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Community Service Presentation Offerings

Request an Anthropology Lecture

One of the missions of our department is to provide outreach in the form of public lectures, free-of-charge. Our faculty and graduate students offer age-appropriate presentations for school classes and clubs of a variety of ages as well as civic groups, both on and off campus. These presentations convey anthropological information in a professional, accessible, and memorable manner. If your group or class would like to request a presentation, please select from the available topics below and email the Department of Anthropology at anthropology@purdue.edu. Be sure to include the following information in your email request and someone will respond to you within a few days:

  1. TOPIC (selected from list below)
  2. PREFERRED DATE AND TIME
  3. LOCATION
  4. NAME OF REQUESTING GROUP
  5. CONTACT INFORMATION

Please note, due to COVID-19 restrictions and precautions lectures may need to be delivered online for the near future. Also, these presentations are for organized groups. They are not informational sessions for prospective students. If you are interested in learning more about our academic program, please visit the Purdue Department of Anthropology website:  https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/anthropology/index.html and feel free to reach out to individual faculty.

Presentation topics listed below include a recommended age level though some topics are scalable for multiple age/grade levels. Length of presentation may also be flexible to meet time constraints of the audience. Please indicate your group’s needs when you email.

Presentation Topics

Ancient Metallurgy

This presentation covers the invention and innovation of metallurgy. My research specialization is the Indigenous use of copper in North America but this talk could be adapted to cover a range of times and places.

Electronic Waste

Electronic waste (E-Waste) is a hazard to the environment and human health and has been growing exponentially in recent years. Communities and waste management experts are challenged to come up with solutions for how to best deal with this type of waste. This presentation provides an overview of the electronic waste problem using interdisciplinary research conducted by Purdue scholars and discusses possible solutions.

Forensic Anthropology

This presentation will expose audiences to an introduction of what forensic anthropologists contribute to death investigation of unknown skeletal remains. Topics included in the talk: history of the field of forensic anthropology, estimation of a biological profile, overview of trauma analysis, and appropriate case studies depending on the audience.

Audiences: High school, Adults

General Archaeology

This presentation can be adapted to fit specific needs but can potentially cover a range of topics including how archaeology is done and why, and what we can learn about humanity and culture from the sites and artifacts people left behind.

The Human Skeleton

Biological anthropologists study the human skeleton to investigate present and past lifeways of humans. This presentation is tailored to the interests of the audience to highlight information about anatomy of the human skeleton. Topics included in the talk cover the construction of a biological profile from skeletal analysis to estimate sex, age, ancestry, and stature. Hands on activities can be made adaptable to elementary school age-level upon request.

Audiences: Middle school, High school, Adults

The Missing Link

This presentation covers human fossil evidence for evolution and discusses why the idea of a “missing link” is problematic. This presentation is tailored to the interests of the audience and to an age-appropriate level to cover information on different fossil hominins.

Audiences: Middle school, High school

Native American Cultures

This presentation can be adapted to fit specific needs but is a way to introduce people, especially young students, to various aspects of Native American culture in North America past and present. Geographic focus is flexible, but my specialization is in Arctic, Subarctic, and Northwest Coast cultures.

Project Archaeology

This program uses archaeology to “foster understanding of past and present cultures; improve social studies and science education; and enhance citizenship education to help preserve our archaeological legacy.” Lesson plans are inquiry-based, meet national standards, and incorporate opportunities for active learning through reading, writing, and discussion. Topics covered in the curriculum include: social studies, science, and math, as well as providing opportunities for learning about geography, culture, anthropology, archaeology, history, and engineering.