Department of Anthropology

With honors comes many benefits

kelvin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 22:22:32 +0000

With honors comes many benefits kelvin Mon, 04/05/2021 - 15:22 More Press Releases Mina Shiratsuchi, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing and Communications April 05, 2021

Small classroom sizes, individualized support, and one-on-one opportunities with professors and alumni are some of the many benefits of UC Riverside’s University Honors. The program offers an immersive undergraduate experience to a select number of UCR students who meet the academic requirements.

Since 2010, the number of University Honors student enrollment has increased from 1.4% to 3.4% of UCR undergraduates, with CHASS students constituting the majority at 40.4% of the 800 honors students (2020).

Located at 381 Skye Hall, the honors program provides various benefits to students such as priority registration, leadership and research opportunities, scholarships and fellowships, and personalized counseling.

Incoming students can also meet with a University Honors ambassador who acts as a peer mentor to help ease the experience into University Honors. Students within University Honors can apply to become an ambassador during winter quarter for the upcoming academic year.

Priority registration, leadership and research opportunities, and personalized counseling are just some of the many reasons UCR students join University Honors.

At University Honors, students are able to be a part of a small dynamic learning community.

Many UCR classes offer an honors version of general courses, which are designated with an ‘H’ when registering. These classes are smaller in size and are often taught by the faculty member, instead of a teaching assistant. In Ethnic Studies 1H, honors students are able to take a discussion taught by the lecturing faculty member, as opposed to a teaching assistant which is the standard for many UCR classes. This structure allows for students to engage directly with faculty.

First-year students are able to take seminar-based honors classes with their peers on topics such as dystopian literature, air quality and control, and business and leadership. These honors-only courses known as Ignition Seminars count towards breadth requirements. In upper-division honors courses, honors students explore concepts with more depth compared to other students. For example in honors biochemistry courses, students not only learn the required material but also learn how to write a scientific research paper.

“In large introductory classes, honors students were able to get one-on-one time with the professor,” said Maya Gortarez, third-year English honors student and an aspiring lawyer from Riverside. “In the English department, the professors are very open and interested in talking to students.”

Gortarez is currently doing a capstone project on people who have experienced alienation from cultures they “belong to” by creating a six-episode mini-web video series. Despite the struggles caused by COVID-19, including obstacles related to interviewing and a lack of participants, Gortarez worked hard to give UCR students including those who are bi-racial and non-native English speakers an opportunity to open a dialogue on the impact of their surroundings on the formation of their identity.

Recently, Gortarez was awarded the Honors Excellence in Research Scholarship by University Honors for the capstone project.

University Honors students are also assigned a University Honors counselor, who can advise students and help them maximize their time at UCR including opportunities with UCDC, UCCS, study abroad, and research fellowship. In addition to their academic advisor, counselors can also help students combat any academic-related struggles, such as impostor syndrome, by facilitating conversations about how to position students for success.

“The most fulfilling part about being a counselor is having the opportunity to work with the same group of honors students for a couple of years and seeing their growth over time,” said Dennis McIver, University Honors Counselor. “Watching them become capable, motivated, and high-achieving students is a rewarding experience.”

The honors experience culminates with a capstone thesis project in the last year before graduation. Within the honors program, there is an increase of students who have completed the honors capstone project from 42 students in 2010 to 137 students in 2020. The project can be anything from scripts for plays to research papers, which allows students to demonstrate research and writing skills on topics they are passionate about. Students are required to participate in various research courses from the previous year before graduation, totaling 6 units towards graduation units.

Additionally, students are required to find a faculty mentor to advise them through the process of completion. These experiences can differentiate honors students from others when applying to graduate schools and professional schools, and on job applications, McIver said. After completion, the students’ capstone projects are added to the UCR Digital Library, eScholarship.

“I juggled applying to a graduate school for anthropology while completing my capstone project,” said Leana Marie Rudolph, a fourth-year anthropology honors student. “Doing the capstone project and being in University Honors made me feel more confident in myself and my abilities.”

Rudolph is also a transfer student, a second-year honors student, and an aspiring anthropology professor and researcher from Rancho Cucamonga.

