Dr. Timothy J. Smith Named Outstanding Young Faculty Award Winner for College of Arts & Sciences

  • Dr. Timothy J. Smith Named Outstanding Young Faculty Award Winner for College of Arts & Sciences

    Dr. Timothy J. Smith of the Department of Anthropology has been named the 2011-2012 William S. Strickland Outstanding Young Faculty Award winner for the College of Arts & Sciences.  This award is given annually to an outstanding non-tenured faculty member in a tenure-track position who has made a significant contribution to the intellectual life of the University. "This is award is a great honor and I would be remiss to not credit the outstanding scholarship and vigor generated in the Department of Anthropology as having made a huge impact on my own zest for contributing to ASU in the areas of teaching, research, and service.  It's been an amazing last four years in my career, having found such a profound group of scholars and colleagues.  It's because of them that I was able to accomplish what I have during my short time at ASU."

    Dr. Smith came to Appalachian State University in the fall semester of 2008 after having held appointments at the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was the associate director of their respective centers for Latin American and Caribbean studies and taught classes in departments of anthropology, Latin American Studies, humanities, and American studies. ASU, however, offered him the opportunity to initiate a career in research and teaching by offering him a tenure-track position in the Department of Anthropology.

    His interest in Latin America was cultivated while he did his undergraduate work at Tulane University, where he received a BA in Latin American Studies (focus on Mesoamerican Linguistics) and a BS in Anthropology. He then did his graduate work in Anthropology (MA and PhD) at the University at Albany, SUNY, and wrote his dissertation while in residence as a visiting fellow at Harvard University and Columbia University.  Over the years, he has had the pleasure to work alongside colleagues from numerous universities in both the United States and Latin America, which has allowed him to bring these experiences to ASU.

    This semester he is a visiting fellow at Princeton University in the Program in Latin American Studies and teaching a seminar for PLAS and the Department of Anthropology.  He is currently working on a new book that will take an anthropological approach in the study of democracy, elections, and indigenous voter participation in Guatemalan elections during the past twenty years.

    He joins previous Strickland Award winners from anthropology, Dr. Gwendolyn Robbins Schug (2009-2010) and Dr. Larry Kimball (1996-1997).  Tenured faculty members are eligible for the Donald W. Sink Outstanding Scholar of the Year Award  and the Department is fortunate to have two previous winners, Dr. Cheryl Claassen (2009-2010) and Dr. Susan Keefe (1996-1997).  

    For more information about Dr. Smith's research and teaching interests, please visit his faculty profile.

    Posted October 26, 2012 - 3:06pm


Published: Apr 1, 2016 12:00am

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