Anthropology gains national recognition
Emma Sylvester, Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
A recent assessment by the Center for Public Anthropology rated USF's anthropology department second in the nation.
Established in 1967, USF's anthropology department prides itself on its focus on applied anthropology, for which USF was the first university to offer a master's and doctoral degree. The department is one of the largest in the southeastern United States.
"Applied anthropology is using concepts of culture and culture diversity to make social policies and social programs more effective," said Roberta Baer, professor of anthropology. "Our mission is to have effects on programs and public policy. Not all anthropology departments have this kind of orientation, so that makes the department here very different and very special."
The Center for Public Anthropology has its headquarters at the University of Hawaii. Its assessment took two years (2005-2006) and collected data from 394 schools.
As part of the assessment, departments of anthropology were asked to have their faculty members fill out an online survey to explain how they engage with the public.
This included questions about the community in which they worked, their collaborative efforts, what their research entailed and what kinds of public speaking and public engagements they did.
The Center for Public Anthropology then put all the surveys together and analyzed the results.
"We're obviously very excited to hear that we're in the top tier as far as public engagement, but that's exciting news for us on two levels," Graduate Director Christian Wells said.
"On one level, it's because that's one of USF's strategic goals - to enhance public engagement with the community - so I think that this shows that the anthropology department is making a very central and important contribution to the University's strategic mission."
"It's also been extremely useful in advertising our programs (to prospective graduate students)," he said.
Wells said that, although an increase could not be attributed to the high ranking alone, applications for the graduate program this year rose to about 150. Before the ranking, there were about 90 to 100 applications a year.
Established in 1967, USF's anthropology department prides itself on its focus on applied anthropology, for which USF was the first university to offer a master's and doctoral degree. The department is one of the largest in the southeastern United States.
"Applied anthropology is using concepts of culture and culture diversity to make social policies and social programs more effective," said Roberta Baer, professor of anthropology. "Our mission is to have effects on programs and public policy. Not all anthropology departments have this kind of orientation, so that makes the department here very different and very special."
The Center for Public Anthropology has its headquarters at the University of Hawaii. Its assessment took two years (2005-2006) and collected data from 394 schools.
As part of the assessment, departments of anthropology were asked to have their faculty members fill out an online survey to explain how they engage with the public.
This included questions about the community in which they worked, their collaborative efforts, what their research entailed and what kinds of public speaking and public engagements they did.
The Center for Public Anthropology then put all the surveys together and analyzed the results.
"We're obviously very excited to hear that we're in the top tier as far as public engagement, but that's exciting news for us on two levels," Graduate Director Christian Wells said.
"On one level, it's because that's one of USF's strategic goals - to enhance public engagement with the community - so I think that this shows that the anthropology department is making a very central and important contribution to the University's strategic mission."
"It's also been extremely useful in advertising our programs (to prospective graduate students)," he said.
Wells said that, although an increase could not be attributed to the high ranking alone, applications for the graduate program this year rose to about 150. Before the ranking, there were about 90 to 100 applications a year.
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Deidre
posted 4/18/08 @ 10:50 AM EST
Congrats! I have always loved the field, and this is wonderful!
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