award for a paper presentation at the Human Behavior and Evolution Meeting, Fullerton, CA, May 2009); $500

Melissa Baird's Cressman Prize paper was published in Arctic Anthropology

Pauline Wollenberg Juda Memorial Endowment Fund Award

The Department of Anthropology awards small travel and research grants through the Pauline Wollenberg Juda Memorial Endowment Fund. The awards assist undergraduate and graduate students in the anthropological study of nutrition. Travel awards are to be used for attendance at professional meetings or transportation in connection with research-related activities. Research awards may be used for expenses, including the purchase of equipment, undertaken in the examination of nutritional topics, including sociocultural, biological, and archaeological efforts. Students may apply for both the travel and research awards.

Recent Juda Awards:

2012

Reecie Levin (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “Paleoethnobotanical Evidence from Food Production Features on Pohnpei, Micronesia” $500

2011

No awards given.

2010
Tara Cepon (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: presenting two posters–“Variation in cardiovascular disease risk in response to market integration in two transitioning populations” and “Physical Activity Levels and Chronic Disease Risk in the Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia at the annual meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and the Human Biology Association, respectively; $350.00.

Melissa Liebert (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: presenting the poster “The Shuar Health and Life History Project: Immunoglobulin E, C-reactive protein, and cardiovascular and metabolic health among the indigenous Shuar of Ecuador” at the annual meeting of the Human Biology Association; $350.00.

Rory Walsh (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: giving the podium presentation “Experiments in morphology and taphonomy: foxtail millet” at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archaeology; $350.00.

Lauren Willis (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: giving the podium presentation “The Nutritional Composition of Edible Native Plants on Santa Rosa Island, California” at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

2009
Rory Walsh (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “Morphological and statistical analysis of millet tribe taxa in Neolithic North China” (conference presentation at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, April 2010); $250

Jaime Dexter (Graduate student, Environmental Studies) – Travel award: “Paleoethnobotanical studies at the Erin’s Cave Site, Southeastern Oregon” (conference presentation at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, April 2010); $250

2008
Aaron Blackwell (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “Trade-offs in immune function and growth in a rural Amazonian village” (conference presentation at the Human Biology Association annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 2009); $250

Felicia Madimenos (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Research award: “Lifestyle and Reproductive Effects on Bone Mineral Density in an Ecuadorian Forager-Horticulturalist Population”; $1000

Felicia Madimenos' dissertation research was supported by a Juda Award.

Anthropological Health Education Department Fund Award

The Anthropological Health Education Department Fund Award supports anthropological studies of human health, including sociocultural, biological, and archaeological efforts.

Recent Health Education Awards:

2012

Tara Cepon (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “The role of social/economic change in parasite exposure and the development of autoimmune disorders among the Shuar forager-horticulturalists of Amazonia: An evolutionary medicine approach” $500

Alese Colehour (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project ” The Ecology of Childbirth” $500

Theresa Gildner (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “The Effects of Sex, Testosterone Level, and Market Integration on Intestinal Parasite Load in an Indigenous Ecuadorian Population” $500

Noah Simons (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “Immunogenetics of Ugandan Red Colobus in Response to Retroviruses” $1000

Melissa Liebert (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “The Shuar Health and Life History Project: The psychosocial stress response of children from varying degrees of market integration in an indigenous lowland Ecuadorian population” $500

Andrea Eller (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “Pace of dental eruption and epiphyseal fusion in captive Macaca mulatta” $500

2011

Lauren Hawkins (Undergraduate Student, Anthropology) — Travel award: to present a paper (“Dental Eruption Sequences in Strepsirrhine Primates”), based on her honors thesis, at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 81st Annual Meeting in Portland, OR in April 2012; $300.

Melissa Liebert (Graduate Student, Anthropology) — Research award: for the project “The Shuar Health and Life History Project: The relationship between market integration and diurnal salivary cortisol rhythms of children in an indigenous lowland Ecuadorian population” $900.

2010
Tara Cepon (Graduate Student, Anthropology) – Research award: for the project “The relationship between parasite load and autoimmune disorders in the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador,” to be undertaken in summer 2011; $1,000.00.