Rudolph is currently doing a capstone project on Buddhism, meditation, and the negotiation of the public sphere, where she interviews members of the Buddhist community in the Inland region. Even with an understanding mentor, Rudolph struggled with the project throughout COVID-19 due to changes of plans with the interviews and mental health struggles. Through completing the project, Rudolph learned how to conduct interviews following the Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol and gained experience with transcription. She will be completing a 15-page report and creating an ArcGIS story map open to the public. Rudolph hopes it’s ready to present at the undergraduate research symposium.

The capstone project has changed from previous years due to COVID-19. There has been increased structure and guidance for the students in the senior research courses, which are built around the capstone projects. Additionally, faculty-mentors are required to submit progress reports to University Honors on a quarterly basis.

Despite the pandemic, University Honors have been able to support its students in different ways. Events and conversations still take place via Zoom allowing students and staff to connect virtually.

Photo courtesy of Dennis McIver.
Honors student with Jack Eichler, Chemistry Professor of Teaching, on a nature hike and clean-up.

Some of the on-campus experiences that enable honors students to interact with others that have been affected by the pandemic include the honors living-learning communities. These communities are located in Pentland Hills Residence Hall and Glen Mor and are an opportunity for honors students to interact with fellow students and faculty-in-residence. Due to COVID-19, the communities have been adjusted but they will be open for fall 2021.

The acceptance rate into University Honors for each year varies on the number of students who apply and who leave from the previous year. The program accepts students from each college, but acceptance is based on the strength of the student’s application.

“Don’t worry about the competition and prioritize just applying,” McIver said. “The biggest determining factor is whether you decide to go for University Honors. If you do, then you’ve already placed yourself ahead of all the folks who have not.”

For current UCR students, University Honors recruitment is held once a year during the spring quarter for the incoming fall class. For eligibility, deadlines, and questions, please visit honors.ucr.edu or email honors@ucr.edu.

FEATURED PHOTO. Photos courtesy of Dennis McIver.
Honors students attend a faculty fellow office hour hosted by Elaine Wong, Associate Professor of Management (pre-COVID restrictions).

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University Honors

Department of English

Digging Daisy

kelvin — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 00:43:42 +0000

Digging Daisy kelvin Tue, 03/31/2020 - 17:43 More Press Releases Hannah Croft, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing and Communications April 01, 2020

For Daisy Sicarios, ancient civilizations are more than stories. They’re her job and her passion.

Sicarios, an anthropology and classical studies double-major and first-generation transfer student, first developed an interest in classics and classical archaeology when she arrived at UCR in 2016. After enrolling in a course on ancient Greek language, her love for classics grew the more classes she took.

“I love how connected my work makes me feel to people who lived thousands of years before me,” Sicarios said. “There are many ways one can be exposed to and come to learn about cultures, both ancient and modern. But there is something in learning about a culture through the physical objects created and left behind by its people that lends a sense of directness, which is thrilling.”

In April 2019, Sicarios won one of three prestigious Undergraduate Minority Scholarships in classics and classical archaeology from the Society for Classical Studies. The competitive national scholarship committee selected Sicarios and two other students from across the United States to be awarded the distinguished honor, which will help fund education, summer programs, year-long fellowships, and outreach projects previously unavailable to students during the academic year.

“The Society for Classical Studies does incredible work, and honors people in the field every year who make important contributions to advancing the field of Classics and Classical Archaeology,” Sicarios said. “To have been considered worthy of the scholarship by such an organization is an honor. I am the first in my family to have received a scholarship of any kind, so to have been awarded one that will be especially useful in furthering my career after graduation was particularly meaningful.”

Post-graduation, Sicarios used the scholarship to fund her archaeological studies and research at a dig site in Gabii, an ancient Latin city roughly 11 miles from Rome. Sicarios is now involved with the Gabii Archaeological Field School run by the University of Michigan and its Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The school has introduced her to techniques and methods of field archaeology, and has contributed new experiences and discoveries to her research.

“My decision to take part in the Gabii Field School was reached with the help of my professors,” Sicarios said. “They worked with me in finding the right fit for furthering my studies in the field. The Gabii Project’s history, location, and contributions to Classical Archaeology were consequential in my choosing the site.”

“Daisy is a fantastic student,” said Christopher Simons, a professor in comparative literature and language. “She has earned this, and she should be very proud of herself. She is the embodiment of UCR- both its mission and its students, and I think she represents a growing demographic on campus, one that our campus really wants to see succeed. It's nice to see Daisy recognized for her hard work on a national level.”

