News

Dr. Mary Dosch, Psychology, and Dr. David Paul, Counseling and Student Affairs, recently returned from co-teaching a 12 day study abroad course to the Dominican Republic. This intercultural, interdisciplinary tour included graduate and undergraduate students from Counseling and Student Affairs, Anthropology, Social Work, Speech Language Hearing and Education.  Read the rest of this entry →

Karl Leonard, Associate Professor of Geosciences in the Department of Anthropology and Earth Science, attended the annual Drone Focus Conference May 31 and June 1 in Fargo. The conference featured many prominent speakers who discussed the emerging UAS industry, and Karl attended several workshops that focused on UAS applications in agriculture, construction, and energy. Karl also attended a ground training class to obtain the FAA Part 107 UAV operators license. The Department of Anthropology and Earth Sciences recently received funding to purchase several DJI UAVs and will be incorporating these systems into course work and research.

ANTH 490/STL 490/590 Health, Education, and Environment in Tanzania Today will be a unique immersive, experiential educational opportunity focused on the challenges of delivering basic healthcare and education to the diverse population of a rapidly developing nation.This program is open to students of all majors. Tentative dates are June 4-24, 2017.

Information sessions will be held:

• Monday, April 3, 7-9 p.m. in King Hall 110
• Tuesday April 4, 6-7 p.m. in King Hall 110
• Wednesday April 5, 7-8 p.m. in King Hall 110

For more information visit www.brucedroberts.com or contact Bruce Roberts (robertsb@mnstate.edu) or John Benson (bensonj@mnstate.edu).

Featuring Dr. Garry Running, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Department of Geography and Anthropology

Monday, April 3 | 4 p.m. | Center for Business Room 111

Dr. Running and his research students visited the Regional Science Center during the summer and fall of 2016 to investigate the landscape history of Lake Agassiz and the Buffalo River Valley. His talk will discuss his collaborative work with the MSUM Department of Anthropology and Earth Science to understand landform evolution and prehistoric land use at the Regional Science Center.

This talk is made possible by support from MSUM’s College of Science, Health & Environment, Regional Science Center, and Department of Anthropology & Earth Science.

Dr. Garry Running at the MSUM Regional Science Center.

By Lexi Byler, MSUM Marketing Intern

MSU Moorhead’s Robert Noyce Grant Project gives current students majoring in science or mathematics, or community members who’ve received a STEM degree, the opportunity to earn a teaching license free of cost. This semester, MSUM awarded four student scholarships to David Cord, Christian Larson, Brooke Mayer and Jennifer Williams. Read the rest of this entry →

“Our Immigrant Neighbors,” a poster exhibit celebrating the contributions that a diverse immigrant population has made to our region, is currently on display at the Moorhead Public Library. The project is the work of Anthropology majors Amanda Cameron and Petra Gunderson and History majors Nehemiah Jensen, Brenna McKnight, Kevin Wander, and Nicole Teberg under the supervision of Professor Paul Harris.

Also on display is a photo exhibit by The World in Fargo-Moorhead, a community project to whose Facebook page the students also have contributed.

Rinita Dalan, Anthropology and Earth Science, MSUM alumna Rebecca Wallace (Geoarchaeology 2017), and colleagues from the Midwest Archeological Center of the National Park Service and the University of Kansas, have had an article published in the online journal Remote Sensing. Their paper “Cutbank Geophysics: A New Method for Expanding Magnetic Investigations to the Subsurface Using Magnetic Susceptibility Testing at an Awatixa Hidatsa Village, North Dakota” forwards an approach for enhancing geophysical studies of archaeological sites.

The ANTH 390/ED 390 Health, Education, and Environment in Tanzania Today course, led by Dr. Bruce Roberts (Anthropology/Earth Science) and Dr. John Benson (School of Teaching and Learning), is a unique immersive, experiential educational opportunity that will focus on the challenges of delivering basic healthcare and education to the diverse population of a rapidly developing nation. This program is open to students of all majors.  Read the rest of this entry →

An archaeological site in the Sheyenne River Valley was recently declared a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell. The Biesterfeldt site, east of Lisbon, ND, is widely regarded as one of the historic period homes of the Cheyenne people. On January 11, Secretary Jewell announced the designation of 24 new National Historic Landmarks, including the Biesterfeldt site. The National Historic Landmarks Program recognizes historic properties of exceptional value to the nation.  Read the rest of this entry →

Russ Colson, Anthropology and Earth Sciences, has recently published a book on earth science for secondary science teachers and others interested in the nature of science and the nature of science teaching. The book, “Learning to Read the Earth and Sky,” tells stories from the classroom, stories from real research, and offers example classroom investigations. It examines how classroom science and real research can be alike, with reference to the practices of science recommended by the Next Generation Science Standards.

The book is available at the NSTA Press bookstore and on Amazon.

