Student Resources, Awards and Scholarships

Graduate Programs in Anthropology - Regulations and Procedures

2023

• Grzelka, Michalina, committee: Elise L. Andaya (chair), Jennifer L.;Dodge Burrell, dissertation: Caregiving automatons: Gender, care, and disability in Poland, position: Country Manager (Poland), Zinc Network
• Lee, Florence, committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Mia;Lawrence Gallo, dissertation: Immune system dysfunction to toxicant exposure: An examination of mismatch theory with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p’-DDT)
• Samuels, Amanda G., committee: Christopher B. Wolff (chair), Sean M. Rafferty, Marilyn A. Masson, Donald H. Holly Jr., dissertation: Examining colonial impact on Beothuk technological traditions on the island of Newfoundland, position: Adjunct Instructor, Montclair State University & Wagner College

2022

• Antonelli, Caroline E., committee: Marilyn Masson (chair), Robert Rosenswig, Timothy Hare, dissertation: The subsistence economy in urban Mayapán : Sustainability and resiliency through diversity, position: Data Scientist, Planning and Land Use Division, New York City Council
• de la Cruz, Abelardo de la Cruz, committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), Walter E. Little, John F. Schwaller, Alan R. Sandstrom, dissertation: Motiochihuanih: Catechists and prayer specialists as religious leaders brokering 'el costumbre' Nahua in Chicontepec, Veracruz, position: Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2023), Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• Lee, Ramon K., committee: Jennifer L. Burrell (chair), James Collins, Elise Andaya, Amanishekete Ani, dissertation: Visions and seeds of change: Pathways to defining and seeking liberation, position: Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Spelman College
• Mylin, Christa D., committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), Elise L. Andaya, Jennifer L. Burrell, dissertation: A patchwork community: Exploring belonging, gender roles, and God's gifts among progressive American Mennonites
• Primeau, Kristy E., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Christopher B. Wolff, David E. Witt, dissertation: A GIS approach to landscape scale archaeoacoustics

2021

• Appelhans, Sarah E., committee: Elise L. Andaya (chair), Atsushi Akera, Jennifer Burrell, James Collins, dissertation: Flexible lives on engineering's 'Bleeding edge': Gender, migration and belonging in the semiconductor industry, position: Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2023), Engineering Studies, Lafayette College
• Dinkel, Rebecca A., committee: Aaron Broadwell and John Justeson (co-chairs), James Collins, David Mora-Marín, dissertation: The materiality of metaphor in Mayan hieroglyphic texts : metaphor in changing political climates, position: Visiting Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2023), Department of Anthropology, Vassar College
• Holdsworth, Elizabeth A., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Allison A. Appleton, Elise L. Andaya, dissertation: Intergenerational embodiment of stress: How the broader sociocultural environment can shape child growth and development , position: Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2023), Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University
• Rodriguez, Jamilläh Shäntel, committee: Lauren Clemens (chair), Lee Bickmore, Laura McPherson, George Aaron Broadwell, dissertation: The phonology and syntax of grammatical tone in Copala Triqui , position: Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2023), Department of Linguistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Schafer, Jerred Klint, committee: Adam D. Gordon (chair), Julia Jennings, Timothy B. Gage, Joanna M. Setchell, dissertation: The evolution of sex differences in mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx): Micro- and macroevolution
• Somers, Jessica, committee: Elise L. Andaya (chair), Kendra Smith-Howard, Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Tick bites and blood relations: Regional relationships and interpretations of lyme disease risk in New York's Hudson River Corridor , position: Academic Advisor, Human Biology, University at Albany

2020

• Arango-Londoño, José Alejandro, committee: Elise L. Andaya (chair), Jennifer L. Burrell, Barbara Sutton, dissertation: Real men don't get lipos: Gender, political economy, and biomedicine in Colombia's male beauty industry , position: Gender-Based Violence Prevention Specialist, New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence
• Horowit-Hendler, Sharone, committee: James Collins (chair), Brooke Foucault Welles, Elise L. Andaya, dissertation: Navigating the binary: Gender presentation of non-binary individuals
• Núñez-Cortés, Yajaira, committee: Robert M. Rosenswig (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Verónica Pérez Rodríguez, Silvia Salgado, dissertation: Economy, exchange, and political power at Lomas Entierros, Central Pacific Costa Rica , position: Postdoctoral Researcher (starting Fall 2023), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
• Vavrasek, Jessica L., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Christina Rieth, dissertation: Interactions between Jefferson County Iroquoian women and men as explored through social network analysis of pottery and pipe decorative motif traits , position: State Historic Preservation Office Contact (Archaeology Unit), New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

2019

• Bryant, Jeffrey M., committee: Robert M. Rosenswig (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Sean M. Rafferty, dissertation: Tribute from the underworld: The historical ecology of the Maya postclassic fish trade with isotopic analysis of otoliths from Mayapán and Caye Coco , position: Supervising Spatial Epidemiologist, Washington State Department of Health
• Campbell, Jessica L., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Lisa Anderson, Timothy Gage, Wendy McQuade, Recai Yucel, dissertation: Bayesian analysis in adult skeletal age-at-death estimation, with additional consideration of pathological variables , position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University
• Ferguson, Josalyn M., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), Robert M. Rosenswig, Debra Walker, dissertation: Migration, resettlement, and transition in the aftermath of the Maya collapse: A case study of a terminal classic Maya community in Northern Belize , position: Archaeologist, New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
• Sheedy, Crystal A., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), John Justeson, James Collins, dissertation: The everyday sacred: A symbolic analysis of contemporary Yucatec Maya women's daily realities , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology & Sociology, University of South Dakota
• Tandon, Indrakshi, committee: Elise L. Andaya (chair), Jennifer Burrell, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: "We get nothing": An ethnography of participatory development and gender mainstreaming in a water project for the Bhil of Central India , position: Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University in Dubai
• Watson, Jessica E., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Verónica Pérez Rodríguez, Christina Rieth, Christopher Wolff, dissertation: Human interactions with the late Holocene landscape on Martha's Vineyard