FEATURED PHOTO. Jimmy Lai/CHASS Marketing & Communications
First-generation student Daisy Sicarios, a double-major in archaeology and classical studies, received three Undergraduate Minority Scholarships in classics and classical archaeology.

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Lee explores human evolution in “Close Encounters With Humankind”

kelvin — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:28:50 +0000

Lee explores human evolution in “Close Encounters With Humankind” kelvin Thu, 08/15/2019 - 17:28 More Press Releases Lilian Tran, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing & Communications October 18, 2018

Before becoming CHASS Associate Dean of Social Sciences and a professor of anthropology, Sang-Hee Lee was on the path to becoming a classical pianist. That is, until she was hit by a creative slump which felt like an eternity. “For me, I felt like my life was ruined because I was not going to be where I wanted to be as a worldly known classical pianist. Instead of pursuing something I did not think I was going to be any great at, I decided to change directions and do something else. Archaeology for some reason caught my eye.”

She graduated from Seoul National University in South Korea with a B.A in Archaeology.

“The path I thought I wanted to go was blocked, and nothing else seemed to matter,” Lee said. “Life doesn’t happen like that. Not every decision has to be the perfect decision that will chart the rest of your life if you don’t make it right away. What makes a good decision is what you do afterwards by finding what you want Rarely any decision is irreversible. Life would be so boring if a decision we made at the age of 18 really decided the rest of our lives.”

She realized that digging in the dirt was no longer a fit for her and consulted her professor in South Korea. He recommended that she study paleoanthropology, an unknown field in South Korea at the time. Lee went on to graduate school at University of Michigan and continued on as a postdoctoral researcher in Japan.

She faced different challenges but discovered a passion and interest in human evolution. Her fascination in our evolutionary origins are showcased in her new book, "Close Encounters with Humankind." Lee's book shares her passion and curiosity with readers about the human make-up and paleoanthropology.

"Close Encounters with Humankind" is not your typical textbook. Every chapter starts with a question. Questions can be about the birth of fatherhood, or farming, or our changing brains.

"A lot of the textbooks talk about the beginning that happened billions of years ago,” Lee said, “but this book starts with a question each chapter. Each chapter is an exploration." The questions challenge the traditional progression of evolution and provide intriguing insights into the human origins through Lee's research. Her conclusions and discoveries will keep readers absorbed and ultimately question whether humanity will continue to evolve.

The most rewarding aspect Lee gained from writing her book was being able to pass on the knowledge from her research. "What's important is not who knows the most, but who makes sense of the information," Lee said. "For me to repackage and reshuffle my information to make it an interesting story for someone who does not know much about human evolution is the most rewarding thing."

Lee wants her readers to perceive that we are always evolving and changing. "I want my readers to recognize that our today is made up of an infinite number of today from the past. If readers can be familiar with the legacy of the depth of time, we hold in ourselves and to be even more curious. That is what I would hope for."

Lee's book is the recipient of the 2019 W.W. Howells Book Award and has been published in Korean, English, Spanish, and Chinese. The book is also scheduled to be published in four more languages next year. In the future, Lee would also like to explore more about women in human evolution.

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CHASS Dean's Office

Anthropology Ph.D. student studies typhoon, aftermath it left behind

kelvin — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:20:39 +0000

Anthropology Ph.D. student studies typhoon, aftermath it left behind kelvin Thu, 08/15/2019 - 17:20 More Press Releases Patrick Anthony, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing & Communications November 21, 2018

Shelley Guyton is a sixth-year Ph.D. student in UC Riverside’s Anthropology department, with a focus on cultural anthropology and Philippines culture. She expects to complete her dissertation and receive her doctorate by 2020.

In 2017, Guyton traveled to the Philippines to research how typhoons affect Pacific Island countries, how the recovery can take years, and how people prepare themselves for the annual typhoons. (In 2013, the Philippines was struck by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded.)

“As anthropologists, we dream of immersing ourselves into other cultures and lifestyles,” Guyton said. “My goal was to view the world through the locals’ eyes and once I was there, I was grateful for the chance to experience that.”

What intrigues you about the Philippines?
It began with an interest in my own heritage as I am biracial and part-Filipino, but it then expanded during my undergraduate days.

