STAFF

Jordana Labson

Ms. Labson is the Coordinator of Administrative Services for the Department of Anthropology. Ms. Labson is originally from Davie, Florida and moved to Orlando to attend UCF and major in Political Science in 2001. She began her administrative career working in the College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Office as a student assistant in the Graduate Services Office. Roughly two years later, she obtained her first UCF staff position in the Psychology Department as an Office Assistant. Ms. Labson graduated with a BA in Political Science and began pursuing a Criminal Justice MS degree shortly after. She was promoted in 2005 to the position of an Admissions Specialist in the College of Optics and later promoted to the position of Administrative Assistant in the Department of Anthropology. In October 2007, Ms. Labson attained the position of Coordinator of Administrative Services for the Department of Anthropology. Ms. Labson strives to provide the highest quality of service to faculty, staff, and students, and she truly enjoys her work and interacting with students.

Trisha Robertson

Ms. Robertson is the Program Assistant for the Department of Anthropology. She is from the Central Florida region but moved to Orlando in early 2006. In 2003, Ms. Robertson received her B.A. for Anthropology and Sociology from Mercer University in Macon. Although she has worked in many other fields, this is her first position in a university setting. Ms. Robertson looks forward to the challenges and rewards of working with the staff, students and faculty of the Department of Anthropology.

STUDENT ASSISTANTS

Nick Camargo

Nick is an office manager for the Department of Anthropology. Nick is a sophomore at UCF studying political science. He is originally from Miami, Fl. He hopes to go onto law school and become a successful real estate attorney.

Rocklyn Gatta

Rocklyn is the academic student assistant for the Department of Anthropology. She is dual majoring in micro molecular biology and psychology. She is also interested in Political Science, Biology, Cultural Anthropology, World Religions, Philosophy, and a ton of other things. She likes to read, play video games, along with a myriad of other geekly activities. Rocklyn's main goal in life is to be in a profession that she enjoys.

Jessica Lightfoot

Jessica is a lab manager for the Department of Anthropology. Jessica is a freshman majoring in biology at UCF. She is from Eustis, FL and enjoys volunteering, reading, playing racquetball, and cooking. She is planning to go to medical school but is still deciding which specialty to pursue.

Kia Monroe

Kia is an office manager for the Department of Anthropology. Kia is from Orange Park, Florida, and is a senior, seeking a degree in Liberal Studies. Her ultimate goal is to become a massage therapist. Eventually, she wants to either own her own business or work for a spa. She enjoys music, singing, dancing, and playing basketball. She's is currently very active in her church in Maitland, FL. She is currently in their step ministry and dance ministry.

FACULTY MEMBERS

Sarah "Stacy" Barber
Dr. Barber joined our faculty in the fall of 2007. Dr. Barber is an assistant professor of anthropology specializing in archaeology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2005. Her theoretical interests include the application of poststructuralist social theory to archaeological contexts, the origins and organization of early complex societies, social identity, and the role of households and communities in large-scale social phenomena. Dr. Barber's methodological interests include ceramic analysis and the use of geophysical remote sensing in archaeological contexts. Her current field research focuses on the origins of political complexity in the lower Rio Verde valley, on the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Recent publications include "Polity Produced and Community Consumed" in Mesoamerican Ritual Economy (U of Colorado Press, 2007), and "When is a House a Palace?" in Palaces in the Ancient Americas (U of Texas Press, 2006).

Arlen Frank Chase
Dr. Arlen F. Chase is Chair of the Department of Anthropology and a Pegasus Professor, specializing in anthropological archaeology. His primary focus of research is on the ancient Maya of Central America. He received his B.A. in 1975 and his Ph.D. in 1983 in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania (A Contextual Consideration of the Tayasal-Paxcaman Zone, El Peten, Guatemala). His research interests focus on archaeological method and theory in the Maya area with particular emphasis on contextual, settlement, and ceramic analysis and secondary interests on urbanism, ethnicity, and epigraphic interpretation. He has been at UCF since 1984 and teaches: Archaeology and the Rise of Human Culture, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Archaeological Method and Theory, The Ancient Maya, Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, and field courses in Belize. For the last two decades, he has co-directed excavations at Caracol, Belize; before that he worked on a seven year project at Santa Rita Corozal in the same country. He has authored over 100 publications as well as The Lowland Maya Postclassic (1985; edited with P.M. Rice), Investigations at the Classic Maya City of Caracol Belize: 1985-1987 (1987; with D.Z. Chase), A Postclassic Perspective: Excavations at the Maya Site of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize (1988; with D.Z. Chase), Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment (1992; with D.Z. Chase), and Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize (1994; edited with D.Z. Chase). He is currently working on a book, being co-authored with D.Z. Chase, called Maya Archaeology: Reconstructing an Ancient Civilization. With D.Z. Chase, he also serves as the Maya Studies Series Editor for the University Press of Florida.
Visit the Caracol website