2018

• Berg, Kimberly Anne, committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Louise M. Burkhart, Patricia Pinho, dissertation: Exemplary Welshness: The role of the transnational Welsh heritage network and being Welsh in Patagonia , position: Program Planner, New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council
• Leo, Aaron, committee: James Collins (chair), Jennifer Burrell, Margaret Sheehy, Kristen Wilcox, dissertation: Aspiration, attainment, and assimilation: A critical ethnography of newcomer youth in an American high school , position: Assistant Director of Research, NYKids, School of Education, University at Albany
• Loucks, Jordon Douglas, committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Michael T. Lucas, Robert M. Rosenswig, dissertation: Lock, hull, wheel, and rail: An archaeological study of the construction of ethnicity and industry in New York

2017

• Clark, Andrew J., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Larry J. Zimmerman, dissertation: Landscape of war: A spatial analysis of village settlements in the middle Missouri subregion of the North American Great Plains
• Ledogar, Sarah Heins, committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), Robert S. Feranec, Gwyn D. Madden, Robert M. Rosenswig, Stuart Swiny, dissertation: A zooarchaeological and geochemical analysis of the faunal remains from the Tripolye Site Verteba Cave, Ukraine , position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education, University of New England
• Leeming, Benjamin H., committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), David Carrasco, Walter E. Little, dissertation: Aztec Antichrist: Christianity, transculturation, and apocalypse on stage in two sixteenth-century Nahuatl dramas
• Mendelsohn, Rebecca R., committee: Robert M. Rosenswig (chair), Marilyn A. Masson, Sean M. Rafferty, dissertation: Resilience and interregional interaction at the early Mesoamerican city of Izapa: The formative to classic period transition , position: Co-Director of University Museums and Curator of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology; Research Affiliate and Instructor in Sociology and Anthropology, Colgate University
• Spriggs, Amanda Nicole, committee: Adam D. Gordon (chair), Brenda J. Bradley, Julia A. Jennings, David S. Strait, Suzanne G. Strait, dissertation: Evolution of lemur pelage color variation , position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany

2016

• Carioto, Jeanette, committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Walter E. Little, Robert M. Rosenswig, dissertation: Exploring mortuary behaviors during the Rural Cemetery Movement in the Capital District of New York State
• Díaz Montejo, María M., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Louise M. Burkhart, Jennifer L. Burrell, John M. Watanabe, dissertation: Jakaltek identity and the Fiesta Maya in Jupiter, Florida: Ethnic belonging, community, and home , position: Lecturer, Department of History and Geography, University of Central Oklahoma
• El Kotni, Mounia, committee: Jennifer L. Burrell (chair), Elise Andaya, Walter E. Little, dissertation: "Porque tienen mucho derecho": Parteras, biomedical training and the vernacularization of human rights in Chiapas , position: Post-Doctorante en Anthropologie, Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences, Santé, Santé Mentale, Société (CERMES3)
• Nadeau, Jaclyn, committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Hetty Jo Brumbach, Marilyn A. Masson, dissertation: Rethinking settlement and mobility models in Eastern New York , position: Biology Teacher, Arturo A Schomburg Satellite Academy Bronx
• Paling, Jason S. R., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), Francisco Estrada-Belli, John S. Justeson, Sean M. Rafferty, Robert M. Rosenswig, dissertation: Leaving no stone unturned: Investigating Preclassic lithic production, consumption, and exchange at San Estevan, Belize and K'o and Hamontún, Guatemala , position: Teaching Lecturer, Anthropology, Plymouth State University
• Ravenscroft, Julia, committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Deborah L. Crooks, Gail H. Landsman, dissertation: Environmental contamination and the transformation of food choice, dietary patterns, and health in adolescents from the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky
• Tamtomo, Kristian, committee: James Collins (chair), George Aaron Broadwell, J. Joseph Errington, dissertation: The push and pull of language ideologies: Multilingual communicative practices among youths in an Indonesian city

2015

• Ek, Jerald D., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), William Folan, Robert M. Rosenswig, Michael E. Smith, dissertation: Resilience in the midst of collapse: A regional case study of socio-ecological dynamics in the Río Champotón Drainage, Campeche, Mexico , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University
• Ledogar, Justin A., committee: David S. Strait (chair), Adam D. Gordon, Barth W. Wright, dissertation: Human feeding biomechanics: Intraspecific variation and evolution , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, East Tennessee State University
• Robinson, Francis W., IV, committee: Hetty Jo Brumbach (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Jonathan C. Lothrop, Sean M. Rafferty, Robert M. Rosenswig, dissertation: The initiation and maintenance of the Early Woodland interaction sphere (ca. 3,000-2,000 B.P.): The view from six northeastern mortuary sites , position: Vermont State Archaeologist and Lecturer in Anthropology, The University of Vermont
• Smith, Amanda L., committee: David S. Strait (chair), dissertation: Examining the craniofacial biomechanics of Paranthropus boisei , position: Anatomy Instructor, The University of Chicago
• Tamvada, Kelli Hamm, committee: David S. Strait (chair), Sharon N. DeWitte, Adam D. Gordon, dissertation: The biomechanical and behavioral significance of the Neanderthal femur , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Russell Sage College

