4 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES NEWS Fall 2009

CAS Faculty

Around The

Whether it’s hosting a summer research program in

Greece, attending a conference uniting worldwide
tilefish experts in London, organizing seminars that
draw scholars to study ancient sites in Latin America, or
exploring current political, cultural, and religious issues
in India, the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
are engaged in international research that enhances the
University’s reputation globally.
Globe
Since arriving at Adelphi in 1990, Professor and Director of
the Environmental Studies Program Anagnostis Agelarakis
has been taking groups of students to Europe and the Middle
East to engage in anthropological fieldwork. Students roll up
their sleeves, and under his guidance (and the hot summer
sun), they embark on what is often the learning experience
of a lifetime. Professor Agelarakis, a passionate advocate of
the program, applies annually for its grants.
He selects students in the field of anthropology who have
been working with him for at least a year, which ensures
their familiarity with the terms and methods of research.
The students travel to various locales, in Greece, Cyprus,
Israel, or Turkey, for three to four weeks.
Last year, anthropology majors Caitlynn Brown ’10 and
Caren Bendror ’09, along with Professor Agelarakis, visited
the Greek site of Eleutherna, known for its relics spanning
from the Geometric period to the Early Byzantine period.
During their trips abroad, Professor Agelarakis’ students
engage in site excavations, examine artifacts, conduct
laboratory research, review research methods, make
continuous assessments and measurements, and study human
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, working
anatomy, he said.
with national and local organizations on fishery policies
The main goal of the research team at Eleutherna was to for nearly 30 years.
find the skeletal remains of women living during the period
This past January, Professor Dooley was invited to attend
of the Homeric battles of Troy. The Adelphi students
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
interacted with European students, who taught them about
(IUCN) Red List workshop, because of his knowledge
how people live and cook in this area of Greece. During
of tilefish. The four-day workshop was organized jointly
their stay, they also observed climate conditions and studied
by the Zoological Society of London and Global Marine
local biodiversity, said Professor Agelarakis.
Species Assessment, Old Dominion University, and held
“Students come here to learn and reciprocate,” he said. “It’s at the office of the Zoological Society of London. The
a two-way exchange of knowledge and culture between the purpose of the international gathering was to evaluate the
American students and the Greek scientists.” conservation status of more than 300 species of marine fish
and drew tilefish experts from Canada, Australia, South
Biology Professor James Dooley has been involved in
Africa, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Tokyo, Brazil, the
international education and collaborative research since
United Kingdom, and the United States.
his arrival at Adelphi in 1973. He has taught courses in
the Canary Islands and Spain through the University and “Discussing environmental and fisheries issues intensely
the Earthwatch Institute. In addition, Professor Dooley for a week with international colleagues truly gives you
has served as a fisheries consultant for the Food and broad and valuable perspectives on true issues,” Professor
6 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES NEWS Fall 2009

Dooley said. “It is important to try to expose your students

to international viewpoints, rather than the parochial
perspective students are often used to.”
During his stay in London, Professor Dooley worked in
the British Museum of Natural History, examining various
specimens of tilefish in the collection. He plans to organize a
meeting featuring 10 scientists in Japan to evaluate the status
of the species placed under scrutiny in the next five years.
For the past two years, Anthropology Professor Laraine
Fletcher has co-organized two National Endowment for
the Humanities (NEH) seminars in conjunction with
her colleague Dr. George Scheper, who teaches at the
Community College of Baltimore County-Essex and Johns
Hopkins University. In the summer of 2007, the institute
was held at the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca in Mexico and, in
2008, at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad in
Cusco, Peru.

Professor Fletcher organized multidisciplinary workshops
attended by 24 fellows, who were carefully selected from a
variety of college and university instructors from the fields
of anthropology, art, and art history, who conducted their
own research projects.
“The seminar institutes are always on site,” Professor Fletcher
said. “(Participants) get to meet local people, improve their
teaching, and disseminate information.”
The institute fellows who went to Mexico viewed the sites
at Monte Alban, Mixteca Alta, and San José Mogote, and
discussed the coding of the Mixtec codices, the Juditan
revitalization, and the Oaxaqueño Diaspora. Those who
went to Peru traveled to Machu Picchu and Chan Chan and
discussed Chavin iconography, new scholarship on Khipus,
and the Quadra cultural survival.
Professor Fletcher enjoyed attending the institutes because
they gave her the chance to learn about new materials, to
“We are exposed to
certain ways of learning
and models of teaching.
The questions we ask are
informed by where we
are located.”
take photographs, and to hear about the latest research in
the field.
“It’s been absolutely a bonus for me,” she said.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Hanna Kim attended
a conference entitled “Rethinking Religion in India II:
Rethinking Secularism” in New Delhi, India, which was part
of an ongoing series that seeks to find new ways of framing
and analyzing the cultures, traditions, and religions in India,
she said.
While in India this January, Professor Kim worked on a paper
on the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Sanstha
community, titled “Post-Liberal Gujarat: the Discourse on
Secularism and its Alternatives,” which acknowledges that
the discourse on secularism in India is problematic.
Professor Kim is a firm believer in the importance of
immersing oneself in a setting where there are scholars
representing different cultures and viewpoints.
“We are exposed to certain ways of learning and models of
teaching, she said “The questions we ask are informed by
where we are located. Going in a setting where there are
international scholars who see things differently, I might
even find that my questions are not important ones.”