Anthropology – Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Keep Learning. Keep Teaching. Keep Working. Resources for SMU Students, Faculty and Staff

Updates on Coronavirus Ongoing updates from SMU including travel advisory. SMU has been closely monitoring the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) that began in China and has now sparked outbreaks around the world. Read more updates here. OIT Resources: Keep Learning: https://www.smu.edu/OIT/AcademicTech/Keep-Learning Keep Teaching: https://www.smu.edu/OIT/AcademicTech/Keep-Teaching Keep Working: https://www.smu.edu/OIT/AcademicTech/Keep-Teaching/Keep-Working Dedman College resources: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Resources/Faculty-Staff/RemoteResources

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-24T08:21:57-07:00 March 22nd, 2020|Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Economics, English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Statistical Science, World Languages and Literatures|Comments Off

SMU Classes Move Online Through End of Spring Semester

SMU News Originally Posted: March 20, 2020 Dear SMU Community, Each day we evaluate the challenging issues created by COVID-19 and work diligently to make the best possible decisions for all of us. To align with declarations from federal, state and Dallas County health authorities, SMU is moving all classes online for the remainder of the spring semester. We also are reducing even further the number of people working on campus. Effective Monday, March 23, the University moves to essential personnel only status until April 3. Employees will be contacted directly by their appropriate vice president or athletics director with guidance on their individual units’ operating plans. All faculty and staff, whether salaried or hourly, will continue to be paid during this period. Please remember to report your [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-21T09:13:04-07:00 March 21st, 2020|Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Earth Sciences, Economics, English, Events, History, Jewish Studies Program, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Statistical Science, Tower Center, World Languages and Literatures|Comments Off

SMU to temporarily move classes online after Spring Break

SMU NEWS Originally Posted: March 12, 2020 READ THE FULL LETTER HERE Dear SMU community, Due to rapidly changing issues related to the spread of Coronavirus, SMU will move students from classrooms to online instruction for the first two weeks following Spring Break, beginning Monday, March 23. The University is requesting that as many students as is possible leave the residence halls during Spring Break and remain home until April 5, as we expect normal operations to resume on April 6. International and other students who need to remain living in the residence halls should formally request approval from the Office of Residence Life and Student Housing to stay on campus. RLSH will send a message directly to residents containing additional information outlining the process. The campus [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-12T14:35:34-07:00 March 12th, 2020|Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Economics, English, Events, History, Jewish Studies Program, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Statistical Science, Undergraduate News, World Languages and Literatures|Comments Off

VR is making medical training cheaper, better, and more accessible than ever

Digital Trends Originally Posted: March 1, 2020 Sometimes, location is everything. When Dr. Eric Bing started working at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University (SMU), the person in the office next to his would give him a new perspective on how virtual reality can be instrumental in teaching medical students. SMU happens to have one of the world’s best graduate schools for video game design and Bing’s office neighbor, Professor Anthony Cuevas, helps create the curriculum for it. Surgery and first person shooters may seem worlds apart, but over the course of several months, the professors’ neighborly chitchat gave rise to a low-cost VR training system that can be implemented in locations where medical schools are limited, such as sub-saharan Africa. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-03T08:24:57-08:00 March 3rd, 2020|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

Do women scientists need to wear fake beards to be taken seriously?

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: Feb. 24, 2020 At first glance, the black-and-white photos look like classic images of 19th century scientists. One wears a dark beard and carries a pickax. Another, with a fluffy white handlebar mustache, poses in front of a museum diorama. A third, with a long brown beard, sits at a desk surrounded by an overstuffed bookcase, a safari hat and a giant pine cone. But wait. Something in that last image looks amiss. The cheekbones are smooth, pale. And is that an elegant pashmina scarf wrapped around the scientist’s narrow shoulders? Hmmmm ... The 38 large-format photographs that hang in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., are part of “The Bearded Lady Project,” a tongue-in-cheek traveling [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-03T08:27:58-08:00 March 1st, 2020|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Faculty News|Comments Off

Ancient African genomes offer glimpse into early human history

Nature Originally Posted: Jan. 23, 2020 Ann Horsburgh, a molecular anthropologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, says the study adds little to our understanding of African prehistory. READ MORE The ancient-genomics revolution is finally reaching the cradle of humanity: Africa. Researchers have sequenced the genomes of four children who lived in what is now Cameroon several thousand years ago. Their genomes — the first to be collected from any ancient human in West Africa — raise questions about the origins of a migration that carried languages and agriculture across the continent, and hint at older events in human history, such as the emergence of Homo sapiens and its spread out of Africa. But the findings underscore the yawning gap in scientists’ understanding of African population [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-01-27T10:24:43-08:00 January 25th, 2020|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences|Comments Off

How do I decide what to major in if I don’t even know what I want my career to be yet?

SMU News Being the first to go to college can be hard. SMU senior, Kaityln, shares her TOP TEN TIPS to help you through the experience. Watch

By Katherine Nickles| 2019-12-16T11:17:11-08:00 December 16th, 2019|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Embrey Human Rights Events, Undergraduate News|Comments Off

First in her family, finding her place

SMU News Originally Posted: December 9, 2019 The daughter of a single mom who worked two jobs to support her family, Kaitlyn Contreras was determined to attend college. “I knew I wanted to go to college; I just didn’t know how,” she says. “But I followed the advice of my grandmother. She never went to school and never learned to read or write, but she taught me to always ask questions.” As an eighth-grader, Kaitlyn began asking questions, seeking a more challenging high school than the one in her neighborhood. What Kaitlyn couldn’t know then was that asking questions would open the door to unique opportunities. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2019-12-10T15:22:59-08:00 December 10th, 2019|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Embrey Human Rights Events, Undergraduate News|Comments Off

SMU Saves North Texas’ Archaeological History

D Magazine Originally Posted: Nov. 12, 2019 Remember Sunday Eiselt from our 2017 profile of her? She’s a former Marine, archaeologist, professor, and director of SMU’s Archaeological Research Collections (ARC). She’s also our best chance of saving some of North Texas’ oldest, most important history. Last week I met up with her to tour the ARC facilities, located in Heroy Hall. It’s been a little over two years since our initial interview, and in that amount of time she’s managed an amazing transformation of the three rooms that comprise ARC. What follows is an update, including before-and-after photos. But prior to getting there, give the photo above a look. That’s Eiselt in one of the rooms surrounded by musty brown boxes, each packed to capacity [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2019-11-13T07:43:50-08:00 November 13th, 2019|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

First people in the Americas came by sea, ancient tools unearthed by Idaho river suggest

Science Magazine Originally Posted: August 30, 2019 About 16,000 years ago, on the banks of a river in western Idaho, people kindled fires, shaped stone blades and spearpoints, and butchered large mammals. All were routine activities in prehistory, but their legacy today is anything but. The charcoal and bone left at that ancient site, now called Cooper’s Ferry, are some 16,000 years old—the oldest radiocarbon-dated record of human presence in North America, according to work reported this week in Science. The findings do more than add a few centuries to the timeline of people in the Americas. They also shore up a new picture of how humans first arrived, by showing that people lived at Cooper’s Ferry more than 1 millennium before melting glaciers opened an [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2019-08-30T06:28:24-07:00 August 30th, 2019|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences|Comments Off