2014

• Karsten, Jordan K., committee: Sean M. Rafferty (chair), Adam D. Gordon, Gwyn Madden, dissertation: A biocultural perspective on the transition to agriculture in Ukraine , position: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, Global Religions and Cultures, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Kushnet, Marvin W., committee: Stuart Swiny and Andrew Meadows (co-chairs), John C. Overbeck, Sean M. Rafferty, dissertation: Coinage and imported Greek pottery as comparative indicators of economy in 6th through 4th century B.C. Cyprus , position: Research Associate, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University
• Nachilongo, Mwaka, committee: Jennifer L. Burrell (chair), Elise L. Andaya, Louise M. Burkhart, dissertation: Refugee protection and assistance: Locating gender in refugee policies, programs, and experiences , position: Personnel Associate, Human Resources Management, University at Albany
• Navarro-Castillo, Marx, committee: Robert M. Rosenswig (chair), John S. Justeson, Marilyn A. Masson, Hector Neff, dissertation: Household economies: The production and consumption of Plumbate at Miguel Alemán, the Conquista Campesina Complex and the Piñuela complex
• Nicholls, Heidi J., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Kevin J. Williams, dissertation: Dialogic festivity: Tourism, diaspora, and the hybridization of being and becoming , position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Global Religions and Cultures, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Preble, Christine, committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Jennifer L. Burrell, Quetzil E. Castaneda, Patricia de Santana Pinho, dissertation: Imperial consumption, cruise ship tourism and Cozumel, Mexico , position: Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Salisbury University
• Vázquez Leiva, Ricardo, committee: Robert M. Rosenswig (chair), Robert M. Carmack, Marilyn A. Masson, dissertation: Turrialba, una encrucijada: Arqueología regional y rutas de comunicación en un valle del trópico húmedo de Costa Rica (11.000 a.C.-1600 d.C.) , position: Former Director (retired), Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

2013

• Chovanec, Zuzana, committee: Stuart Swiny (chair), Igor K. Lednev, Sean M. Raffert, dissertation: Products of social distinction: Organic residue analysis of specialized products in Bronze Age Cyprus
• Flores, Ilona M., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Elise Andaya, Jennifer Burrell, dissertation: The anti-abortion legislation in Nicaragua: Gender hierarchies and ideologies in reproduction , position: Adjunct Lecturer in Anthropology, SUNY Plattsburgh
• Kiyamu Tsuchiya, Melisa, committee: Tom Brutsaert and Timothy B. Gage (co-chairs), David S. Strait, dissertation: Developmental adaptation hypothesis: Aerobic capacity, submaximal arterial saturation and pulmonary volumes in peruvian quechua natives
• Lowry, Justin P., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), Traci A. Ardren, Sean M. Rafferty, dissertation: Farmers on the edge: A study of late-preclassic Maya houses and rejolladas at the site of Xuenkal, Yucatan, Mexico , position: Assistant Professor of Archaeology, SUNY Plattsburgh
• Makedonska, Jana A., committee: David S. Strait (chair), Timothy B. Gage, Mary Katherine Gonder, Adam D. Gordon, dissertation: The consumption of mechanically resistant foods by anthropoid primates and its influence on cranial integration and variation , position: Programme Manager in Health Research, European Health and Digital Executive Agency
• Sargsyan-Pittman, Nelli, committee: James Collins (chair), Jennifer Burrell, Walter E. Little, Khachig Tololyan, dissertation: Negotiating ethnosexual difference in the Armenian transnation , position: Associate Professor, Emerson College

2012

• Hughes-Morey, Gail Margaret, committee: Sharon N. DeWitte (chair), Adam D. Gordon, Sean M. Rafferty, Daniel D. White, dissertation: Body size and mortality in post-Medieval England , position: Vice President, Recovery & Rehabilitation Center, ASPCA
• Kurlanska, Courtney Brooke, committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Jennifer Burrell, Robert M. Carmack, dissertation: Grains, greenbacks and governance: The political economy of rural microfinance in Nicaragua , position: Assistant Professor of Teaching, The Global School, Worchester Polytechnic Institute
• Loughmiller-Newman, Jennifer Ann, committee: John S. Justeson and Sean M. Rafferty (co-chairs), Marilyn A. Masson, Dmitri Zagorevski, dissertation: The analytic reconciliation of Classic Mayan elite pottery: Squaring pottery function with form, adornment, and residual contents
• Marín-Guadarrama, Nadia, committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), Jennifer L. Burrell, Gail H. Landsman, dissertation: Childrearing in the discourse of friars and Nahaus in early colonial central Mexico
• Matsukawa, Kosuke, committee: George Aaron Broadwell (chair), Lee S. Bickmore, John S. Justeson, dissertation: Phonetics and phonology of Chicahuaxtla Triqui tones
• Paris, Elizabeth H., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), John S. Justeson, Robert M. Rosenswig, Michael E. Smith, dissertation: Political economy on the postclassic western Maya frontier , position: Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary
• Scott, Winston K., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Lee Bickmore, Jennifer Burrell, James Collins, dissertation: Beyond coffee plantations: Coffee production, emerging economic and social spaces, and the Q'eqchi' Maya in Senahú, Guatemala , position: Independent Q'eqchi' Mayan Interpreter for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, Immigration Youth Shelters, Medical Services, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States Federal District Courts, Catholic Charities
• Taylor, Sarah R., committee: Walter E. Little (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Ronald B. Loewe, Marilyn A. Masson, dissertation: Maya cosmopolitans: Everyday life at the interface of archaeology, heritage, and tourism development , position: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, California+L146+J138

2011

• Richie, Annette D., committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), Robert M. Carmack, Walter E. Little, dissertation: Confraternity and community: negotiating ethnicity, gender and place in colonial Tecamachalco, Mexico , position: Director of Global Academic Programs, Center for International Education and Global Strategy, University at Albany

2010

• Bazylevych, Maryna Yevgenivna, committee: Gail H. Landsman (chair), Elise L. Andaya, Robert W. Jarvenpa, Sarah D. Phillips, dissertation: Negotiating new roles, new moralities: Ukrainian women physicians at a post-socialist crossroad , position: Associate Professor of Anthropology, Luther College
• Duncan, Lachlan, committee: George Aaron Broadwell (chair), Lee S. Bickmore, John S. Justeson, dissertation: The syntactic structure of K̕'ichee̕' Mayan
• Montiel, Lisa M., committee: Robert M. Rosenswig and Michael E. Smith (co-chairs), Robert M. Carmack, Kenneth G. Hirth, dissertation: Teotihuacan imperialism in the Yautepec Valley, Morelos , position: Research Scientist, Rockefeller Institute of Government, University at Albany
• Servio-Mariano, Boyd Malcolm, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Louise M. Burkhart, Robert W. Jarvenpa, James W. Wessman, dissertation: Garifunaduáü: Cultural continuity, change and resistance in the Garifuna diaspora

