Comments on: Savage Minds Around the Web http://savageminds.org/2009/10/19/savage-minds-around-the-web-43/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:42:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Getting Yourself Out of the Business in Five Easy Steps (With Updates) « Jason Baird Jackson http://savageminds.org/2009/10/19/savage-minds-around-the-web-43/comment-page-1/#comment-621150 Getting Yourself Out of the Business in Five Easy Steps (With Updates) « Jason Baird Jackson Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:17:08 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2831#comment-621150 [...] who supportive in their positive comments and linking to the essay, including the good people at Savage Minds, Publishing Archaeology, and Cultural Sustainability.  Interested folks on Facebook and Twitter [...] [...] who supportive in their positive comments and linking to the essay, including the good people at Savage Minds, Publishing Archaeology, and Cultural Sustainability.  Interested folks on Facebook and Twitter [...]

]]> By: Michael E. Smith http://savageminds.org/2009/10/19/savage-minds-around-the-web-43/comment-page-1/#comment-620226 Michael E. Smith Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:28:17 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2831#comment-620226 Oops, in my haste I neglected to mention our new name, the "School of Human Evolution & Social Change" (SHESC). This is a long story, and we are now writing a news item about it that ties in with Ostrom's Nobel Prize for the Anthropology News. The change happened in 2005, just as I was hired, so I don't know all the negotiations that went on to bring about the transition. I was hired by a Dept. of Anthro, and ended up a faculty member in "SHESC." The short story is that we became "Anthropology Plus," meaning an anthropology program (degrees and courses all intact) with a bunch of non-anthropology faculty and a strong and explicit emphasis on transdisciplinary research and teaching. Those of use who were initially skeptical about the transition (including me) have been won over by the developments. We have outstanding new non-anthropology colleagues, we have money for transdisciplinary research, and we still have strong anthropology degree programs (among the top in the US for archaeology and physical anthro; not quite there yet with cultural). Last year we hired 2 new medical anthropologists at a time when few units in the university were hiring. This year we will probably search for a couple of more cultural anthropoloigsts. It is too bad we have not been better about publicizing our new identity, but the Anthropology News item will help, and I'm happy to provide more information if anyone is interested. For me, the bottom line is that I am now in the most exciting and dynamic intellectual setting I have experienced in my whole career, and my own horizons have expanded considerably since coming to ASU. Oops, in my haste I neglected to mention our new name, the “School of Human Evolution & Social Change” (SHESC). This is a long story, and we are now writing a news item about it that ties in with Ostrom’s Nobel Prize for the Anthropology News. The change happened in 2005, just as I was hired, so I don’t know all the negotiations that went on to bring about the transition. I was hired by a Dept. of Anthro, and ended up a faculty member in “SHESC.” The short story is that we became “Anthropology Plus,” meaning an anthropology program (degrees and courses all intact) with a bunch of non-anthropology faculty and a strong and explicit emphasis on transdisciplinary research and teaching.

Those of use who were initially skeptical about the transition (including me) have been won over by the developments. We have outstanding new non-anthropology colleagues, we have money for transdisciplinary research, and we still have strong anthropology degree programs (among the top in the US for archaeology and physical anthro; not quite there yet with cultural). Last year we hired 2 new medical anthropologists at a time when few units in the university were hiring. This year we will probably search for a couple of more cultural anthropoloigsts.

It is too bad we have not been better about publicizing our new identity, but the Anthropology News item will help, and I’m happy to provide more information if anyone is interested. For me, the bottom line is that I am now in the most exciting and dynamic intellectual setting I have experienced in my whole career, and my own horizons have expanded considerably since coming to ASU.

]]> By: Chris http://savageminds.org/2009/10/19/savage-minds-around-the-web-43/comment-page-1/#comment-620157 Chris Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:45:47 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2831#comment-620157 What the hell happened to your anthropology department? What the hell happened to your anthropology department?

]]> By: Michael E. Smith http://savageminds.org/2009/10/19/savage-minds-around-the-web-43/comment-page-1/#comment-620060 Michael E. Smith Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:26:54 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2831#comment-620060 Nobel winner Elinor Ostrom not only does good work, but she is affiliated with an Anthropology PhD program at Arizona State University. She took up a part-time position here 3 years ago and founded the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, which has anthropologists and others working on common pool resources, collective action, and other good things. Even though we no longer have a "Department of Anthropology" at ASU, we still have degrees in anthropology (BA, MA, PhD), we teach anthropology courses, and now we have a nobel laureate as a colleague! Nobel winner Elinor Ostrom not only does good work, but she is affiliated with an Anthropology PhD program at Arizona State University. She took up a part-time position here 3 years ago and founded the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, which has anthropologists and others working on common pool resources, collective action, and other good things. Even though we no longer have a “Department of Anthropology” at ASU, we still have degrees in anthropology (BA, MA, PhD), we teach anthropology courses, and now we have a nobel laureate as a colleague!

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