Updated May, 2009

Gwendolyn M. Robbins
401 Sanford Hall

Department of Anthropology

Appalachian State University

Boone, NC 28608
 

Office Telephone: 828-262-7505
email: Robbinsgm@appstate.edu

web site: http://www.appstate.edu/~Robbinsgm

 

EDUCATION

University of Oregon, Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, 2007
Dissertation Title: Population Dynamics, Growth and Development in Chalcolithic Sites of the
Deccan Plateau, India

Chair: John Lukacs

 

University of Oregon, M.S. in Biological Anthropology, 2000
Master's Paper: Dental Histology and Age Estimation in Mesolithic
India

Advisor: John Lukacs

 

University of Oregon, B.S. in Anthropology (with departmental honors), 1998
Honor’s Thesis: Discrete Traits as a Measure of Biological Distance In Gujarat, India
 

 

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

 

Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology

Appalachian State University (Boone, NC), 2007-present

 

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology

Appalachian State University (Boone, NC), 2006-2007

 

Barnett Teaching Fellow, Department of Anthropology

University of Oregon (Eugene), 2004-2005

 

Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Anthropology

University of Oregon (Eugene), 2001-2006

 

 

FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION

 

Human osteology, bone biology, and histology

Human growth and development

Bioarchaeology, climate change, and subsistence transition

Paleodemography 

South Asian Prehistory

 

  

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT OR IN PRESS

 

Robbins G., M. Irish, K. Gray, R. Danielson. (forthcoming, 2009) Bone Histology and Identification of a Starvation Diet. In: The Archaeology of the Donner Party Campsite, eds. Dixon, K., Schablitsky, J. and S. Novak eds. Has been accepted by University of Nebraska Press/ Society for Historical Archaeology.

 

Dixon K., S. Novak, G. Robbins, J. Schablitsky, R. Scott , and G. Tasa. (forthcoming, 2009) Archaeology of the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp. American Antiquity. 

 

Robbins, G., Mushrif V., Misra V.N., Mohanty R.K., Shinde V.S., Gray, K.M. and Schug, M.D. (forthcoming, 2009) Ancient skeletal evidence for Leprosy in India (2000 B.C.). Plos One.

 

Robbins G. (2008) Fertility and Infertility. In: Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Smith, B., editor. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

 

Robbins G. (2008) Demography- an overview. In: Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Smith, B., editor. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

 

Robbins G., Mushrif V., Misra V.N., Mohanty R.K., and Shinde V.S. (2007) Adult skeletal material from Balathal: A full report and inventory. Man and Environment XXXII(2: December):1-26. 

 

Robbins G., Mushrif V., Misra V.N., Mohanty R.K., and Shinde V.S. (2006) Biographies of the Skeleton: Pathological Patterns at Balathal. Man and Environment XXXI(2: December):150-165. 

 

Robbins G., Misra V.D., Pal J.N., and Gupta M.C. (2004) Mesolithic Damdama: Dental Histology and Age Estimation. India: Allahabad University Press. OCLC: 60453955. 

 

Ayres, William C., Joan A. Wozniak, Gwen Robbins, and Epi Suafo'a (2001) Archaeology in American Samoa: Maloata, Malaeimi, and Malaeloa. In: Pacific 2000: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, Stevenson, C.M., G. Lee, and F.J. Morin (eds). California: Bearsville Press: 227-235.

 

 

PUBLICATIONS IN REVISION, IN REVIEW, OR SUBMITTED

 

Robbins, G. (under review) Fertility-centered demography in subadult samples. Submitted to International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

 

Robbins G. (submitted) Dental Histology and Paleodemography. In: Holocene Foragers of North India: Bioarchaeology of Mesolithic Damdama, Lukacs, J.R. and Pal, J.N.. John and Erica Hedges Ltd., U.K.: BAR International Series. (submitted 9/2008) (forthcoming 2009)

 

 

PUBLICATIONS UNDER CONTRACT AND IN PREP

 

Robbins G. (under contract) Bioarchaeology and climate change: a view from the Deccan Chalcolithic, India. Book contract with University Press Florida (due August 1, 2009). 

 

Robbins G., Sciulli, P. and Blatt, S. (in prep) Estimating Body Mass in Subadult Skeletons. Will be submitted to American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

 

Robbins G. (in prep) Harappans from Kalibangan Revisited. Will be submitted to Man and Environment (DCPRI).

 

 

POPULAR MEDIA

 

April 24, 2006 The New Yorker Magazine “What Really Happened at Alder Creek?” by Dana Goodyear

 

March, 2006 The History Channel: “Cannibals: Secrets Revealed”

 

March 12, 2001 India Today “The Ahars: Piecing the Ahar Puzzle” by Rohit Parihar

 

 

PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS AND PRESENTATIONS AT MEETINGS

 

Robbins G, Cowgill L. (2009) Bayesian Approaches to Measuring Body Mass in Subadults from Kulubnarti, Grasshopper Pueblo, and Inamgaon. A.A.P.A.

Robbins G. (2008) Resolving Stressful Relationships in Prehistory: macroscopic and histological indicators of growth disruption in subadult long bones. A.A.P.A.  

Robbins G. (2007) Cortical Bone Ontogeny: Activity, Nutritional Status, and Archaeology. H.B.A.

Robbins G. (2007) Saving the Babies from the Bathwater: a new method for paleodemography in subadult samples. A.A.P.A.

Robbins G., and Lukacs J.R. (2006) Adaptive Diversity, Growth and Development in Chalcolithic India. A.A.P.A.