Diane Zaino Chase
Dr. Diane Z. Chase is a Pegasus Professor and currently serves as Associate Vice President in Academic Affiars. She specializes in anthropological archaeology with a primary research focus on the ancient Maya in Central America. She received her B.A. in 1975 and her Ph.D. in 1982 in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania (Spatial and Temporal Variability in Postclassic Northern Belize). Her research interests focus on archaeological method and theory in the Maya area with a particular emphasis on the rise and fall of complex societies, osteological and mortuary analysis, and ethnohistory. For the last two decades, she has co-directed excavations at Caracol, Belize; before that she directed a seven-year project at Santa Rita Corozal in the same country. She has been at UCF since 1984 and teaches: The Human Species, The Archaeology of Complex Societies, Mortuary Archaeology, Problems in Maya Archaeology, and field courses in Belize. She has authored over 100 publications as well as Investigations at the Classic Maya City of Caracol Belize: 1985-1987 (1987; with A. F. Chase), A Postclassic Perspective: Excavations at the Maya Site of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize (1988; with A.F. Chase), Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment (1992; with A.F. Chase), and Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize (1994; edited with A.F. Chase). She is currently working on a book, being co-authored with A.F. Chase, called Maya Archaeology: Reconstructing an Ancient Civilization. With A.F. Chase, she also serves as the Maya Studies Series Editor for the University Press of Florida.
Visit the Caracol website

Dr. Dupras' Web Page

Vance Geiger
Dr. Geiger is a visiting instructor in anthropology specializing in cultural anthropology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1994. His main research interest is centered around refugee studies. Dr. Geiger teaches Cultural Anthropology, General Anthropology, Peoples of the World, Magic, Ritual and Belief, Sex Gender and Culture, Environmental Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Peoples of Southeast Asia, Southeast Indians, High Plains Indians, Ethnography of North American Indians, History of Anthropological Thought, and Human Species.

Rosalyn Howard
Dr. Howard is an associate professor of anthropology specializing in cultural anthropology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1999. Her primary focus of research is in the studies of the African Diaspora with a focus on the Caribbean region. Her topical interests include: Race, Ethnohistory, Oral History, Cultural Identity, and the interrelationships of African and Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Caribbean. Dr. Howard's research has focused on the historical relationships of Seminole Indians and Black Seminoles, and their present-day descendants in Florida and The Bahamas. Among her publications is the book entitled Black Seminoles in the Bahamas, which is based upon research that she conducted while living in the community of Red Bays, Andros Island, Bahamas for one year. Other recent publications include, The "Wild Indians" of Andros Island: Black Seminole Legacy in The Bahamas (Journal of Black Studies), and Social Capital, Health and HIV Awareness of Girls in a Rural Caribbean Community (International Electronic Journal of Health Education). Her latest research involves an interdisciplinary project titled "Looking for Angola," a maroon community formerly located near Sarasota, Florida that potentially has direct connections to the Bahamian Black Seminole descendants on Andros Island. Her research about the existence of the Black Seminoles' pathway to freedom in the Bahamas will become part of "The Slave Route," a project mapping the African Diaspora that is being conducted by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris. Dr. Howard has been at UCF since 1999 and teaches General Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Peoples of the World, Anthropology of Diaspora, Caribbean Cultures, Language and Culture, Ethnographic Field Methods, and Black/Seminole Relations.
Dr. Howards' Web Page

Dr. Jones' Web Page

George Long
Mr. Long is an instructor of anthropology specializing in archaeology. He received his M.A. from the University of Florida in 1967. Mr. Long teaches Human Species, General Anthropology, Peoples of the World, Florida Archaeology, and North American Archaeology.

