Awards Section
MD-PhD trainee and anthropology student Chu Hsiao was awarded a 5-year $219,000 NIH F30 NRSA award, “Biocultural investigation of maternal adversity on gene expression and RNA methylation in the placenta” under the mentorship of Drs. Connie Mulligan and Maureen Keller-Wood. The F30/31 NRSA is one of the most prestigious fellowships an MD-PhD trainee can possibly obtain. She is the first student in CLAS (never mind Anthropology) to have received this grant. Congratulations Chu!
Introducing the New Florida Journal of Anthropology
I’m pleased to announce the establishment of the New Florida Journal of Anthropology. As many of you old-timers know, FASA published the Florida Journal of Anthropology between 1976-1995. Megan Hanna Fry has volunteered to be the editor of the reboot, which will be both peer-reviewed and published online. Megan is also working with our Anthropology Librarian, Dr. Ginessa Mahar, to digitize the journals from the original run. Watch this space for future updates.
Save the Date for Potlatch
Mark your calendars! Potlatch is coming on October 12. Which means:
If you have legacy items for the auction, you may drop them off in our main office in Turlington.
If you have an item you’d like to donate, you may also bring that to the main office in Turlington, preferably with a note about what it is and what it might be used for.
Alternatively, if you’d like to directly donate cold, hard cash, to the Graduate Student Travel Fund, you may write a check, payable to the Graduate Student Travel Fund, sent directly to Karen Jones in our main office.
If you’re interested in volunteering, there will be a signup sheet for volunteers forthcoming.
Dorian Recovery Efforts
Many of you have already seen this from Dean Richardson on the devastation in the Bahamas, but I wanted to repost it here: The level of devastation was immense, and the dangers for the residents of the islands will be many in the days and weeks to come. UF faculty, staff and students are already participating in relief efforts.
Here are news resources from the New York Times that show the impact of the storm on the Bahamas and its people (access to the New York Times is free for students, faculty and staff – see how to get access at https://news.hr.ufl.edu/technology/did-you-know-uf-offers-free-online-subscriptions-to-the-new-york-times-wall-street-journal/) :
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/04/world/americas/bahamas-damage-hurricane-dorian.html
The NYT has also provided a list of relief agencies, which you can find here. One of the listed agencies, HeadKnowles, provides timely relief with critical supplies to the people of the Bahamas. Two CLAS graduate students from the Bahamas, Justin Smith (Chemistry) and Kirsten G. Klein (Psychology) are working locally to assist in getting supplies to the agency for transport from Florida. You can contact Justin at for information on how to help.
Upcoming Lectures
FLMNH Seminar Series This afternoon, September 6th, the next seminar in the FLMNH seminar series will be held at 3PM in the Dickinson Hall seminar room, 371. Dr. Bruce MacFadden (Distinguished Curator, Vertebrate Paleontology, Florida Museum of Natural History) will be presenting “Broader Impacts of Science on Society: The Florida Museum Connection”
Scudder Lecture Series: What are we to make of the 81% of Evangelical Christians who support Donald Trump? What effects have Trump’s administration had on American Evangelicalism? The Department of Religion, as part of its annual Scudder Lecture Series, invites you to this timely event: Donald Trump and the Death of Evangelical Christianity, given by Dr. Randall Balmer. Dr. Balmer is the John Phillips Professor in Religion and Director, Society of Fellow at Dartmouth College. The lecture will be delivered in the Pugh Hall Ocora on Tuesday, September 10th at 6 pm. The event is co-sponsored by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service.
That’s all for now. Enjoy your weekend!
Pete Collings
Associate Professor and Chair
Jessie Ball duPont-Magid Term Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Florida