2009

• Fleischer, David Ivan Rezende, committee: Walter E. Little (chair), William H. Fisher, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Ecotourism, sea turtles, and livelihoods: Adaptation and resistance to development and conservation in Mexico and Brazil , position: Representative for Brazil and Uruguay, Inter-American Foundation
• Lynn, Christopher D., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Gordon G. Gallup, Walter A. Little, dissertation: Glossolalia influences on stress response among Apostolic Pentecostals , position: Professor, Department of Anthropology, The University of Alabama

2008

• Bosire, B. Mokaya, committee: Lee Bickmore (chair), George Aaron Broadwell, James Collins, dissertation: Sheng, the phonology, morphology and social profile of an urban vernacular , position: Senior Instructor of African Studies, University of Oregon
• Campisi, Elizabeth, committee: James Collins, Louise M. Burkhart, dissertation: Guantánamo: Trauma, culture, and the Cuban rafter crisis of 1994-96
• Dary Fuentes, Claudia, committee: Robert M. Carmack and Walter E. Little (co-chairs), Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Ethnic identity, community organization and social experience in eastern Guatemala: The case of Santa Maria Xalapán
• Russell, Bradley W., committee: Marilyn A. Masson (chair), Micahael Smith, Hetty Joe Brumbach, dissertation: Postclassic Maya settlement on the rural-urban fringe of Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico , position: State Historic Preservation Office Contact (Archaeology Unit), New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
• Stanford, Catherine M., committee: Liliana Goldman, Robert W. Jarvenpa, James W. Wessman, dissertation: Religion and politics in Nicaragua: A historical ethnography set in the city of Masaya
• Tseng, Yu-Ching, committee: George Aaron Broadwell (chair), dissertation: A typology of syntactic OCP effects: A study of OCP in Hakka syntax and optimality theory

2007

• Gallo, Mia V., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Timothy B. Gage, Gail Landsman, dissertation: The influence of toxicants on growth among Native American adolescents of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation , position: Associate Director of Operations and Research, Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, University at Albany
• Hays, Jennifer L., committee: James Collins (chair), Iris Berger, Lee Bickmore, dissertation: Education, rights and survival for the Nyae Nyae Ju'hoansi: Illuminating local and global discourses
• Lei, Jing, committee: James Collins (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Istvan Keskes, dissertation: A language socialization approach to the interplay of ethnic revitalization and heritage language learning: Case studies of Chinese American adolescents

2006

• Martín del Campo, Edgar, committee: Louise M. Burkhart (chair), James Collins, John Justeson, Walter E. Little, dissertation: The nagual hiding in shadows: Metamorphic supernaturals, contested discourse, and the complications of field work in the Huasteca Veracruzana of northeast Mexico
• Maupin, Jonathan N., committee: Robert Carmack and Liliana Goldin (co-chairs), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Fruit of the accords: Health care reform, decentralization, and community participation in highland Guatemala , position: Associate Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
• Solano, Martin C., committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), Penelope Drooker, Timothy B. Gage, Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: The life stresses of poverty: Skeletal and historical indicators of activity patterns in the Albany County Almshouse skeletal collection, 1825-1925
• Taylor, Matthew S., committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Diachronic changes in hunter-gatherer dental health and disease on the Texas Central Gulf Coastal Plain

2005

• Denham, Melinda M., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Gail Landsman, Linda Layne, dissertation: Experiences of in vitro fertilization donor egg recipients: The impact of technology on reproduction
• MacKenzie, Christopher James, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Liliana Goldin, dissertation: Maya bodies and minds: Religion and modernity in a K'che' town
• White, Daniel D., committee: Dean Falk (chair), Gordon G. Gallup, Timothy B. Gage, dissertation: Size and shape of the cerebellum in catarrhine primates and Plio-Pleistocene fossil hominis: A paleoneurological anyalysis of endocranial casts

2004

• Astor-Aguilera, Miguel Angel, committee: Gary H. Gossen and Marilyn A. Masson (co-chairs), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Karl Taube, John Justeson, dissertation: Unshrouding the communicating cross: The iconology of a Maya quadripartite symbol , position: Associate Professor, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
• Knutson, Kristen L., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Timothy B. Gage, V. Mark Durand, dissertation: Sleep, health and socioeconomic status among adolescents of the national longitudinal study of adolescent health , position: Associate Professor of Neurology (Sleep Medicine) and Preventive Medicine (Epidemiology), Northwestern University
• Kroefges, Peter C., committee: Michael E. Smith (chair), Louise M. Burkhart, Marilyn A. Masson, dissertation: Sociopolitical organization in the prehispanic Chontalpa de Oaxaca, Mexico: Ethnohistorical and archaeological perspectives , position: faculty, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí
• Samson, C. Mathews, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), dissertation: Re-enchanting the world: Maya identity and protestantism in the western highlands of Guatemala , position: Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Latin American Studies, Davidson College
• Shih, Ling-Ling L., committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), dissertation: Inventing new womenhood in China/Taiwan: A historical anthropology of gender

2003

• Choi, Jinsook, committee: James Collins (chair), Robert M. Carmack, John Justeson, Liliana Goldin, dissertation: Language choice and language ideology in a bilingual Maya community: The politics of identity in Guatemala
• Selka, Stephen, committee: James Collins (chair), Liliana Goldin, Louise M. Burkhart, dissertation: Religion and the politics of ethnic identity in Bahia, Brazil
• Smith, Timothy J., committee: Robert M. Carmack and Gary H. Gossen (co-chairs), dissertation: A tale of two governments: Rural Maya politics and competing democracies in Sololá, Guatemala , position: Professor, Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University
• Tatar, Bradley, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Liliana Goldin, dissertation: Narrating the revolution: Sandinistas and the politics of memory in Masaya, Nicaragua