Felicia Madimenos (Graduate Student, Anthropology) – Travel award: giving the podium presentation “Life history trade-offs between bone health and female reproductive history among the indigenous Shuar and Colonis from the Ecuadorian Amazon” at the joint meeting of the 11th Congreso de la Asociacion Latinoamericana de Antropologia Biologica and Human Biology Association, in Bogota, Colombia; $350.00

2009
DeAnna Morris (Undergraduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “Sexual dimorphism in growth of human manual digital proportions” (conference presentation at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 2010); $250

Melissa Liebert (Graduate Student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “The implications of varying degrees of market integration on blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in an indigenous lowland Ecuadorian population” (conference presentation at the Human Biology Association meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 2010); $250

Erica Midttveit (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Research award: “Mother-infant stress and the development of the cortisol awakening response in infants”; $1000

Tara Cepon (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “Anthropometric and lifestyle correlates of blood pressure among indigenous Siberians” (conference presentation at the Human Biology Association annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 2009); $350

Felicia Madimenos (Graduate student, Anthropology) – Travel award: “Physical activity measured using accelerometry in an Ecuadorian population” (conference presentation at the Human Biology Association annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 2009); $350

Undergraduate Research Awards

2013

Samantha Buckley: These funds will support travel from Portland, OR to San Juan, Puerto Rico to measure Macaca mulatta skeletal specimens at the University of Puerto Rico’s Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC) ($300)

Lauren Moore: Travel award for Three-Dimensional Assessment of Asymmetry presentation at America Association of Physical Anthropology ($250)

Trevor Edwards: Data collection and research at the University of Puerto Rico’s Caribean Primate Research Center(CPRC) ($300)

Reed Cowden: Asymmetry in Postrcranial Elements of Macaques ($500)

Colin Oliveira: Travel award for Three-Dimensional Assessment of Asymmetry presentation at America Association of Physical Anthropology ($250)

Rebecca Cudmore: Presenting at AAPA on : Gestural Flexibility In Rehabilitant Bornean Orangutans, Pongo pygmaeus, At The Orangutan Care Center And Quarantine In The State Of Kalimantan Tengah. ($250)

The Stern and Barnett (Graduate Teaching) Fellowships

Each year the Graduate Committee chooses Stern and Barnett Fellows at the same time it chooses regular graduate teaching fellows. Graduate students propose to teach a class and submit a letter of interest, letters of recommendation, CV, and syllabus for the proposed class. These fellowships offer a year-long GTF with a level of appointment (“FTE”) of .4 for the terms in which the student does not teach his or her own course and .49 for the term in which s/he does teach his or her own course. Generally, two students are selected each year.

Recent Stern/Barnett Fellowship Recipients:

2013-2014

Cepon, Tara: “Parasites in Human Health and Evolution” $1000

Condon Hall, Home of the UO Anthropology Department

2012-13

Nick Jew (Graduate Student; Department of Anthropology)
Winter 2013 Course: “The Peopling of the Americas”

2011-12

Brendan Culleton

2010-11

Angela Montague (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology; Homer Barnett Fellowship)
Summer 2010 Course: “Gender, Folklore, and Inequity”

Ian Edwards (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology; Theodore Stern Fellowship)
Spring 2011 Course: “Environmental Anthropology”

2009-10

Christine O’Bryan (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology; Stern Fellowship)
Course: “Global Multiculturalisms”

Ian Edwards (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology; Barnett Fellowship)
Course: “Environmental Anthropology”

Department Travel and Research Awards (DTRA)

The Department of Anthropology allocates a small sum to support student travel and/or research most years. Students must compete for these funds by providing a one-page description and budget of the proposed activity. Instructions for the complete application and application deadlines are announced in the fall.

Recent Department Travel/Research Recipients:

Spring 2013

Hsu, Mu-Lung, Research Award

Travel Awards:
Gildner, Theresa
Liebert, Melissa
Simons, Noah
Turbin, Jonathan
Wood, Latham
Clark, Meagan
Simons, Evan
Hsu, Mu-Lung

Fall 2011

Samantha King, Research Award
Klaree Boose, Research Award

Travel Awards:
Monya Anderson          Tara Cepon            James Daria
Andrea Eller                Theresa Gildner              Habeom Kim
Reecie Levin                Mauricio Magana          Ivan Sandoval
Jonathan Turbin Lauren Willis

Spring 2011

Iván Sandoval-Cervantes, Research Award, “Organizing Agriculture: Milpa Production and the Reasons behind a Non-Profitable Activity”

Travel Awards:
Monya Anderson         Klaree Boose             Tara Cepon
Claire Ebert            Emily Guthrie             Chris Jazwa
Melissa Liebert           Deanna Morris           Melissa Teoh

Fall 2010

Bryce Peake (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology), Participating in the summer symposium at the Center for Communication and Global Culture (on the campus of Northwestern University), and to support his participation at the International Conference for Digital Scholarship in the Humanities at Stanford.

