• UC Tools:
• Blackboard
• OneStop
• Libraries
• UConnect
• UC Mail
• UCFileSpace

Over the last two years, the Department of Anthropology has enlivened our class offerings and research opportunities with the recruitment of Professors Ken Tankersley (Ohio Valley archaeology), Jeremy Koster (human evolutionary ecology), and Sarah Jackson (Maya archaeology). And beginning next academic year—2009-10—we will have Professors Katherine Whitcome (biomechanics) and Leila Rodriguez (anthropological demography) on board. The Department anticipates both a genomic hire and a medical anthropologist in our budget for the following year. Our BA in Archaeology is winding its way through the Ohio Board of Regents approval system, with an initiation date of 2010-11 anticipated for that program. We have a new Heritage Certificate in Cultural Resource Management (archaeology) to complement our BA degree from the Department and several new course offerings as a partial result.

The synergy that is now created by these new arrivals, both the researchers and new programs, has excited all of us. Archaeological work continues in the Grand Canyon of Arizona under Professor Alan Sullivan's long-term watch, and Vern Scarborough has initiated a three-year NSF-supported study of the water system and landscapes of ancient Tikal, Guatemala with his colleagues in Biology (David Lentz) and Geography (Nick Dunning) here at UC. Ken Tankersley continues his work at the Hopewellian/Fort Ancient hilltop center of Shawnee Lookout, which doubles as the Department's principal summer field school. And the recently received support from the Court Family to build a new laboratory for Ohio Valley archaeological research will significantly enhance our local mission. Sarah Jackson has initiated an archaeological study of rural elite Maya in northwestern Belize, and Susan Allen—a very active research associate—just earned an NSF grant to work on agricultural origins of the late Neolithic. Both Jeremy Koster's research in Nicaragua and Jeff Jacobson's work with Family Medicine here at UC's Medical School provide yet additional opportunities for our students as well as many interdisciplinary linkages across campus—Jeff's research in particular generating sizable NIH grant support.

As a Department, we have much to be grateful for these days. Books, book chapters, and journal articles continue to be published in our most respected flagship outlets. Invited conferences—both national and international—continue to ask for our participation. Nevertheless, we continue to maintain a grounding in the needs of our student body as well as working with our immediate colleagues in neighboring Departments and Colleges here at UC. Our mission remains interdisciplinary and synergetic in attempting to access and complement the growing prominence of the entire University of Cincinnati system.