2002

• Choh, Audrey C., committee: Timothy B. Gage (chair), Tom D. Brutsaert, Lawrence M. Schell, Stephen T. McGarvey, dissertation: The genetics of obesity and obesity related factors among Samoans
• Keating, Neal B., committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), James Collins, Robert M. Carmack, dissertation: Pictures and power: The historical anthropology of Iroquois painting, A.D. 1600-2000
• Lloyd, Timothy Charles, committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), dissertation: Mortuary patterns, social organization, and ideology at the Hopewell Site , position: State Historic Preservation Office Contact (Archaeology Unit), New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
• Muse, Erika A., committee: James Collins and Walter Zenner (co-chairs), dissertation: With the sinfulness of this world comes the holiness and separateness of the church: A discourse of identity among Christian Chinese in Boston, Massachusetts
• Rogers, Matthew H., committee: Robert W. Jarvenpa (chair), dissertation: Totems and tourists: Tourism and cultural production on Haida Gwaii/The Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia

2001

• Abel, Timothy James, committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Robert Kuhn, Robert M. Carmack, William Engelbrecht, dissertation: The Clayton Cluster: Cultural dynamics of a late prehistoric village sequence in the upper St. Lawrence valley , position: Consulting Archaeologist and Adjunct Instructor of Anthropology, SUNY Canton
• Forand, Nancy Anne, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), dissertation: Mayas in the age of apocalypse: Folk evangelicals and Catholics in Quintana Roo , position: Senior Director of Research Development, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Hare, Timothy S., committee: Michael E. Smith (chair), Louise M. Burkhart, Robert M. Carmack, Marilyn A. Masson, dissertation: Political economy, spatial analysis, and postclassic states in the Yautepec Valley, Mexico , position: Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Social Work & Criminology, Morehead State University
• Mora-Marín, David F., committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), John Justeson, George Aaron Broadwell, dissertation: The grammar, orthography, content, and social context of Late Preclassic Mayan portable texts , position: Professor, Department of Linguistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Olson, Jan Marie, committee: Michael E. Smith (chair), dissertation: Unequal consumption: A study of domestic wealth differentials in three late postclassic Mexican communities
• Phillips, Shawn M., committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), dissertation: Inmate life in the Oneida County asylum, 1860-1895: A biocultural study of the skeletal and documentary records

2000

• Burke, Adrian L., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Hetty Jo Brumbach, Gary A. Wright, Claud Chapdelaine, dissertation: Lithic procurement and the ceramic period occupation of the interior of the Maritime Peninsula , position: Professeur titulaire, Département d'anthropologie, Université de Montréal
• Ibechem, Cindy M., committee: Gail Landsman and Gary Gossen (co-chairs), Iris Berger, Adeline Apena, dissertation: When women leave the village: An evaluation of women's power and their protest actions in Ofodim, Umuneke, Imo State, Nigeria
• Jones, Stephen Doniphin, committee: Michael E. Smith (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Hetty Jo Brumbach, Michael Werner, Thomas McGovern, John Collis, dissertation: Deconstructing the Celts: A skeptic's guide to the archaeology of the Auvergne
• Redmond, John Charles, Jr., committee: Dean Falk (chair), Timothy B. Gage, Gordon Gallup, dissertation: Behavioral lateralization and cerebral asymmetries in Hylobates syndactylus

1999

• Boulanger, Lori A., committee: Gail Landsman (chair), Gary H. Gossen, James Collins, Jonathan Friedman, dissertation: "Resisting coercive assimilation": Identity, empowerment, and activism in the Native Hawaiian Movement of Hawai'i Island
• Diamond, Joseph E., committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Hetty Jo Brumbach, Robert E. Funk, dissertation: The terminal late woodland/contact period in the Mid-Hudson Valley , position: Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, SUNY New Paltz
• Gabany-Guerrero, Tricia, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), dissertation: Deciphering the symbolic heritage of the Tarascan Empire: Interpreting the political economy of the Pueblo-Hospital of Parangaricutiro, Michoacán
• Jenkins, Gwynne Lee, committee: Robert Carmack and Gary Gossen (co-chairs), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: The bureaucratization of birth: Midwifery programs, national health care, and local birth conventions in rural Costa Rica

1998

• Czerwinski, Stefan A., committee: Lawrence M. Schell (chair), Timothy B. Gage, Alice Stark, dissertation: Determinants of blood lead levels in socioeconomically disadvantaged children from birth to two years: A biocultural perspective , position: Director and Professor, Division of Health Sciences, The Ohio State University
• Montag, Richard, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), George Aaron Broadwell, Louise Burkhart, dissertation: A tale of Pudicho's people: Cashinahua narrative accounts of European contact in the 20th century
• Yastion, Lyla, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), dissertation: Networks of contemplative action in American culture: A study of mystic practice and emergent community in a contemporary Christian-Catholic comtemplative movement

1997

• Molnar, James S., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Gary A. Wright, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Interpreting fishing strategies of the Odawa
• Rieth, Christina B., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Gary A. Wright, Hetty Jo Brumbach, Robert Kuhn, dissertation: Culture contact during the Carpenter Brook phase: A tripartite approach to the study of the spatial and temporal movement of early Iroquoian groups throughout the Upper Susquehanna River Valley

1996

• Drooker, Penelope B., committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Robert W. Jarvenpa, Dean R. Snow, Richard G. Wilkinson, dissertation: The view from Madisonville: Continuity and change in late prehistoric-protohistoric western Fort Ancient interaction patterns , position: Curator of Anthropology Emerita, New York State Museum
• Salgado González, Silvia, dissertation: Social change in a region of Granada, Pacific Nicaragua (1000 B.C. -- 1522 A.D.)
• Squire, Mariella R., committee: Gail Landsman (chair), dissertation: The contemporary western Abenakis: Maintenance, reclamation, and reconfiguration of an American indian ethnic identity

1995

• Bond, Stanley C., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), James Wessman, Eugene Lyon, dissertation: Tradition and change in first Spanish period 1565-1763 St. Augustine architecture: A search for colonial identity
• Metz, Brent E., dissertation: Experiencing conquest: The political and economic roots and cultural expression of Maya-Chorti ethos
• O'Connor, Kathleen Ann, committee: Timothy B. Gage (chair), Richard G. Wilkinson, Mark Cohen, Carolyn Olsen, dissertation: The age pattern of mortality: A micro-analysis of Tipu and a meta-analysis of twenty-nine paleo-demographic samples
• Raemsch, Carol A., committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), John Relethford, Lyle Konigsberg, Timothy B. Gage, Gary A. Wright, dissertation: Craniometric variation within skeletal samples of diverse biological composition

