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CONTACT: Frank D. Martinez, 277-1811
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Sept. 12, 2003 ANTHROPOLOGIST SELECTED FOR UNM'S HIGHEST FACULTY HONOR
The title of the public lecture she will deliver on Monday, Sept. 29,
at 7:30 p.m. in the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium, 1634 University
Blvd. NE, is "Dialogues with the Dead: Mummies, Monuments, and
Mallquis." "'Mallqui,'" Buikstra says, "is a Quechua (the language
spoken by the Indian peoples of Peru and other South American countries)
word that means ancestor." Buikstra's selection was made by the UNM Research Policy Committee
and recommended to then-UNM President F. Chris Garcia by Dr. Terry Yates,
UNM vice provost for Research. Buikstra, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1987,
joined the UNM Department of Anthropology in 1995. One of her areas
of specialization is bioarchaeology. "What I do," she says,
"is study cemeteries and, particularly, the human remains found
in cemeteries. I've had the privilege of doing this in several world
areas." During her career, Buikstra has developed new and more rigorous methods
for determining, from osteological remains, the health and demographic
characteristics of prehistoric peoples, particularly those who lived
in the Americas. Her research is multidisciplinary and includes work
in archaeology and the medical sciences. Much of her recent efforts
have focused on researching the history and evolution of tuberculosis
and its impact on past societies. Buikstra, the recipient of numerous grant awards, has held previous
faculty and research positions at the University of Chicago, Northwestern
University, the Field Museum of Natural History and the University of
Florida, among others. Other awards and honors she has won include selection:
as a McMahan Scholar, DePauw University, 1963-67; as a recipient of
a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1967-70; as the Howard
H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, 1989-95;
as the 2001 Leslie Spier Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, UNM;
as the recipient of the 2002 UNM General Library Award for Research
Achievement; and as the recent recipient of the Bruch Fellowship in
Theoretic Medicine and Allied Sciences (Smithsonian Institution). She received her Bachelor of Arts degree, 1967, from DePauw University; her Master of Arts degree, 1969, and her Ph.D., 1972, both from the University of Chicago; all in Anthropology. # # # |
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The
University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
MSC01 1170
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981
University
of New Mexico Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Jane E. Buikstra
has been selected as the University's 48th Annual Research Lecturer,
the highest honor UNM bestows upon members of its faculty.