MSU Department of Anthropology

Department Chair Andrea Louie is featured in The State News to discuss her new book, “Chinese American Mothering: Toy Len Goon’s Legacy and the Myth of Model Minority,” a story chronicling her own grandmother’s life.

The full story: spr.ly/6010BDGMwg

Anthropology majors Cori Kosciusko and Lauren Baligian, are spending their summer interning at the Bath School Museum as part of the College of Social Science’s Launch 517 Internship Program. 

Over a century of school history lives on through artifacts, photographs, records, and powerful community stories.

This museum doesn’t just preserve everyday life in Bath. It honors the legacy of the 1927 Bath School Disaster creating space for remembrance, reflection and learning. 

Cori and Lauren are giving those stories and voices the digital makeover they deserve - making sure history is not only protected, but actually accessible and searchable. 

A new article co-authored by our faculty Joe Hefner is taking a look at skeletal collections and ensuring they are providing ethical context when being used for research.
 
Forensic Anthropology has an important role to play in the responsible stewardship of human skeletal remains. This work offers one transparent, conservative, and practical framework for helping institutions make better-informed decisions when provenance is missing, uncertain, or ethically complicated.
 
The full article can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9461/6/2/20
 

Our Professor Emeritus Bill Lovis was recently awarded the Michigan Historic Preservation Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award!

Congrats to Dr. Lovis on this well deserved recognition!

Read more in the news section of our website.

Did you know that mitigates all construction projects on campus that disturbs the earth, working closely with MSU Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities during this process?

Some of team is shown here on a site near the Building.

Congrats to PhD Candidate Priyanka Jayakodi on winning the College of Social Science Graduate Student Research Award!

More about Priyanka in the news section of our website.

Our own professor Joe Hefner joined MSU President Guskiewicz on the Spartan Bus Tour last week to the Flint, Saginaw and Bay City region.

Congratulations to the new Dr. Emma Zblewski, who graduated with her Ph.D. in Anthropology on Friday. Emma’s dissertation explores the implications for health care of the biosocial complexities of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

She will continue on to complete her MD as part of the MSU MD/PhD program.

Headed to commencement tomorrow? Be on the lookout for our 2026 Outstanding Senior leading the way for all of our Anthropologists graduating!

More about Melissa: spr.ly/6013BBOquS

PhD student Lex VanBaarle recently received the J. Lawrence Angel Student Award at the American Academy of Forensic Science for her research project: The Use of Outline Analyses to Assess Kerf Floor Shape Patterns in Saw Marks.”

More about Lex’s research work and how it is helping to solve crimes in the news section of our website.