Department News - Newsletter Spring 2025

Dr. Christopher Beekman recently contributed to Collecting Mesoamerican Art Before 1940 (Getty Research Institute, 2024), in which he discussed the history of looting and trafficking antiquities out of western Mexico. Members of the art community shaped the market for these objects around a “brand” that appealed to specifically West Coast...

In an article in Scientific Reports , Dr. Jamie Hodgkins and colleagues created a digital reconstruction of a 10,000-year-old infant burial in an Italian cave, allowing researchers to examine the site as it was before excavation. She described how the use of digital twin technology in archaeology has had a...

Dr. Sarah Horton recently published an article in Social Science & Medicine that showed that as Latinx immigrants began arriving in Colorado’s mountain resort area-- a relatively “new destination” for settlement-- staff at a public hospital conceptualized them as a “threat” to the hospital's finances and image , implementing spatializing...

Dr. Marty Otañez and Dr. Aaraón Díaz Mendiburo, of the Centro de Investigaciones sobre América del Norte (CISAN) at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, published the co-edited collection of four books Breaking Stigmas: Art and Cannabis in North America. Chapter contributors cover activism, public/private spaces, storytelling, film, television, imagery, and...

Dr. Christine Sargent is wrapping up several publications and is waiting for copy edits on her forthcoming monograph Making Down Syndrome: Motherhood and Kinship Futures in Urban Jordan, which will be out with Rutgers University Press in Fall 2025 or Winter 2026. She is stuck in the proverbial quicksand with...

Dr. Anna Warrener published a paper in Evolutionary Anthropology that discusses the evolution of the human pelvis. She argues that biological anthropologists have used a dubious evolutionary model, the Obstetrical Dilemma, to explain why humans sometimes have difficult childbirth, and advocates for an expanded framework called the Multifactor Pelvis. This...

I love helping students broaden their horizons through my Anthropology classes. Classes like “Cultural Diversity in the Modern World,” “Anthropology of Death,” and “Lost Worlds and Crystal Skulls” (a University core), allow students an opportunity to gain perspective outside their experience that will benefit them in the future no matter...

Monica Eckels is completing a zooarchaeological analysis of one square of the Jones-Miller Bison kill site, formerly located in Wray, Colorado, for her MA thesis this spring. She presented preliminary findings at the Rocky Mountain Biological Anthropology Conference in October 2024 and a college event in February 2025. She will...

Helen Maria Olson is conducting a preliminary pXRF analysis of an unusual obsidian artifact from Los Guachimontones, Mexico. Her research aims to determine the object’s sourcing and cultural significance, suggesting it may have been highly valued for special occasions.

In his eye-catching blog , Kyle Pontieri documents the 2024 excavation season at Boomplaas Cave in South Africa, detailing the experiences of the archaeological team during their fieldwork. Boomplaas Cave, located in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains in the Klein-Karoo region, has been in use for potentially 80,000 years...

Sarah Manassee did fieldwork in Las Animas County with PaleoCultural Research Group last summer, helping the crew perform surveys, site documentation, and an excavation. Most recently, she presented her thesis at the Council of Professional Archaeologists’ annual meeting in Grand Junction and will present new thesis research at the Paleoanthropology...

Sanjuana (“SJ”) Casillas Chavez is currently working on his master’s thesis, which focuses on a zooarchaeological analysis of the Jones-Miller site, a 10,000-year-old bison butchery site of the now-extinct species, Bison antiquus. This assemblage is housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and yielded approximately 41,000 bison bones...

Yael Greenberg is completing a thesis based on 14 interviews with midwives, birth center staff, and key informants to discover the structural and cultural barriers to the reliance on a midwifery model of care in the United States despite ample research demonstrating its efficacy (if not superiority) for low-risk patients...

Nikketa Burges is a second-year graduate student in Medical Anthropology whose work focuses on harm reduction and unsheltered homelessness. Her paper on morbidity and mortality linked to encampment sweeps, written in Fall 2023, was edited, and published in Deceleration in May 2024. She has presented on her work assisting Marty...

We had great representation at the SfAAs in Portland this March, thanks to panels on legalized psilocybin in Colorado and arts-based approaches to destigmatize People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) organized by Dr. Marty Otañez . MA student Ellie Hedt presented: “A Web-Based App for Qualitative Data Analysis to Humanize PWUD;”...

