Skip to main content

Anthropology Awards

Robert McC. Adams Award for Excellence in Archeological Anthropology

Robert McCormick Adams Jr. Award for Excellence in Anthropological Archaeology

Robert McC. Adams. a former adjunct faculty member, was a major comparative archaeologist of early state formation, and a pioneer in the study of broad regional systems. Learn more about Adams on Wikipedia.


Past Recipients

2023      Junying Liu

2022      Bianca Loyola

2021      Anne-Marie Wort

2020      Isabella Garcia & Lindsay Harrington

2019      Sarah Roebel & Isabell Villasana

2018      Matthew Van Schalkwyk & Christina Fallone

2017      Rachel Bilchak

2016      Terrence Bradley Luevano

2015      Gabriela Michelle De La Torre

2014       Aliya Hoff

2013       Alexis Faust

2012       Anne L. Snyder

2011       Jana M. Davis

2010       Andrew L. Woodhead

2009       Adrienne Cary Frie

2008       Allisen Cecelia Dahlstedt

2007       Alona D. Zaray-Mizrahi

2006       Alicia A. Cunningham-Bryant

2005       Annabelle H. Teng

2004       Brian M. Zentmyer

2003       Lynne M. Murone-Dunn

2002       Stacie Wilson

2001       Neil G. Smith

2000       Anthony P. Arias

2000       Kelly Ann Kirby

1999       Brian T. Pittman

1998       Jennifer C. Hiller

1997       Solomon S. Kuah

1996       Charles H. Wallace, IV

1995       Juan F. Morena, Jr.

Sherwood L. Washburn Award for Excellence in Biological Anthropology

Sherwood L. Washburn Award for Excellence in Biological Anthropology

Sherwood L. Washburn (1911-2000) was a major figure in biological anthropology, an early advocate of field study in the study of comparative primate behavior, and an important student of extinct hominds understood through the functional study of comparative primate anatomy. Learn more about Washburn on Wikipedia.


Past Recipients

2023       Silvestre Cortes

2022       Amanda Chambers & Sylas Eckhart

2021       David Meszaros & Carolina Rosa

2020       Eduard Huang

2019       Ali Goforth

2018       Jennifer Corona

2017       Shannon Subers

2016       Isabel Dorothy Hermsmeyer

2015       Kelsie Alyssa Telson

2014       Chelsea Brown

2013       Kate Corbin

2012       Alexana J. Hickmott

2011       Megan L. Lambert

2010       Edward A. Grigoryan

2009       Patricia Ann Lantzy

2008       Ria K. Boner

2007       Clelia C. Ahrens-Barbeau

2006       Elyse R. Zuniga

2005       (Not awarded)

2004       Janina Heywood

2003       Michelle Richardson

2002       Jaime Hessel

2001       Katy F. Mathers

2000       Anne-Marie Desgouttes

1999       Amy Peng Chun Lu

1997       Rachel E. Lehrer

1996       Rebecca E. Frank

A. Irving Hallowell Awards for Excellence in Sociocultural Anthropology

Irving Hallowell Award for Excellence in Sociocultural Anthropology

Irving Hallowell (1892-1974) was a cultural anthropologist, one of the founders of the field of cultural and personality, and a pioneer in the cross-cultural use of psychological testing. Learn more about Hallowell on Wikipedia.


Past Recipients

2023       Catherine Parker

2022       Paycee Minaya & Xinyu Cai

2021       Mariana Gomez Hernandez & Michael Murphy

2020       Amir Lehman

2019       Gaelyn Walche

2018       Rachel Oporto

2017       Anastasia Vechera

2016       Alexis R. Reed & Charles Stanley Dorfan

2015       Carlos Hans Christian Hubbard

2014       Jessica Knapp

2013       Maria Lechtarova

2013       Lauren Snipper

2012       Melissa J. Stanley

2011       Emily A. Lucitt

2010       Brianna C. Dougher

2009       Jenivive Blinck Coralee Bernbeck

2008       Edward James Glayzer

2007       Brent H. Erickson

2006       Laura C.McCoy

2005       Lauren Elizabeth McKown

2004       Janna L. Lafferty

2003       Christine M. Chan

2002       Sheila Thornburgh

2001       Tara C. Lundstrom

2000       Valerie Kay Thomas

1999       Aaron Michael Ansell

1999       Marcy Ann-Lynne Ronneberg

1998       Robin L. Kezirian

1997       Shyam P. Balse

1996       Erin M. Bostick

1995       Shana L. Fruehan

1994       Eric C. Kansa

1993       Laura A. Tubelle

1992       Sean M. Philpott

1991       Isabelle T. Fauconnier

1990       Nancy L. Frey

1989       Catlan A. Thorne

1988       Susan S. Levine

1987       Sheil S. Clark

1986       Scott D. Gayron

1985       Daniel M. Fessler

Melford E. Spiro Award for Excellence in Psychological and Medical Anthropology

Melford E. Spiro for Excellence in Psychological and Medical Anthropology

Melford E. Spiro (1920-2014) was an American cultural anthropologist specializing in religion and psychological anthropology.  He is also the founder of the Anthropology department at UC, San Diego.  Learn more about Spiro on wikipedia.


Past Recipients

2023    Kendall Hogerty

2021    Owen Janes

2020    Cora Becker

2019    Karolina Oseguera

2018    Joshua Beneventi

Shirley Strum Award for Conservation and the Human Predicament

Shirley Strum Award for Conservation and the Human Predicament

Shirley Strum is a biological anthropologist, who has been studying the socioecology and cognition of savanna baboons in Kenya for over 44 years through the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project. She has been a champion of conservation efforts, through research on primate crop-raiding, primate translocation, Community Based Conservation, primate and cultural ecotourism, natural resource management, conservation education, and invasion ecology. She has taught many courses on conservation including Conservation and the Human Predicament, after which this award is named.


Past Recipients 

2023     Declan Healy and Anna Eaton

2022     Alexandra McDaniel & Taylor Dominick

2021     Sophia Sylvestri