A traveling exhibit of 11 panels on Early Moorhead will be opening at the Hjemkmost Center on Tuesday, Dec. 13. The exhibit script was initiated by students in a History 390: Interpretive History course taught by Jayme Joos (Spring 2015) and then completed through a Legacy (Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund) grant awarded to Rinita Dalan and Jayme Joos (Anthropology and Earth Science) that covered additional research and writing by Jayme Joos and copyright permissions for the images. The panels were printed with funds from the Minnesota Historical Society.  Read the rest of this entry →

Please join us in congratulating this year’s Dille Fund for Excellence Grant recipients:  Read the rest of this entry →

GIS Day is an international celebration showcasing real-world applications of geographic information systems (GIS), providing a forum to explore the benefits of GIS and build local GIS communities. Please consider attending MSUM’s GIS Day celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

The celebration will include a variety of talks, displays and informational tables about how this cross-disciplinary technology is being used to visualize and analyze diverse types of spatial data. There will be something for everyone, whether you’re new to GIS of already using geospatial technology. More information will be provided in coming weeks.

All events will be held in the CMU Ballroom. Exhibits will be open from 12:30-3:30 p.m. and 15-minute Lightning Talks by GIS professionals will run from 1:30-3:15 p.m. Great speakers will be talking about everything from weather to crime and natural resource mapping. The keynote lecture, by Al Derosier (MSUM alumnus and deputy director of operations at Esri) will be at 3:30 p.m.

This is the third annual GIS Day Celebration at MSUM. It is hosted by the Center for Geospatial Studies. The event is free and open to the public.

A Faculty Development Associates team comprised of Andrew Chen, Computer Science and Information Systems; Rinita Dalan, Anthropology and Earth Sciences; Alexandria Fogarty, School of Media Arts and Design; and T. J. Hansen, Economics, Law & Politics; attended the Esri Education and User Conferences in San Diego, California June 25-29, 2016. The MSUM team members joined over 15,000 participants from academia, industry and government that participated in technical workshops, moderated paper discussions, industry-specific sessions and forums related to geospatial analysis.  Read the rest of this entry →

Rinita Dalan (Anthropology & Earth Science) and Rebecca Wallace (Geoarchaeology major) participated in an “ArcheoBlitz” May 5-7 at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (KNRI), North Dakota. This event, part of the National Park Service Centennial, built on a BioBlitz model that has been used to gather natural resources information and engage the public with science-based activities at National Parks across the country.  Read the rest of this entry →

Don’t miss the opportunity of a lifetime! This is your last chance to register for Culture, Environment, & Human Services in Tanzania, ANTH390/STL390, from May 18-June 14. Read the rest of this entry →

Three GIS courses have been approved for Fall 2016 and are now open on Eservices.

• GEOS 205 Thinking Spatially
• GEOS 207 GPS Field Techniques
• GEOS 307 GIS

Please contact the Anthropology & Earth Science Department if you have any questions.

Discover the archaeology of Neolithic Greece while working at the ancient acropolis of Halai as part of the Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project (CHELP). Located on the Bay of Atalanti, Halai flourished from 6000-5300 B.C. and has been excavated since the early 1900s. Work directly with artifacts excavated from the site, visit nearby archaeological sites, and interact daily with local Greek people. Highlights will be visiting the Parthenon and archaeological sites of Athens, experiencing authentic Greek cuisine, and living a short walk from our very own beach, Vivos Paralia.

The six-week program is led by NDSU Lecturer and MSUM Adjunct Instructor Jayme Joos (Anthropology), who has worked at the site since 2009. This affordable program is worth six upper-level anthropology credits. For more information, consult the program webpage or email Jayme Joos at jayme.joos@mnstate.edu. The deadline to apply is April 15.

Dr. Bruce Roberts (Anthropology/Earth Science) and Dr. John Benson (School of Teaching and Learning) will be leading a four week study tour to Tanzania in May and June. Participants can sign up for the Education course, Anthropology course, or sign up for both. ANTH 390 (3 credits) /STL 390 (3 credits). Read the rest of this entry →

MSUM faculty members Rinita Dalan (Anthropology and Earth Science) and T. J. Hansen (Economics, Law & Politics) joined Curtis Atkinson II, Lead System Engineer of HERE-Fargo, to address the Pine to Prairie GIS Users Group on December 9, 2015 in Fergus Falls. The presentation, “Partnering with the MSUM Center for Geospatial Studies: History, Campus Map Initiative, and You,” introduced regional GIS users to the center’s unique partnership with industry mapping leader, HERE. As part of the Campus Map Initiative, student interns from MSUM employed by HERE developed a 3-D map of the MSUM campus. HERE has also created interior maps of campus buildings as part of the initial phase of an ongoing partnership between these organizations. Representatives of MSUM and HERE answered questions about the Campus Map Initiative and invited those in the Pine to Prairie GIS Users Group to partner with the Center for Geospatial Studies in the future.