Tuesday, June 30, 2009

M.A. student Amanda Leonard to marry

Congratulations to master's candidate Amanda Leonard (MA Anth/Museum Training) who is engaged after a three-year relationship. Her fiance, Paul Gibson, is a PhD candidate at UMD focusing on late 20th century American History.

They are planning to have the wedding after her graduation.

Concerning her engagement, Amanda is frightened of the Stanley Cup wedding cake that Paul threatened her with.

Nicole Griffin (PhD 2009) to work as research associate at Duke

Congratulations to recent graduate Nicole Griffin (PhD Hominid Paleobiology 2009) on her new post-doctoral position with Duke University.

She will be working in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology beginning August 1, 2009.

Nicole co-authored a paper with Professor Richmond entitled "Joint Orientation and Function in Great Ape and Human Proximal Pedal Phalanges" and served as a teaching assistant during her GW career.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Katie Rhine (BA 2002) takes post as assistant professor at Kansas

Congratulations to Kathryn (Katie) Rhine (BA Anth 2002), who will be working as Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas at Lawrence in August, following completion of her Ph.D. program at Brown University.

Katie was awarded a Fulbright in 2002 to spend a year in Nigeria collaborating with a study on HIV/AIDS hosted by Harvard University. She graduated from GW with special honors for her thesis on reproductive health issues among Congolese immigrants in the Washington area under the supervision of Barbara Miller, then went on to earn her Master's in the Anthropology-Population Program at Brown.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Alumni Update: Lauren Deal takes job with the Southeast Children's Fund

Congratulations to recent graduate Lauren Deal (BA Anthropology with special honors 2009) for her new position as Administrative Assistant with the Southeast Children's Fund. She will be assisting with curriculum development and other matters for a new school to be set up in a DC suburb with funding from the Salvation Army. This is more related to anthropology than the job she just left, which was working in a museum gift shop.

Alumni Update: Laura Myford Takes Two New Positions

Congratulations to recent graduate Laura Myford (MA in Anthropology, 2009) on her two new jobs.

She will be working as a Curriculum Development Assistant at the Fairfax-based Falmouth Institute, which collaborates with American Indian Tribes to help them become better informed on issues of law and governance, finance, and gaming.

In addition, Laura is taking a post as Instructor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, where she will be teaching two introductory anthropology courses.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Alumni Update: Eight Recent Graduates Accepted for Continuing Education

Congratulations to our recent graduates, several of whom have notified us of their plans to continue their college careers in anthropology or related fields.

Sarah Belkin (BA Archaeology) will pursue a Master's in Historical Archaeology at Boston University.

Estelle Charlu (BA Anthropology): a Master's in Public Health at GW.

Kim Cotterman (MA Anthropology-Intl. Devel.) will continue her studies here at GW as she pursues a second Master's in Public Health.

Rachel Navarro (BA Archaeology): a Master's in Archaeology at the University of Missouri.

Caitlyn Nordehn (BA Anthropology and Intl. Affairs): a Master's in Anthropology at GW with a concentration in International Development.

Shanyn Ronis (BA Anth and Latin American & Hemispheric Studies): a Master's in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago with partial funding.

Lyra Spang (MA Anthropology): a Ph.D in anthropology at Indiana University with four years of full funding.

Ashley Stinespring
(MA Anthropology): a Ph.D in anthropology at the University of Illinois-Champaign with partial financial assistance.

We wish these students much success with their diverse and ongoing studies, and ask that other graduates keep us updated on their own endeavors.

New Hall Renamed Philip Amsterdam Hall

Philip Amsterdam, the GW alumnus for whom the main Anthropology Department building is named, has had an additional building re-named in his honor. The University's Board of Trustees approved a measure early last May to rename New Hall to Philip Amsterdam Hall based on a request made by his son.

Amsterdam, who passed away in 2008, left a $5 million bequest to the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration in addition to renovating and renaming the department's Hortense Amsterdam House, which until then was Building WW.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Alumni Update: Bonnie (Richard) Dixon completes her first year in UCLA doctoral program in anthropology

Bonnie Dixon, who earned her MA in Anthropology and Museum Training in 2007, has completed her first year in the Anthropology doctoral program at UCLA.

She reports:

"I am really enjoying everything here so far. It's a great department and good environment. It is a 4-field department, and even if you enter with a Master's in anthropology, they make students take core courses like the proseminars at GW. Thankfully, they waived ALL of them (except sociocultural, which can't be waived) for me after seeing my GW syllabi. ... that says something positive about the GW program."

Alumni Update: Geoffrey Cain publishes articles in the Economist and Far Eastern Economic Review

Geoffrey Cain (BA Anthropology and International Affairs 2008) reports on his recent publication:

"For eight months, I've been working on a story about Cambodia's fight against sex trafficking, which many times has faced criticism for its brutality against sex workers. This article details one government 'rehabilitation' center, where detained sex workers are supposed to learn cooking and sewing, but have been beaten and raped, and at least eight people have died.

Published in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13832459

"I also encourage you to buy the June issues of the Far Eastern Economic Review and support a phenomenal magazine. I've written an article in it titled "An Oil Curse Looms for Cambodia," after six months of research into Cambodia's secret oil concessions -- and China's race for the oil without regard for its ill social effects. This article is not available online."

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Alumni Update: Kathryn Rhine publishes article in AQ, will teach at University of Kansas

Kathryn (Katie) Rhine published an article in the Anthropological Quarterly (volume 82, no. 2, spring 2009) on "Support Groups, Marriage, and the Management of Ambiguity among HIV-Positive Women in Northern Nigeria." The article relates to the anthropology doctoral dissertation she is completing at Brown.

In August, she will join the Anthropology Department at the University of Kansas at Lawrence as an assistant professor.

Katie earned her BA in anthropology, graduating in 2002 with honors for her thesis "Francophone African Immigrants and Maternal Health: A Cultural Analysis" directed by Barbara Miller.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Alumni Update: Lindsey Massoud takes job at Center for Applied Linguistics

Lindsey Massoud has left GW for a new job at the Center for Applied Linguistics in the Tenleytown neighborhood of DC.

Lindsey earned her Master's in Anthropology in 2007 (no concentration). While studying, she was a research assistant in the department's discourse lab and co-authored the 2009 paper “Interdiscursivity as “transfer”: Language and learning in a Middle School Science Classroom" with professor Joel Kuipers.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Alumni Update: Letizia Alto MD takes job with the Seattle Indian Health Board

Letizia Alto, MD, is working with the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Letizia received an MA in anthropology (no concentration) in 2004, received her medical training at the University of Vermont Medical School, and is able to combine these two fields in her new job as she works to support culturally sensitive medical practices. She believes that health care is a human right and that a patient's cultural background is an important part of providing complete care. She is attracted to the broad range of opportunities in family medicine and the ability of the family medicine practitioner to handle a large variety of disease pathology and patient population diversity.

Her special medical interests include international medicine, tropical disease, OB/GYN women’s health, the health of immigrant communities and under-served populations.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Alumni Update: Kaarli Sundsmo takes job at USAID

After months of waiting for her security clearance to be processed, former TA Kaarli Sundsmo (MA with a Development concentration, 2006) was able to start her new job at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID is the US government agency that is responsible for providing international aid to developing countries. Kaarli's new job is East Africa Regional Coordinator and Knowledge Management Focal Point for the President's Global Food Security Response. This position will help to coordinate efforts among the different U.S. government offices that deal with food security issues.

Congratulations to Kaarli on her professional success.