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What We Published in Spring 2025

May 30, 2025 — The Department of Anthropology is pleased to share the most recent publications of its faculty and graduate students, including articles in Nature and Science. During the spring 2025 semester, we published the following:

Journal Articles

Essays, Commentaries, and Book Reviews

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Neely Myers Named New Department Chair of Anthropology

May 13, 2025 — The Dean of Dedman College ad interim, Nathan Balke, has announced that the next Chair of the Department of Anthropology will be Neely Laurenzo Myers, Professor of Anthropology and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School. She will be appointed to a three-year term.

Myers joined the faculty at SMU in 2014. In addition to her appointments in the Department of Anthropology and at UT Southwestern, she is Editor-in-Chief of Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry. A psychological and medical anthropologist, her research focuses on cross-cultural experiences of mental health, mental illness, and mental health care. Since 2009, her ethnographic and mixed-methods research in the United States and northern Tanzania has been supported nearly continuously by the National Institutes of Health. She is the author of Recovery’s Edge, a prize-winning ethnography about peer services for persons with serious mental illness, (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004) and Breaking Points: Youth Mental Health Crises and How We All Can Help (University of California Press, 2024), as well as more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters. She also directs SMU’s Mental Health Innovations Lab and is deeply committed to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. Outside academia, she enjoys hiking and playing the violin.

 

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Profs. Adler and Myers Receive Dean’s Research Council Grants

Mar. 21, 2025 — Among the recipients of this year’s Dean’s Research Council (DRC) grants are two Anthropology faculty. Michael A. Adler has been awarded funding for his new project, “The Glaze Ware Conundrum: Picuris Pueblo’s Role in Rio Grande Glaze Ware Production and Exchange, 1325-1700 A.D.” Neely Laurenzo Myers will use her grant for “Strengthening an Application to Design and Test a Safe and Fun Generative AI Companion for Youth Mental Health.”

The department, which was the only one to win multiple awards, congratulates Profs. Adler and Myers! 

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Department Celebrates Neely Myers’ New Book

Feb. 7, 2025 — The Department of Anthropology hosted a book launch on Tuesday, February 4, to celebrate the publication of Neely Myers‘ new book, Breaking Points: Youth Mental Health Crises and How We All Can Help (University of California Press, 2024). The event, which took place at Crum Auditorium, featured Myers in conversation with Elizabeth Fein, Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology at Duquesne University.

 

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Save the Date (Feb 5): Culture, Mind, and Brain Seminar with Elizabeth Fein

Jan 29, 2024 – Next week, the Culture, Mind, and Brain Seminar Series, a collaboration between SMU’s Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute and the UT Southwestern Medical Center, will feature Elizabeth Fein, Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology at Duquesne University. Her talk is entitled “Autism as a Mode of Engagement: Neurodevelopmental Difference and the Spark of Social Innovation in Creative Communities.” Further details are available on the poster above.

The Culture, Mind, and Brain Research Cluster is convened by Neely Myers (SMU Anthropology), Anthony Petrosino (SMU Teaching & Learning), Edward Glasscock (SMU Biological Sciences), and Adam Brenner (UT Southwestern Psychiatry).

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Neely Myers’ op-ed featured in Dallas Morning News

Dec. 2, 2024 — Professor Neely Myers published an op-ed last week in the Dallas Morning News. In the piece, “Young Psychosis Patients Need Early Intervention,” Myers argues that youth with psychosis need proactive forms of care that empower them to feel that they can control their lives and gain respect from others. Myers develops these ideas further in her new book, Breaking Points: Youth Mental Health Crises and How We All Can Help (University of California Press, 2024).

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Neely Myers Promoted to Full Professor

Oct. 8, 2024 — The department is delighted to share that the university’s Board of Trustees has approved the promotion of Neely Myers to Full Professor.

Myers, a leading medical anthropologist, is the author of many journal articles and two books, Breaking Points: Youth Mental Health Crises and How We Can All Help (University of California Press, 2024) and Recovery’s Edge: An Ethnography of Mental Health Care and Moral Agency (Vanderbilt University Press, 2015). At SMU, she directs the Mental Health Equity Lab.

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CANCELED: Culture, Mind, and Brain Seminar with Adrienne Strong

Oct. 2, 2024 — Note: due to unforeseen circumstances, the event with Dr. Strong (announced below) has been canceled.

We are pleased to announce the return of the Culture, Mind, and Brain Seminar Series, a collaboration between SMU’s Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute and the UT Southwestern Medical Center. The first event of the 2024 series, “The Most Difficult Pain: Psychological Pain in Tanzanian Healthcare Settings,” will be held on Zoom at 5:30pm CST on October 9 with Adrienne Strong, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida. Further details are available on the poster above.

The Culture, Mind, and Brain Research Cluster is convened by Neely Myers (SMU Anthropology), Anthony Petrosino (SMU Teaching & Learning), Edward Glasscock (SMU Biological Sciences), and Adam Brenner (UT Southwestern Psychiatry).