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Honors and Awards

At the end of the academic year, outstanding anthropology majors are selected for awards in various categories.

  • The Irwin Press Paper Award in Medical Anthropology: Given to students who have produced a quality paper outlining research in medical anthropology. 
  • The Father Patrick Gaffney Integrative Anthropology Paper Award: Given to a student who has written a paper that crosses traditional boundaries and draws from a range of different areas of scholarship in an effort to develop a fuller, even if sometimes messier, understanding of being and becoming human. 
  • James McKenna and Joanne Mack Promising Anthropology Major Award: Awarded to a first and second year student with outstanding early performance in the major.
  • The Julian Samora Award: Awarded to the student who has demonstrated broad engagement with academic life.
  • The Carolyn Nordstrom Professional Achievement Award: Awarded to the student with outstanding performance in academic publication, presentation at professional meetings, grants, and fellowships.
  • Lambda Alpha Honors Society: Lambda Alpha is the national honors society for anthropologists. Notre Dame became the Beta Chapter of Indiana in 1981. Its purposes are to promote interest in the study of anthropology, to recognize outstanding student performance, and to encourage scholarship and research in anthropology.  Membership and Fees

2023 Honors and Award Winners

  • The Irwin Press Paper Award in Medical Anthropology: Julia Johnston for her paper “Bioarcheological Evidence of Care Through Analysis of Antemortem Cranial Trauma: A Case Study of Two Individual Crania from EBA II-III Bab adh-Dhra’ Skeletal Collection”
  • The Father Patrick Gaffney Integrative Anthropology Paper Award: Maria Chapman for her paper "Artificial Intelligence Is the Future Friend and Enemy of Anthropology, Thanks to the Past"
  • James McKenna and Joanne Mack Promising Anthropology Major Award: Charlotte Cardarella and Paul David Quimby
  • The Julian Samora Award: Caitlin Conly
  • The Carolyn Nordstrom Professional Achievement Award: Sarajane Smith
  • Anthropology Honor Society of Lambda Alpha, Beta Chapter of Indiana: Angela Betz, Maria Chapman, Sophie Chorek, Caitlin Conly, Sydney Florine, Theresa Heidenreich, Carolyn Homolka, Julia Johnston, Anna Lee, Lydia Lang, Molly McNamara, Claudia Rivera Alvarez-Tabio, Gabriella Saladino, Sarajane Smith, Madeline Solkey, Emily Swiatek, and Meredith Wilson

Past award winners