Beyond the Classroom | SUNY Oswego

Hands on Learning

Research

The anthropology department faculty pursue a wide variety of topics and research areas in every corner of the world. Each year, numerous opportunities are available for collaborative research, field work, and faculty sponsored independent research for undergraduates.

A number of grants are available for student research to support both independent work and collaboration with faculty. Past research grants have been used to pursue an investigation of Puebloan architecture at Bandelier National Monument and Chaco Canyon National Historical Park in New Mexico, and efficient methods of cleaning soft tissue from long bones.

Student Research Opportunities

Opportunities abroad have included conducting research in Northern Canada with faculty to look at the effects of resource extraction on low income families, and prospective research in the Bahamas, to look at colonial impacts. Future research opportunities are expected to include Veracruz, Mexico and Arizona with Dr. Ossa, Zambia with Dr. Peters, and Turkana, Kenya with Dr. Princehouse.

Internships

Internships are a great way to obtain practical experience in the workplace, make important contacts and build your resume while still in school. An internship experience can solidify your decision to pursue a particular career, but also open up new directions about which you were unaware. Our anthropology students have interned in museums, zoos, and historical sites both locally and nationally. Past internship placements have included:

Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
National Park Service
New York State Historic Preservation Office
Onondaga and Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office
Rosamund Gifford Zoo
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest

Walt Disney World
Richardson Bates House Museum
Fort Ontario
American Anthropological Association
Museum Educators Program (MEEP) at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Internship Project Richardson Bates House Museum Field School Exhibit

Study Abroad

Study abroad opportunities through the Anthropology Department include faculty research opportunities, faculty-led courses, and courses through the Office of International Education and Programs, with overseas academic opportunities in over 30 countries. Many of our students take advantage to explore a new country and culture and have traveled to:

Australia
Benin
China
Czech Republic
France

India
Italy
Scotland
South Africa
Sweden

Faculty led courses

Faculty led courses have included trips to France and the Czech Republic. ANT301 “Dead but Not Buried” is 3 credit hour study of the cultural, historical and bioarchaeological practices of treating and interacting with the dead within the community. This travel course to the Czech Republic explores Medieval secondary burials, Ossuaries resulting from Black Plague burials, and Bone Assemblages in religious contexts and as artistic representations.

This course examines the various ways in which cultures treat their dead and the alternate burial techniques and funerary customs they use, including primary versus secondary burials, mummification, ossuaries, ritual burials, dismemberment, and more.

Future faculty courses are in planning for Zambia and China.

A student with her hand on a wall that that has cave drawings on it

Anthropology Club

The Anthropology Club organizes a variety of activities throughout the year including trips, guest speakers and other events, and is open to anyone with an interest in anthropology. Recent trips include the Rosamond-Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, where we had the privilege to get a behind-the-scenes tour of their primate facilities, Montreal, Canada, to see museums and historic places, and to Fort Drum where we were given the chance to tour historic sites, view active archaeological excavations, and get a glimpse into the world of cultural resource management.

Check the club page for information on activities, trips and events!

Academics

Guest speakers

The department and the Anthropology Club host guest speakers in as many disciplines as possible throughout the year. Past speakers include Dr. Lori Rush, an archaeologist who spoke about conservation efforts in the army; Lizette Alvarado, who spoke about her ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico; and Dr. Damian Schofield, who discussed his work in digital crime scene reconstruction and facial reconstruction

More recently, department speakers have featured an Archaeology series, Dr. Camilla Sturm on China, Dr. Yuko Shiratori on the Last Maya Kingdom, Dr. Walter Crist on Boardgames in the Ancient World, and Dr. Adrian Chase on Garden Cities of the Maya.

Dr. Walter Crist on Ancient Board Games as Social Lubricants

Dr. Camilla Sturm on Competition and Cooperation in Neolithic China

Dr. Yuko Shiratori on The Last Maya Kingdom

Dr. Adrian Chase on To the City's Edge: Urbanism at Caracol, Belize

Anthropology student Hannah Kruse stands in front of the poster she presented at the annual Bioarchaeology Northeast Regional Dialogue conference at Quinnipiac University.

Conferences

When possible, students attend the American Anthropological Association conferences and sometimes present their own research. In the past students have traveled to Montreal, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Other conferences students have attended, and presented at, include those presented by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, the Paleopathology Association, and the Bioarchaeologists’ Northeast Regional Dialogue.

Lambda Alpha National Honor Society

As an honor society, Lambda Alpha serves to recognize superiority, providing incentive for exceptional performance by granting certificates of accomplishment for students interested in anthropology.

Office

Anthropology Department
313 Mahar Hall

Contact

Phone: 315.312.4190
Email: [email protected]