Ian Edwards (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology), Travel to present at the Student Conference on Conservation Science at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation in New York City. Ian was also awarded funds to present at the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Both presentations focus on his dissertation research on wildlife markets in Mali, West Africa.

Gennie Nguyen (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology), Travel to present her paper “Refuting the Model Minority Myth” at the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Spring 2010

Chris Jazwa (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to present his paper “Late Holocene Subsistence Change on Western Santa Rosa Island, California,” at the 44^th Annual Society for California Archaeology meeting in Riverside, CA.

Melissa Liebert (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Participation in field research in Ecuador as part of the Shuar Health and Life History Project.

Gennie Nguyen (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Attendance at Columbia University for “Oral History from the Ground Up: Space, Place and Memory”.

2009

Anthropology Department Travel Award Recipient Bryce Peake

Tara Cepon (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the Human Biology Association annual meeting

Ian Edwards (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the Bridging Conservation and Development in Latin America and Africa conference

Jen Erickson (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the American Anthropological Association meeting

Felicia Madimenos (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the Human Biology Association and American Association of Physical Anthropologists meetings

Angela Montague (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the Society for Economic Anthropology meeting

Bryce Peake (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the Conscience Un-Conference: Using Social Media for Good meeting

2008

Tara Cepon (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to Ecuador as part of the Shuar Life History Project

Award Recipients Erica Midttveit, Felicia Madimenos, and Tara Cepon at Spencer Butte in Eugene.

Jennifer Erickson (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to Sudan to participate in the South Sudan Women’s Empowerment Network conference

Josue Gomez (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Attendance and presentation at the 2009 meeting of the Society of American Archaeology

Emily Henderson Guthrie (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from Nairobi, Kenya in 2009, to conduct collections research on Theropithecus sp.

Felicia Madimenos (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to Ecuador to study the skeletal health consequences of lifestyle changes among the Shuar as a part of the Shuar Life History Project

Cheryl L. Harper Memorial Fund Scholarship

Cheryl L. Harper amid Pueblo ruins in Frijoles Canyon, New Mexico. Courtesy: Dave Meddish.

The purpose of the Fund is to honor Cheryl L. Harper, a 1994 alumna in Anthropology, who went on to graduate work in archaeology. The scholarship provides support to graduate students in archaeology in the Department of Anthropology. The scholarship may be used for educational expenses including tuition, fees, books, miscellaneous supplies, room, board, summer research stipend or insurance stipend, field research, technical analyses, collections research, travel, and other costs associated with research and/or dissertation. Any graduate student of archaeology is eligible to apply. Candidates will be evaluated based on financial need and the overall quality of their academic work. Selection of recipients shall be by a scholarship committee under the oversight of the Department Head.

Recent C. L. Harper Memorial Fund Scholarship Recipients:

2012/2013

Anna Sloan (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
To support her project, “Alaska Native Cultures and Languages: Coursework for Summer 2013.”

2011

Jaime Dexter (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Travel to the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology to present ‘Nourishing Tradition: the Macrobotanical Evidence of Cultural Preservation at a Pre-Allotment Native Homestead, Beatty, Oregon.

2010

Rory Walsh (Graduate student; Department of Anthropology)
Pre-dissertation work in Korea during the summer of 2011; $1000

Tara Cepon: The role of social/economic change in parasite exposure and the development of autoimmune disorders among the Shuar forager-horticulturalists of Amazonia: An evolutionary medicine approach ($500)

Alese Colehour: The Ecology of Childbirth ($500)

Theresa Gildner: The Effects of Sex, Testosterone Level, and Market Integration on Intestinal Parasite Load in an Indigenous Ecuadorian Population ($500)

Noah Simons: Immunogenetics of Ugandan Red Colobus in Response to Retroviruses ($1000)

Melissa Liebert: The Shuar Health and Life History Project: The psychosocial stress response of children
from varying degrees of market integration in an indigenous lowland Ecuadorian population ($500)

Andrea Eller: Pace of dental eruption and epiphyseal fusion in captive Macaca mulatta ($500)