Robbins G., and Hanks, M. (2006) Profile of a Starvation Diet: Bone Histology and Species Identification of Calcined Food Refuse at a Small Donner Party Campsite. S.H.A.

Robbins G., and Lukacs J.R. (2003) Cementum Annulations and Age Estimation in an Early Holocene Population. A.A.P.A.

 

 

GRANTS AND RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

 

2004 American Institute of Indian Studies, Junior Research Dissertation Fellowship

·         Funding dissertation research on human growth and development in India

 

2003 George Franklin Dales Scholarship

·         Funding research on histological age estimation for adults from Inamgaon

 

2002 UO Department of Anthropology Travel Grant

 

2001 Fulbright IIE Student Fellowship

 

2000 Graduate Student Research Award, Graduate School, University of Oregon

·         Funding for dental histological section preparation for Master’s research

 

2000 Research Assistantship, Dr. John Lukacs, University of Oregon

·         Funding research on cortical bone maintenance and LHPC in India

 

 

ACADEMIC AND TEACHING AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND GRANTS

 

Graduate Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2001-2006

 

Homer Barnett Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2004-2005

·         Departmental teaching award for doctoral candidates

 

Comprehensive Exams Passed with Distinction, 2004

·         Exams in the subjects of Human Evolutionary Anatomy and South Asian Bioarchaeology

 

Cressman Prize, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2003 

·         Annual award for graduate student research paper of publishable quality

 

Graduate Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of General Science, 1998-2000.

 

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

 

2006-present Appalachian State University

·         Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Majors- lower division)

·         Human Biological Variation (Majors- upper division)

·         Human Evolution (Majors- upper division)

·         Human Osteology (Majors- upper division)

·         Bioarchaeology (Majors- upper division)

·         Paleoanthropology of South Asia (Majors- upper division)

·         Anthropology of Human Reproduction (occasional course)

·         Forensic Taphonomy (taught as independent study and upper division seminar)

 

2004-2005 University of Oregon—courses taught as an Instructor

·         Human Growth and Development

·         Bioarchaeology

 

2004-2006  Lane Community College—courses taught as an Instructor

·         Introduction to Biological Anthropology

·         Introduction to Archaeology

·         Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

 

2000-2006  University of Oregon—courses taught as a Teaching Assistant

·         Assistant Director of Archaeological Field School in Tutuila, American Samoa (University of Oregon-American Samoa Community College Course)

·         Introduction to Biological Anthropology (J. Josh Snodgrass)

·         Monkeys and Apes (Joanna Lambert)

·         Introduction to Human Sexuality (Frances White)

·         Human Evolution (John Lukacs)

·         Human Osteology (Steven Frost)

·         Primate Feeding and Nutrition (Joanna Lambert)

·         People of India (John Lukacs; Lamia Karim)

·         Pacific Island Archaeology (Bill Ayres)

 

 

UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

 

Committee Work: Appalachian State University

  • 2007–present: Darwin Day Speaker Series Organizing Committee
  • 2006- present: International Education Program: South Asia Committee
  • 2007-2008: Core Curriculum Committee
  • 2006-present: Dewel-CAS Microscopy Facility Advisory Committee

 

Committee Work: Department of Anthropology, ASU

  • 2008-9: Anthropology Department Faculty Search Committee (Biological Anthropologist)
  • 2007 - present: Anthropology Department Personnel Committee
  • 2007-8: Anthropology Department Faculty Search Committee (Cultural Anthropologist)
  • 2006–present: Anthropology Department Curriculum Committee

 

Conferences Attended as part of Service Commitment at ASU

  • Upcoming November, 2008: Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference entitled: Engaging Science, Advancing Learning: General Education, Majors, and the New Global Century.
  • April, 2007: NC State Undergraduate Education Assessment Conference.

 

Community Service in Boone, NC

  • Summer, 2007 Hartley Cemetery Project: Osteological identifications of exhumations and report on the site of the new Watauga County High School, NC.

 

University of Oregon Department of Anthropology and City of Eugene, OR

  • 2000 - 2006: Web Master: U of O Anthropology Department Home Page
  • 1999-2000: President: Association of Anthropology Graduate Students
  • 1998: Organizer: Anthropology Department Colloquium

 

 

ADVISING AND MENTORING: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AND ALUMNI

 

Elizabeth Brandt- graduate student at Texas State, San Marcos

Ryne Danielson (1 publication)

Rebecca Gillis

Brittany Glarrow

Kelsey Gray (1 publication; 1 publication in review)

Matt Irish (1 publication) - graduate student at University College, London 

Sarah Kindschuh- graduate student at Central Florida University, Orlando

Kaitlyn Kluge

Jamie Minns- graduate student at Michigan State University, East Lansing

Kate Watnee

 

 

CURRENT PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

 

American Anthropological Association

American Association of Physical Anthropologists

Paleopathology Association

Dental Anthropology Association

Human Biology Association

Sigma Xi (associate member)

 

 

REFERENCES
 

John Lukacs

Professor

Department of Anthropology

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

Phone: 541-346-5112

e-mail: jrlukacs@uoregon.edu

 

Debra Guatelli-Steinberg

Department of Anthropology

The Ohio State University

244 Lord Hall

124 W. 17th Ave.

Columbus, OH 43210

Phone: 614-292-9768

e-mail: Guatelli-Steinbe.1@osu.edu

 

J. Josh Snodgrass

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

Phone: 541-346-4823

email: jjosh@uoregon.edu

Stephen Frost

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

Phone: 541-346-5102

e-mail: sfrost@uoregon.edu