1994

• Asturias de Barrios, Linda, committee: Gary H. Gossen and Liliana Goldin (co-chairs), dissertation: Mano de mujer, mano de hombre: Produccion artesanal testil en Comalapa, Guatemala
• Bigler, Ellen, committee: James Collins (chair), Emillio Pantojas-Garcia, Gail Landsman, dissertation: Multiculturalism in upstate New York: Contested identities and the schooling of Puerto Rican youth in a de-industrializing economy
• Dauria, Susan R., committee: Liliana Goldin, Gary H. Gossen, Walter Zenner, dissertation: Deindustrialization and the construction of history and ethnic identity: A case in upstate New York
• Fabri, Antonella, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), dissertation: (Re)composing the nation: Politics of memory and displacement in Maya testimonies from Guatemala
• Wentworth, Ann Kennedy, committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Gary A. Wright, Susan J. Bender, Mary C. Beaudry, dissertation: Woman of business or lady of the manor?: An archaeological examination of changes in gender roles among the Hudson Valley elite during the eighteenth century

1993

• Bamann, Susan E., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Robert Kuhn, Richard M. Leventhal, Michael E. Smith, dissertation: Settlement nucleation in Mohawk Iroquois prehistory: An analysis of a site sequence in the lower Otsquago drainage of the Mohawk Valley
• Bronson, Elizabeth, dissertation: Agriculture, adaptation, and attitudes: Decision making among farm families in southern Costa Rica
• Jamison, Thomas R., dissertation: Symbolic affiliation, architecture and settlement patterns in Southern Belize: Nim Li Punit and Xnaneb during the late classic
• Pitarch Ramón, Pedro, dissertation: Ethnografía de las almas en Cancúc, Chiapas

1992

• Pfeiffer, John Edward, committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Robert E. Funk, Gary A. Wright, Floyd Henderson, dissertation: Late and terminal archaic cultural adaptations of the lowest Connecticut Valley
• Re Cruz, Alicia, dissertation: The two milpas of Chan Kom: A study of socioeconomic and political transformations in a Maya community

1991

• Castañeda, Quetzil E., dissertation: An "archaeology" of Chichén Itza: Discourse, power, and resistance in a Maya tourist site
• Leidy, Lynnette E., committee: Timothy B. Gage (chair), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: The timing of menopause in biological and socio cultural context: A life span opproach , position: Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Scotchmer, David G., committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), dissertation: Symbols of salvation: Interpreting highland Maya protestantism in context
• Wurtzburg, Susan Jane, committee: Richard M. Leventhal (chair), Liliana Goldin, Jeremy A. Sabloff, J. Theodore Peña, Gary A. Wright, dissertation: Sayil: Investigations of urbanism and economic organization at an ancient Maya city

1990

• Ciborski, Sara, dissertation: Culture and power: The emergence and politics of Akwesane Mohawk traditionalism
• Dunham, Peter S., committee: Richard M. Leventhal (chair), Garry H. Gossen, Gary A. Wright, dissertation: Coming apart at the seams: The classic development and demise of Maya Civilization: A segmentary view from Xnaheb, Belize , position: Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cleveland State University

1989

• Black, Nancy Johnson, dissertation: Transformation of a frontier mission province: The order of Our Lady of Mercy in Western Honduras

1988

• Krasniewicz, Louise, dissertation: The difference within: The politics of representation, identity and gender informing the 1983 Seneca Women's Peace Encampment
• Lanphear, Kim M., committee: Dean R. Snow, Lawrence M. Schell, Timothy B. Gage, Richard Wilkinson, dissertation: Health and mortality in a nineteenth century poorhouse skeletal sample

1987

• Byers, A. Martin, committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Gary H. Gossen, Robert W. Jarvenpa, Dean R. Snow, dissertation: The earthwork enclosures of the Central Ohio Valley: A temporal and structural analysis of Woodland Society and Culture
• Cuevas Suárez, Susana, dissertation: The Amuzgo's zoological world: An ethnoscientific approach
• Hunter, Susan S., dissertation: Health status: An anthropological model of its determinants
• Lindner, Chris, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), Robert E. Funk, Gary A. Wright, dissertation: Geoarchaeology of culturally induced flood impacts: Schoharie Valley, Eastern New York
• Rojas Lima, Flavio, dissertation: La cofradía mesoamericana: Un reducto cultural indígena
• Rosenbaum, Brenda Picciotto, dissertation: With our heads bowed: Women, society and culture in Chamula, Chiapas

1986

• Benyo, Julie C., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Kenneth Hirth, Robert Sharer, Gary A. Wright, dissertation: An archaeological investigation of intra-community social organizations at La Ceiba, Comayagua, Honduras
• Goldin, Liliana R., dissertation: Organizing the world through the market: A symbolic analysis of markets and exchange in the western highlands of Guatemala
• Guldenzopf, David B., committee: Dean R. Snow, William A. Starna, Charles Gehring, James Wessman, dissertation: The colonial transformation of Mohawk Iroquois Society
• Hodges, Denise Carrol, committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Agricultural intensification and prehistoric health in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico
• Muntzel, Martha C., dissertation: The structure of Ocuilteco
• Orphanides, Andreas G., committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Paul W. Wallace, Richard M. Leventhal, dissertation: Towards a theory for the interpretation of material remains in archaeology: The Bronze Age anthropomorphic figurines from Cyprus
• Reeve, Stuart A., committee: Gary A. Wright (chair), Dean R. Snow, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Root crops and prehistoric social process in the Snake River headwaters, northwestern Wyoming