How would you compare the American perspective of natural disasters versus the perspective you experienced in the Philippines?
In California, we view typhoons and hurricanes as something that is separate from our society. We see it on TV but then we can turn off the TV. In the Philippines, I found that it is very much a part of your reality and you can’t just “turn it off”. The typhoon in 2013 produced countless stories and experiences and ingrained itself into the context of these people’s lives.

I actually experienced a typhoon myself when I was over there. It was a Category 2! There was a really strong wind, and heavy rains for days. We were lucky there were no storm surges. Storm surges are huge waves that come on shore from the storm, like a type of tidal wave. Storm surges can cause the most damage and injuries.

I came to understand how exhausting preparing and enduring a typhoon can be. Getting food, info updates, batteries -- all of it is very scary, very real, and extremely tiring. It’s definitely something I will never forget.

Can you tell us about your work in the Philippines?
As an aspiring anthropologist, I focus on ethnographic methodologies and live in and learn from the people in a community. I researched in the Philippines for a year and a half in an area called the Eastern Visayas, which is located on the eastern side of the central Philippines.

This area receives a lot of typhoons because it is on the coast and one of the main areas I worked in is called Tacloban City. It is often called “ground-zero” of Typhoon Haiyan because it is one of the first locations the super-typhoon hit in 2013, and one of the most destroyed locations, too. It’s been 5 years and recovery is still ongoing, so as part of my research I looked into how the local community monitors and deals with typhoons.

What did you do specifically there?
I worked with an impoverished community on the coast who are unfortunately very vulnerable to typhoons. I began my work by getting to know everyone in the area. Most people there are extended families or have known the neighbors for decades, so it was a close-knit community which made it easier to visit people because of the connections.

Part of it was letting them get to know me so they know I am not a spy. Other than that, I’d pop into food stands and store fronts and just ask about the typhoons and the circumstances they cause. I also did formal interviews where I’d record the conversations and take pictures documenting their technologies like televisions and radios.

What was the most rewarding part of the trip and your work there?
Growth personally and professionally in training to become an anthropologist. In a way my experience was a school of hard knocks. By that I mean it was rough at times because I didn’t know a single person at first and that can be scary. But over time, I built up my connections and even met lifelong friends.

Overall, it was a life-changing experience. Being in school so long I felt like I was in an academic bubble, but venturing out to the Philippines definitely re-centered the work that I do, by forcing me to really think what my work can do to better serve people around the world.

What are your plans for the future?
I’m mainly focused on completing my dissertation and getting my Ph.D.

After that, I’d like to find a post-doctoral to work with professors to develop new projects.

Long-term, I am keeping an open mind, but plan A would be to remain in academia and become a professor. Plan B would be to use all of the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years and do work with an NGO or nonprofit organization like a disaster relief service.

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UCR anthropologist creates international artistic workshops about migration

kelvin — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:07:02 +0000

UCR anthropologist creates international artistic workshops about migration kelvin Thu, 08/15/2019 - 17:07 More Press Releases Patrick Anthony, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing & Communications February 15, 2019

Susan Ossman is an artist, author, and professor of anthropology and global studies at UCR. Ossman’s art practice is centered in painting and installation. In recent years, collaborations she has initiated across anthropology and the arts have developed her skills as a curator, performer, and film/digital media producer.

“Life is movement, if we stop moving then that’s it,” Ossman said. "We need to keep moving.”

Ossman’s own life has been a study in movement. She was born in Chicago, moved to San Francisco at 13, to Paris at 20, then to New York City, back to Paris for a few years, then to Berkeley for her Ph.D. For her research she moved to Paris to study the “SOS Racisme” movement and then to Morocco where she did fieldwork on media and politics. In Rabat, she also founded a research institute before heading for teaching jobs in Paris, Washington, D.C., Houston and London. Then it was on to Riverside where she arrived in 2007 following fieldwork on migration in the Middle East and Europe, funded by a Guggenheim fellowship.

“I consider Paris home because I have a son and granddaughter who live there,” Ossman said. “But I also consider California home because my mother lives here and, of course, so do I at least for now.”

Ossman has published several books and many articles on human migration, globalization, politics, and media. She wrote Moving Matters, Paths of Serial Migration which provided the framework for her project The Moving Matters Traveling Workshop (MMTW).

