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UA Set to Launch Doctoral Program in Anthropology
UA Professor Moves Textbooks into Information Age with Interactive DVD

UA Set to Launch Doctoral Program in Anthropology

by Chris Bryant

For the first time in 11 years, the University is poised to launch a new doctoral program. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education has unanimously approved the creation of a doctoral program in anthropology at UA.

"The University has been very selective in proposing new programs, and for good reason," said Dr. Nancy Barrett, provost and vice-president for academic affairs. "After careful examination, it was clear there was a growing need for doctorally educated anthropologists. We have an outstanding group of faculty in this area and unique resources upon which to build a viable program."

"We never would have embarked on this if the job market had not indicated the need was there," said Dr. Jim Knight, professor and chair of the department of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

There are four main thrusts in anthropology, and while UA will continue to offer education in physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and cultural anthropology, UA's primary niche lies in medical anthropology and archaeology that focuses on the complex societies in the Americas, Knight said.

A recent dig at Moundville Archaeological Park.

Owning Moundville Archaeological Park, a world-class archaeological site, gives UA a distinction no other university can offer its anthropology students, Knight said. Its wealth of information and its close proximity to campus make the site an excellent teaching tool, he said.

"Eleven doctoral dissertations have been written on Moundville, but none by our students," Knight said. That should soon change, as the creation of the program will now give UA students that opportunity.

At its peak, in about 1250, Moundville was the largest city north of Mexico, home to about 3,000 people. The park, located on the banks of the Black Warrior River 13 miles south of Tuscaloosa, preserves 320 acres of what was once one of the most powerful prehistoric Native American communities in North America.

The UAS Board of Trustees, who granted approval to bring the doctoral program proposal before ACHE, will review the projected budget for the program in an upcoming meeting. Three UA master's degree students are poised to enter the program, Knight said.

UA Professor Moves Textbooks into Information Age with Interactive DVD

By Elizabeth Smith

Dr. Jeremy Butler

Technology's most recent advancements are making their way into the classroom. UA students involved in television and film classes will be some of the first to reap the benefits. Dr. Jeremy Butler, professor of telecommunication and film, is leading the way for this new technology with a textbook, accompanying DVD, and a Web site.

The project has seen its share of evolution through the years. First, Butler authored a Web site called tvcrit.com that helped him illustrate many of the principles his class learns. "There's just a limit to what you can show with still photography in a textbook," Butler said. "But with the Web site we could show everything in color and then add video clips."

One of the problems with a Web-based teaching tool in a university environment is classroom accessibility. Right out the window went the possibility of using a VHS tape. And though most classrooms don't have a way to display information from a Web site on a screen larger than a computer -- which would seem to make using the information in the classroom prohibitive -- a DVD still seemed like the answer he'd been looking for.

Butler went to the Faculty Resource Center on the UA campus and spent some time with Instructional Developer Rick Dowling, who had the technology available on campus to start work on the project. "We have been able to author DVD's since last fall, and we've used this project as a learning experience," he said. "We've not only learned how to do this, but we're learning how everything best works together."

Butler and Dowling spent about three weeks of full time work on importing and arranging the clips and deciding on the menu options. One aspect of using a DVD format that particularly intrigued Butler was the idea of using fullsize, full image video clips.

"Then we started getting into copyright issues that we didn't have with freezeframe stills or smaller renditions that we used in the textbook and the Web site," Butler said. "The Center for Public Television and Radio gave us permission to use many of their clips to demonstrate film and television techniques critical to this class."

They have received permission to use commercials from the 1950s and 1960s from the Prelinger Archive. Also included on the DVD will be samples of student work and an editing exercise that will allow students to experience the power of editing on their own computers.

Butler says the textbook and DVD can be used in several ways not limited to students on personal computers and teachers holding seminars and using a large screen format.

An additional application could be distance education. Butler said one of the difficulties the telecommunication and film department has had in encouraging distance education is the inability to show examples outside of the classroom setting. “But if we could bundle the examples with a textbook, then we may have something to build upon for the future,” he said.