1985

• Kuhn, Robert D., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Gary A. Wright, William A. Starna, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Trade and exchange among the Mohawk-Iroquois: A trace element analysis of ceramic smoking pipes
• McCarthy, Michael Francis, committee: Lyle Campbell (chair), Gary H. Gossen, Francis C. Lees, Edwin D. Reilly, dissertation: An investigation of some proposed universals of script borrowing
• Robertson, Rosalie M., dissertation: Oneida Indian educational planning in Wisconsin
• Sosa, John Robert, committee: Gary H. Gossen (chair), Peter T. Furst, Robert W. Jarvenpa, NA Aveni, NA Anthony F., dissertation: The Maya sky, the Maya world: A symbolic analysis of Yucatec Maya cosmology

1984

• Cohen, Colleen Ballerino, dissertation: The true light beavers: The reproduction and transformation of an American counterculture commune
• Earle, Duncan Mac Lean, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), dissertation: Cultural logic and ecology in community development: Failure and success cases among the highland Maya

1983

• Bender, Susan J., committee: Gary A. Wright, Dean R. Snow, Robert W. Jarvenpa, dissertation: Hunter-gatherer subsistence and settlement in a mountainous environment: The prehistory of the Northern Tetons
• Fisher, Charles, dissertation: Social organization and change during the early horticultural period in the Hudson River Valley
• Knab, T. J., dissertation: Words great and small: Sierra Nahuat narrative discourse in everyday life
• Mascia-Lees, Frances E., dissertation: A cross-national analysis of sexual stratification in contemporary societies
• Ochiai, Kazuyasu, dissertation: When the saints come marching in: Inter-community public rituals among the Tzotzil Indians of Southeastern Mexico

1982

• Kempf, Judith, committee: Peter T. Furst, Robert M. Carmack, Gertrude D. Dole, Robert L. Carneiro, dissertation: The dynamics of culture and health: Disease and curing among the Ecuadorian Coaiquer Indians under the impact of acculturation
• Norelli, Richard Joseph, committee: Richard G. Wilkinson (chair), Francis Lees, Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Differential mortality in a lower Mohawk Valley community: Waterford, New York, 1790-1880
• Tierson, Forrest D., committee: Francis Lees (chair), Lawrence M. Schell, dissertation: Influences of dietary cravings and aversions during pregnancy on maternal diet and pregnancy outcome

1981

• Cook, Garrett W., dissertation: Supernaturalism, cosmos and cosmogony in Quichean expressive culture
• Mondloch, James L., committee: Lyle Campbell, Robert M. Carmack, Marianne Mithun, dissertation: Voice in Quiché-Maya
• Simms, David M., dissertation: Tourism, entrepreneurs, and change in southwest Ireland

1980

• Marqusee, Steven Jack, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Lyle Campbell, Peter T. Furst, Dean R. Snow, dissertation: An analysis of late postclassic period quichean art from the highlands of Guatemala
• Relethford, John, committee: Francis Lees (chair), dissertation: Population structure and anthropometric variation in rural western Ireland , position: SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, SUNY Oneonta
• Weeks, John M., committee: Robert M. Carmack and Dean R. Snow (co-chairs), Gary A. Wright, dissertation: Dimensions of social differentiation at Chisalin, El Quiche, Guatemala, A.D. 1400-1524

1979

• Whelehan, Patricia, dissertation: Group homes: An alternative to institutionalization for troubled adolescents

1978

• Bossen, Laurel, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Peter T. Furst, Bille Jean Isbell, Bette Denich, dissertation: Women and dependent development: A comparison of women's economic and social roles in Guatemala
• Brumbach, Hetty Jo, dissertation: Middle Woodland Fishing Economics: The Upper Hudson River Drainage
• Tedlock, Barbara, dissertation: Quiché Maya divination: A theory of practice

1977

• Baum, Ruth Elizabeth, committee: Robert M. Carmack (chair), Dr. Zenner, Dr. Olsen, Dr. Isbell, dissertation: The ethnohistory of law: The Hutterite case
• Childs, Stephen Murray, dissertation: Political correlates of socioeconomic change in rural society: A study of three Malay communities
• Colee, Philip Sauve, dissertation: The Housatonic-Stockbridge Indians, 1734-1749
• Herrick, James W., dissertation: Iroquois medical botany

1976

• Howard, Lois Greenwood, dissertation: Philosophical assumptions underlying the Kubler-Coe controversy in Mesoamerican prehistory
• Starna, William A., committee: Dean R. Snow (chair), Gary A. Wright, Richard G. Wilkinson, Robert E. Funk, dissertation: Late archaic lifeways in the Middle Mohawk Valley: A framework for further study

1975

• Foley, Denis, dissertation: An ethnohistoric and ethnographic analysis of the Iroquois from the aboriginal era to the present suburban era
• Fox, John W., committee: Dwight T. Wallace (chair), Robert M. Carmack, Dean R. Snow, dissertation: Centralism and regionalism: Quiche acculturation processes in settlement patterning. An archaeological and ethnohistoric study of late postclassic highland Maya ethnic groups

1974

• Campisi, Jack, dissertation: Ethnic identity and boundary maintenance in three Oneida communities

Each year, awards of approximately $1000 are available for research toward the PhD or MA, for activities to be conducted during the academic year of the application, or the following summer. Up to two projects may receive an award. Applicants are only to be funded once, with rare exceptions. The award supports direct cost of research, including:

• Travel to conduct research at libraries, archives, laboratories, and other research
  facilities and resources
• Costs of information access
• Remuneration of human subjects
• Purchase of supplies or equipment rental

Applications consist of:

• A short project proposal (no more than 4 pages) that addresses the specific research to
  be conducted with the Fenton award, as well as its relationship to the broader MA or
  PhD research.
• An itemized budget
• A (short) letter of support from the MA/PhD advisor that addresses the proposed research, the significance for program of study, and the applicant’s ability to conduct this research successfully.
• If the application proposes work with human subjects, IRB approval will be required before funds are distributed, and if possible students should indicate when they expect IRB approval.

Awardees should submit a report of their funded research activities at the completion of their research period.

Applications should be emailed as a single PDF file to the Graduate Affairs Committee Chair by Oct. 1 of each year. Late submissions are accepted until available award funds have been allocated. Letters of support should be sent separately.

