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 SUAPP Newsletter 

January: Volume 1, Issue 2

Dr. Stan Hyland Receives

2012 Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology

Dr. Stanley E. Hyland, Professor of Anthropology, University of Memphis, and Head, School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, is the 2012 recipient of the Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology, from the American Anthropological Association. The award is in recognition of his contributions to the development of public policy aimed at issues of poverty and social inequalities in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Mid-South region and his intertwined contributions to the development of anthropology as an applied science through what Professor Hyland calls “an ecological approach to policy change”.

The City of Memphis and its adjacent eight county area rank as the nation’s most impoverished large metropolitan area (U.S. Census Bureau). According to one nominator, his work is characterized by “… an overall vision of the importance of involving persons who live in poverty in the conceptualization, design and development, as well as implementation of potential solutions to the many challenges urban residents face within their communities,”  adding that he “…has been nothing short of ingenious in his energetic pursuit of ways and means to connect with persons living in poverty and to bring their voices into public policy processes.

Hyland is an exemplar of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach in applied anthropology in the view of another nominator, who also pointed out that Hyland’s contributions to community development and policy change have centered on the development and advancement of African American communities in the greater Memphis area and the Mississippi delta, fostering university community engagement in Memphis, and furthering the development of relevant anthropological theory and practice.

Hyland’s contributions to applied anthropology theory and practice on various aspects of community development are detailed in more than twenty publications in peer reviewed journals, (e.g., Hyland & Maurette (2010), Developing Poverty Reform Efforts in the Memphis Region: Lessons for an Engaged Anthropology, Urban Anthropology, 39(3): 213-264), and his well-regarded 2005 edited volume Community Building in the 21^st Century (Hyland & Owens, Santa Fe: School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series).

The University of Memphis Department of Anthropology’s applied anthropology two year masters degree model of engaged students placed in internships in local, regional, and national organizations who get hired, then move up in management, and in turn provide opportunities for other students has been a successful model. The approach means that the department “…has both staffed and partnered with so many institutions and organizations in the Mid-South and other parts of the country…” that “’anthropology’ is not a ‘strange’ word in Memphis; community leaders recognize what anthropology is through the work carried out by our alumni.” Hyland’s nominators point out that he did not work alone to achieve what he has –he has had many collaborators, colleagues and students, but in the words of one of his nominators, “Stan…unquestionably set the foundation for its development. Throughout his career he has demonstrated the tremendous potential of such a model for having a positive impact on policy in the Mid-South region.”

The Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology was initiated by royalties from Applied Anthropology in America (Elizabeth M. Eddy and William L. Partridge, eds., 1978), a volume dedicated to Solon Kimball. The award honors outstanding achievements in the development of anthropology as an applied science. The award has been presented every other year since 1984 at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting. It offers an opportunity to honor exemplary anthropologists for outstanding achievements in applied science that have also had important impacts on public policy. Professor Hyland was presented with the award at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Francisco, CA, November 15, 2012. 

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Sean Lee awarded the 

Friend of the College, Outstanding Alumni      

Award for the College of Arts and Sciences

Sean Lee is the CEO of Porter-Leath and on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Philantropy and Nonprofit Leadership in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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U of M Professor K.B. Turner Selected for Maxine Smith Fellows Program

Dr. K.B. Turner has been selected to participate in the 2012 Maxine Smith Fellows Program of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), the governing body for 46 universities, community colleges, and technology centers throughout the state. Turner is an associate professor and graduate coordinator in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

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Two SUAPP Professors Earn Awards

Dr. Margaret Vandiver, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has been selected for the Distinguished Research in the Social Sciences, Business and Law Award for 2011-12

Dr. Joy Clay, Associate Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor in the Division of Public and Nonprofit Administration has been chosen for the prestigious Excellence in Engaged Scholarship award for 2011-12. 

SoME RAP Wins 2012 Community Service Award

The students, faculty, and staff from City and Regional Planning who participated in creating the South Memphis Revitalization Action Plan (SoMe RAP) were honored with the Tennessee Medical Association's 2012 Community Service Award on April 14.

The Memphis Medical Society nominated the project to the Association which recognized the SoMeRAP plan and implementation efforts for its "contributions to the improvement and advancement of health."