Jessica Stone '09, who recently graduated with a Master degree from North Carolina State University, won the 2011 Most Outstanding Thesis Award from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her thesis, Paleodiet and Nutrition at Grand Bay, Carriacou, West Indies, explores stress indicators in ancient teeth, as well as isotopic and zooarchaeological evidence of precolumbian diet in the Caribbean.

Megan Gumke '09 is heading to graduate school at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She is one of four anthropology majors from the class of 2009 to enter graduate school this fall in such varied fields as international development, bioarchaeology, and geology. Megan has enrolled in USF's College of Public Health, recently named one of the top twenty Public Health programs in the nation. She is pursuing a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology, and she plans to research diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis. Her long-term plans include working for the Centers for Disease Control or another organization which looks to control the spread of infectious disease at home and abroad. A native of Melbourne, Florida, Megan graduated in May 2009 with a double major in anthropology and Spanish. She entered Eckerd as an honors student with a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a member of both the College's award winning Ethics Bowl team and the campus Community Standards Board. She also studied abroad in Spain and Mexico.

In her own words . . .

"The four years I spent at Eckerd were important to my preparedness for the future. The anthropology professors made sure we were well-rounded students. We took classes in all four of the major disciplines of anthropology and learned the needed skills for each. It was here that I discovered my interest in Public Health during a Medical Anthropology course. Beyond the classroom, there were many opportunities for extra learning, including trips abroad with anthropology professors. One professor invited me to participate in an archaeological research project in Mexico during Winter Term of my sophomore year. The experience challenged me, as well as stoked my interest in field studies. I don't know many other programs where a young student would have such an amazing opportunity to work so closely with a professor so soon into college. When it came time for me to think about my future plans, it was great to be able to sit down and have a chat with my anthropology mentor. When I decided on graduate school, my mentor was there through it all; the many applications, the dreaded personal statement, and, of course, recommendations. It made the process so much easier."

"Now that I'm in graduate school, I have been able to draw on many of the skills and personal experiences from Eckerd. I feel much more confident in my classes, in approaching professors and in all of my work. I don't know what would have happened in another department or at another school, but I do know that in Eckerd's anthropology program, you gain skills both academic and otherwise for the present and beyond. You also gain a support system of professors that can't be forgotten."

Anthropology major Grace Gair has been awarded a 2008 2009 English Teaching Assistantship to South Korea in the highly competitive Fulbright Scholarship program funded by the U.S. Department of State. She will spend nine months living in Korea, teaching English as a second language to local students, and pursuing independent research on the Korean system of education. Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.

Grace graduated in May 2008 with high honors as a double major in Anthropology and International Relations and Global Affairs and a minor in Spanish. At the Commencement ceremony, she received the Ronald Wilson Memorial Award, which is presented to a senior student who has made a significant contribution to the total College community.

Grace served as a captain of the Eckerd College Ethics Bowl Team, a Resident Advisor and Assistant Residence Coordinator. As a senior, she provided superb leadership as President of the Eckerd College Organization of Students, managing a budget of over $400,000 and sharing the stage with feminist icon Gloria Steinem at a Women's History Month event. Grace played an important role in the implementation of the College's honor code system and helped initiate a program focused on academic integrity and community responsibility that was integrated into Eckerd's Autumn Term orientation program for the freshman class.

A native of Fort Myers, Florida, Grace entered Eckerd as a Florida Presidential Fellow with a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship. She is a Ford Apprentice Scholar, and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa. Upon returning from Korea, Grace plans to enter graduate school to pursue a master=s degree in education with a concentration on international education policy. Her long term goal is to become a college professor.

After graduating from Eckerd with a double major in Anthropology and International Relations, alumna Julie Zollman talks about her post Eckerd experiences.

"After graduation, I did a nine-month internship at the Carter Center [in Atlanta, named for former president Jimmy Carter] working on long-term development planning in Mozambique and Guyana. In the context of Guyana, extreme racial divisions have been a significant barrier to political and economic development. Anthropology taught me a method of inquiry that better allowed me to navigate a charged society during two field missions . . . From there, I went to the Peace Corps in Swaziland, a culturally complex country with the highest HIV prevalence in the world. Anthropology helped me integrate into my host community, gain trust, inquire effectively about complex cultural attitudes and health behaviors . . . From Peace Corps, I've moved on to an international development NGO called CARE, where I primarily work on program design for microfinance, water, agriculture, education, and health programming . . . I'll be starting a Masters of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the fall. I'll be studying development economics and conflict resolution."