The David Scotchmer Award

The award (subject to annual adjustment) will be $150, to be used as the awardee sees fit to further their research program. The winner is usually announced in mid-April of each year and will be recognized in the published program at the Honors Convocation on Commencement weekend in May.

Scotchmer Award Eligibility

All students enrolled in the MA or PhD program in the Department of Anthropology at the University at Albany with research interests in Mesoamerican Studies are eligible for this competition. Student Associates of the IMS are given preference.

Scotchmer Award Essay Requirements

Unpublished essays on any aspect of Mesoamerican Studies are eligible for submission. The essay may be a revised seminar paper, MA paper, doctoral dissertation exam essay, or an expanded version of a presentation at a professional meeting. Co-authored student essays are eligible. Co-authored student-faculty essays are not eligible. Papers submitted for consideration should be under 40 pages in length, double spaced, and should conform to the style of a major professional journal, such as American Antiquity or American Anthropologist. Students should consult the style guide of the journal and make sure that bibliographic entries, subheadings, and other elements conform to the correct style. All necessary tables and illustrations must be included, but they do not need to be in final, publishable format.

Submission Procedures for the Scotchmer Award

A submission cover letter should include the following: context in which the essay took shape, i.e., the circumstances under which it was conceived and written, and plans, if any (not required), for submission for publication.

Criteria for Evaluation for the Scotchmer Award

Essays will be judged by a committee of IMS faculty for professional quality, following standard disciplinary criteria.

Learn more about the 2020 David Scotchmer Essay Award recipients.

Learn more about past David Scotchmer Essay Award recipients.

The Undergraduate Essay Award:

The award will be $100, to be used as the awardee sees fit. The winner is usually announced in mid-April of each year and is recognized (in the published program and in person) at the Honors Convocation on Commencement weekend in May.

Essay Award Eligibility:

All undergraduate students at the University at Albany are eligible for this award.

Essay Requirements:

Unpublished essays on any aspect of Mesoamerican studies are eligible for submission. The essay may be a revised term paper, a senior honors thesis, or any other essay. Co-authored student essays are eligible. Co-authored student-faculty essays are not eligible. Papers submitted for consideration should be under 30 pages in length, double-spaced, and should conform to the style of a major professional journal such as American Antiquity or American Anthropologist. Students should consult the style guide of the journal and make sure that bibliographic entries, subheadings, and other elements conform to the correct style. All necessary tables and illustrations must be included, but the illustrations do not need to be in final, publishable format.

Submission Procedure for Essay Award:

Three copies of the essay should be submitted to the IMS office in Arts and Sciences (AS) 233 or the IMS mailbox (AS 236), including a digital copy in PDF to [email protected].

Students should arrange to have a faculty member write a letter of reference that discusses the context and importance of the paper. A submission cover letter statement should include the following:

• Context in which the essay took shape, i. e., the circumstances under which it was conceived and written.
• The name of the Faculty reference.

Criteria for Essay Evaluation:

Essays will be judged by a committee of IMS faculty for their professional quality, following standard disciplinary criteria.

To learn more about the 2021 Undergraduate Essay Award recipients.

To learn about past Undergraduate Essay Award recipients.

All graduate students formally enrolled in a degree program in the departments of Anthropology, History, or Sociology with research interests in Mesoamerican Studies are eligible for this award.

Apply for the First Encounter Scholarship

Three copies of the proposal should be submitted. Proposals should consist of the following:

• Application Cover Page: Available in the IMS office, Arts and Sciences (AS) 233. An Application Cover Page is also available for download.
• Project Description: This should be a short description (two to three single-spaced typed pages) of the proposed project. It should describe the research problem, give the theoretical background of the research, specify objectives and methods, provide a statement of the anthropological significance of the project, and state how the research relates to your degree program and other research you have done or plan to do. Please add a bibliography of one or two pages.
• Schedule and Budget: In one page, provide a proposed schedule of activities, a budget of expenses, and a statement of actual and potential additional sources of funding for the research.
• Curriculum Vitae: Attach a current curriculum vitae.

Criteria for selection include the scholarly value of the research project, the level of professionalism demonstrated, and the relationship of the project to the student's degree program.

The proposal should be submitted, in the form of a single pdf file, via email to [email protected].
 

Learn more about the 2021 First Encounter Scholarship recipients.

Learn more about past First Encounter Scholarship recipients.

The scholarship was established to honor the memory of Christopher DeCormier, a SUNY-Albany student with strong interests in Maya culture and fieldwork. Proposed projects may be in any subfield of anthropology, but should focus on interpreting some aspect of ancient or modern Mesoamerican culture or society. Fieldwork should not be an end in itself but should contribute to an understanding of some feature of Mesoamerican culture or thought.
 

DeCormier Memorial Scholarship Application

Three copies of the proposal should be submitted. Proposals should consist of the following:

• Application Cover Page: available in the IMS office, Arts and Sciences (AS) 233. An Application Cover Page is also available for download.
• Project Description: This should be a short description (two to three single-spaced typed pages) of the proposed project. It should describe the research problem, give the theoretical background of the research, specify objectives and methods, provide a statement of the anthropological significance of the project, and state how the research relates to your degree program and other research you have done or plan to do. Please add a bibliography of one or two pages.
• Schedule and Budget: On one page, provide a proposed schedule of activities, a budget of expenses, and a statement of actual and potential additional sources of funding for the research.
• Curriculum Vitae: Attach a current curriculum vitae.

Criteria for selection include the scholarly value of the research project, its relevance to Mesoamerican anthropology, the level of professionalism demonstrated, and the relationship of the project to the student's degree program.

Past applicants are encouraged to apply again. Applications should be submitted to the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies (AS 233) or the IMS mailbox (AS 236), including a digital copy in PDF to [email protected].
 

Support the DeCormier Memorial Scholarship

To offer a donation, please send a check, payable to the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, to:

The Institute for Mesoamerican Studies
Department of Anthropology
Arts and Sciences 233
The University at Albany
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222

Learn more about Christopher DeCormier and the Memorial Scholarship.

View a list of DeCormier Scholarship recipients from 1979 to the present day.

Learn more about the 2021 DeCormier Scholarship recipients.