Leslie S. Lieberman
Dr. Lieberman is a professor of anthropology who specializes in biomedical anthropology. She received her MA in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1971 and her Ph.D. in Behavior Genetics from the University of Connecticut in 1975. Her research interests include nutritional anthropology, obesity, diabetes, women's health and child growth and development. She has worked in many US minority populations including Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Samoans and African Americans and in Croatia. She joined the UCF faculty in 2001 and is the founding Director of the Women's Research Center. She has over 200 publications and has served as President of the National Association of Academies of Science/American Association for the Advancement of Science, Council on Nutritional Anthropology/ American Anthropological Association and Florida Academy of Science. She is a fellow of AAAS and has received numerous awards for professional leadership. She teaches Nutritional Anthropology.
Learn more about the Women's Research Center

Matthew McIntyre
Dr. McIntyre joined our faculty in the fall of 2007. Dr. McIntyre is an assistant professor of anthropology specializing in biological anthropology. He received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University in 2005 and a M.Sc. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2007. Dr. McIntyre studies the effects of perinatal sex differentiation on later patterns of growth and development. He has also studied the socio-ecological regulation of testosterone production, as well as the effects of testosterone on behavior, personality, and cancer risk. He collaborates with two large, long-term studies of child growth and development, the California Child Health and Development Studies, and the Fels Longitudinal Study. Dr. McIntyre has broad interests including quantitative methods, anthropological demography, the anthropology of health, gender theory, and the evolutionary theories of life history and sexual selection. He has conducted field work in China, and will pursue future projects in Brazil.

Dr. Schultz's Web Page

Patricia Silver
Patricia Silver is a visiting assistant professor of anthropology specializing in cultural anthropology. She received her Ph.D. from American University in Washington, D.C., in 2004. Her primary area of research is Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora in the U.S. Her interests include sociocultural anthropology, culture and political economy, schooling and state formation, empire, and globalization. She has been at UCF since 2005 and teaches Magic, Ritual, and Belief; Sex, Gender, and Culture; and Puerto Rican Culture.

Pete Sinelli
Mr. Sinelli is an instructor of anthropology who specializes in Archaeology. He received his MA from the University of Florida in 2001 and is currently finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Florida. His research interests include Carribean prehistory. Mr. Sinelli has been at UCF since 2006 and teaches Human Species, General anthropology, Sex, Gender, and Culture, and Human Origins.

Allyn McLean Stearman
Dr. Stearman is a professor of anthropology who specializes in cultural anthropology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1976. Her research focuses on cultures of Latin America, with particular interest in cultural ecology, native Amazonians, problems of developing nations, and women in agriculture. She currently conducts her fieldwork in Bolivia. She has been at UCF since 1976 and teaches Cultural Anthropology, Peoples of the World, Peoples and Cultures of Latin America, and Native Peoples of Amazonia. Among her publications are two books titled No Longer Nomads: The Siriono Revisited, and Yuqui: Forest Nomads in a Changing World.

John Walker
Dr. Walker is an archaeologist who currently works in the Bolivian Amazon and studies how pre-Columbian farmers engineered that environment, showing that the “pristine” Amazon has in fact been managed and cultivated for thousands of years. He teaches “Archaeology of Complex Societies,” “History of Anthropological Thought,” “GIS Applications in Archaeology,” and other courses. His theoretical interests include political and social organization, common pool resources, and the relationship between nature and culture. His most recent book is Agricultural Change in the Bolivian Amazon (2004). He has been an Assistant Professor at UCF since 2006, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.
Dr. Walker's Webpage

Ronald L. Wallace
Dr. Wallace is a professor of anthropology who specializes in biological anthropology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1975. His research is focused on the biology of human behavior with particular interest in computational models of the mind, evolution of language, and bio-social perspectives on sex and gender. He has been at UCF since 1975 and teaches The Human Species, Sex, Gender and Culture, Biobehavioral Anthropology, and The Emergence of Civilizations. Among his publications are: Those Who Have Vanished: An Introduction to Prehistory, and The Tribal Self: An Anthropologist Reflects on Hunting, Brain and Behavior.
Dr. Wallace's Web Page