Dr. Jamie Hodgkins’ archaeology and biological anthropology students are presenting their thesis projects at the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and Paleoanthropology Society meetings in Denver this spring! All got a trial run by unveiling thier posters at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ annual Research and Creative Works...

Congratulations to Medical Anthropology Graduate Students Madjelyn De Jesus and Ari Del Olmo Medina, who have been accepted into the 2025-26 HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) Scholars Program . The program is designed to empower graduate students to push boundaries, explore cutting-edge topics, and collaborate with...

A big shout-out to our Fall ’24 MA graduates! Congrats to Drew A. Bick and Kyle Pontieri, our newly-minted MAs. Drew defended his thesis, “Utilizing Neighborhood Mapping to Better Understand Neighborhood Hesitancy to Affordable Housing Development” and is working in program evaluation at the Evaluation Center. Kyle defended his thesis,...

These stellar students made the Dean’s List last fall. Huzzah to Sarah Atkinson, Aliya Petri, Keira Zito, Nikita Makumbi, Layshaianae Howard, Seven Hake, Katherine Fornelius, and Luke Dressler.

Congratulations to Dr. Jamie Hodgkins on winning the College’s Excellence in Research Award this spring! Jamie Hodgkins, an archaeologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver, won the 2025 CLAS Research Excellence Award for her work on human and animal adaptation during the last Ice Age...

Presentation/Poster Workshop Weds , April 9, 5:30-7:30 NC 4002R Hosted by Dr. Kathryn Reusch, this workshop will provide you with tips and advice on how to prepare for conference paper and poster sessions. Bring your conference poster or paper! Anthropology Careers Roundtable: Health Research , April 17, 6:30-8:30 NC 1202...

The American Anthropological Association will hold its annual meeting in New Orleans Nov 19-23, 2025. Abstracts are due April 15, 2025. The American Association of Biological Anthropologists will hold its annual meeting in Denver March 18-20th, 2026; this is a great opportunity to present your original research. Abstracts are due...

Labs for Liberation Summer Institute on Disability and Design: This interdisciplinary summer institute explores disability justice, inclusive design, and accessibility through hands-on projects and collaborative learning. Learn more here. Summer Arabic Intensive Language Program at the Sijal Institute (Amman, Jordan): This immersive program provides rigorous Arabic language training in a...

We are grateful to former faculty member, Lorna Rhodes, who has created the Anthropology Department Fund for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to honor our amazing former Program Administrator, Connie Turner, in her retirement. The endowment will support diversity in the field of Anthropology annually by funding a fellowship...

We are excited to announce a new 12-credit Certificate in Ethnographic Methods for BA and MA students and community members! This program will not only provide students with training in ethnographic methods and fieldwork experience but will foreground recent ethical critiques and community-engaged work. It will appear on your transcript...

CU Denver’s Archaeology program has expanded its hands-on learning opportunities with a significant donation of animal bones from Bradley Bowman, facilitated by anthropology student Michelle Wilson. The collection, which includes bison, pronghorn, and other regional wildlife and was formerly housed in a New Mexico museum, provides students with a unique...

Dr. Tammy Stone, Professor of Archaeology, Retires Dr. Tammy Stone, now Professor Emerita of Archaeology, marked a milestone when she retired in December 2023. Dr. Stone came to CU Denver in 1992 after receiving her PhD in Archaeology from Arizona State University and her certification from the Register of Professional Archaeologists. Her...

Priority registration for fall semester opens on April 1. This fall, check out the following: Cores For Your BA: ANTH 3101, “Foundations of Cultural Anthropology,” with Dr. Marty Otañez will be hybrid this fall (Mon/Weds 9:30-10:45); ANTH 3512, “Human Evolution” with Dr. Jamie Hodgkins (Tues/Thurs 11-12:15). Cores for Your MA:...

This summer you can check off some core classes off your list or check out a new subject. This Maymester, Dr. Marty Otañez will blow your mind with ANTH 4/5090, “Psychedelic Anthropology” (Mon-Thurs, 8:30 am-12:20 pm). In summer, we are offering ANTH 1302 “Introduction to Archaeology” (a Behavioral Sciences Core!)...