The Anthropology Faculty have revised and expanded the undergraduate curriculum for majors, and interdisciplinary minors in Archaeology, Native American Studies, and Forensic Anthropology to insure adequate preparation for careers in archaeology, anthropology, forensics, criminal justice, and education. To meet this goal we need to offer more robust hands-on components to key lab and field courses including: Human Origins, Bioarchaeology, Human Osteology, Zooarchaeology, Archaeological Field School, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeology Lab Training,Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program (RCARP), and Ethnobotany (ca. 120 students/semester). Additionally, we serve students working on University Honors or Anthropology Senior theses, URECA, and independent research projects (ca. 20 per year). The equipment requested in this proposal will be used by students in these courses in the archaeology labs in PH 109C and 110, and the protective field cases will allow us to use the iPads (funded via an Instructional Technology Grant) for field data collection as part of the Archaeology field school and RCARP training courses (ca. 80 students/year). These popular courses serve students from across disciplines and colleges (including anthropology, forensics, archaeology, geosciences, psychology, biology, education, and global studies) and allows us to increase and enhance EXL and community-based service-learning offerings at MTSU - proven strategies for student retention and success.
