Anthropology Student Awards

​In recognition of senior anthropology majors demonstrating academic excellence.

Edwin Buxbaum studied anthropology as a second career after a successful career as a chemist at DuPont (where he developed a great many patents). His interest in Greek sponge fishermen (in Greece and in immigrant communities in the US) led him to anthropology. He taught at UD for many years and was a formative member of the department.

Award Winners for 2019

Annabelle Fichtner

Grant Steelman

​In recognition of junior anthropology majors demonstrating academic excellence.

Julian Haynes Steward was a twentieth-century American anthropologist best known for developing the concept and method of cultural ecology as well as a scientific theory of culture change. He helped transform evolutionary thought within cultural anthropology away from a unilineal, Spencerian idea of progress to an empirically based study of cultural adaptation.

Award Winners for 2019

Jack Ausmus

Eli Akereldt-Howard

Previous Julian Steward Award Recipients.pdf

​In recognition of sophomore anthropology majors demonstrating academic excellence.

Barbara Hughes was a returning adult student who majored in both anthropology and sociology and served the community as a justice of the peace in New Castle County, Delaware for more than two decades.

Award Winners for 2019

Amy Ciminnisi

Nikki Pratt

Previous Barbara Hughes Award Recipients.pdf

​For leadership and service to the anthropological community at the University ofDelaware.

Professor Villamarin, previous Chair of the Anthropology Department for 25 years, chose to work with under-represented students who needed his help.  He was a mentor to students new to the academic environment and worked to help them succeed, forming close relationships with generations of students who called him  Papa Juan.

Award Winners for 2019

Timothy Deska-Kahn

Previous Juan A. Villamarin Award Recipients.pdf