MMTW is a collection of artists and scholars who travel all over the world to develop performances, art installations, discussions and workshops that focus on migrant experiences. Each workshop includes old and new participants and focuses on a specific issue tied to the site. In Amsterdam in 2014, they developed an exhibition/intervention and performance at the Allard Pierson Museum of Mediterranean Antiquities that focused on objects in relation to migration. In Berlin in 2017, they created the WALLS exhibition at the Berlin Wall memorial and developed an original performance. To date, the MMTW has organized more than a dozen events across the globe.

We recently sat down with Professor Ossman to discuss MMTW, her creative work and future projects.

How did the idea of the Moving Matters Traveling Workshop come to you?

I wrote a book called “Moving Matters, Paths of Serial Migration” in which I asked: What happens when the immigrant moves on? I explored the lives of serial migrants based on research, and then when the book came out I wanted feedback. I invited a group of academics, artists and authors who are serial migrants, people who had migrated more than once to react to the book at an event at the Culver Center in 2013.

When you travel, do people from other cities participate? How do you go about recruiting local collaborators?

Wherever we work, it is very site-specific. We work there because we are invited, usually by an organization, gallery, or museum. We invite artists or scholars in the areas to participate in the project.

For example, in Berlin we worked with the refugee center of the church, so they knew people. If we work with an art center or theatre group, they often know people who would love to get involved as well.

One of the projects that stood out was in Berlin in June 2017 and focused on “Walls”. Can you tell us about that workshop and its significance?

It was about walls of all kinds. Nowadays many countries are building new border walls including us. So it was really about ‘what is a wall’? In English, the word has this dual aspect. On one hand, it protects us but on the other it keeps others out. We worked with this ambiguity in the symbolic site that was once the symbolic marker of the cold war.

Can you also tell me about your work in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam’s premiere archeological museum?

That workshop was called “Objects In and Of Migration.” In archaeological venues, you have very ancient and expensive objects. The Allard Pierson Museum focuses on the Mediterranean. Given all of the political debates about people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, we used these antiquities to get at current issues. We simply asked, how did they get here?

Goods, such as an ancient Egyptian slipper, have their own stories. The Egyptian shoes were once ordinary but now that they’ve moved around and time has passed and thus as a result they have become very valuable. But is it the same for people? Do migrants become more important when they move? We raised these essential questions as we explored them from our shared background as serial migrants to develop an exhibition and performance in rapport with the artifacts and using museum conventions ironically.

What has been the most rewarding thing to come from creating MMTW?

The sense of community that it has created. We all started with this commonality of shared migration experiences and, little by little, have built this ongoing community that serves as a reference point and source for our art, research and writing. Over time, the community has developed and while we always work on movement, we are less focused on serial migration than in the beginning. We include people who have diverse migration experiences or none at all.

We are heading into a new stage where our work is more and more thinking how people with these different paths and experiences look at the world. I’m working on a new book inspired by the work of the MMTW about mobility diversity.

Do you have a dream site you’d like to bring the workshop to? And if so, what specific issue would you want it to focus on?

Well actually Berlin was one of those dream sites. Another artist and I had gone there a while ago for a conference and we wrote to the wall monument but nothing was happening. Then I met Lisa Strehmann from the Refugee Office of Protestant Dinary in Fall 2016. She got her organization and the Kapelle der Versöhnung at the wall monument involved and we set it up for June. It just took that one special person to set things in motion.

What are you working on next?

Besides my individual writing about mobility and diversity, I’m working on a digital book about the MMTW with Juliette Levy from the UCR history department. I’m in discussions about possible workshops with colleagues in Rome, Vancouver and Los Angeles. MMTW member Priya Srinivasan has also been in talks about collaborating on a workshop on issues of territory with indigenous artist groups in Melbourne.

All of this happening depends on grants, schedules, and other variables. It is a lot of work because we have to conceptualize each workshop anew, as well as work with new partners. Our methods involve substantial research on each site and issue. But in the end. it is completely worth it when you consider the critical impact of this work, both for the audience and for the development of the participants’ research and art.

For more information about Susan Ossman and the Moving Matters Traveling Workshop, visit movingmattersworkshops.ucr.edu, susanossman.com, or Allegra Lab’s series on the collective.

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Global Studies

Moving Matters Workshops