Native Voices: Past and Present - The University of Pennsylvania Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site.

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) announces the establishment of a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduate) site sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). For more information about REU sites, visit the NSF web site.

Penn Museum would like to partner with Native American undergraduate students from any US college or university to research many of the Native American material cultural collections housed at the Museum. Each Native student will partner with a Penn undergraduate student to work on the research topic. The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is a major research and teaching organization located in an urban setting in the City of Philadelphia.

We are looking for highly motivated and talented Native American students with an interest in working with the Museum staff to foster understanding between our respective communities. All Native American students enrolled full time in college, including community colleges, are welcome to apply. Projects are developed based on the interests and backgrounds of the students especially those interested in anthropology/archaeology, diversity studies, pre-law, biology, ecology, and linguistics.

Native American students, currently enrolled in any 4 year college/university or community college are welcome to apply online. If you would prefer to apply by mail, please send your request to Dr. Janet Monge (phone and address under contact information). Please feel free to contact the program director, Dr. Monge, or any of the other faculty and staff if you have any questions about the application process or program.

Penn's tuition and housing costs while at Penn, as well as airfare to/from Philadelphia, are all paid by the REU site grant. Students are NOT responsible for any tuition or housing costs. In addition, a stipend accompanies the grant to cover all extra expenses.

Applications are due September 20, 2006. Special consideration will be given to applications received prior to June 15th, 2006. You will be informed of the committees decision by October 15th, 2006. (The Penn REU program is overseen by a steering committee consisting of Penn faculty and staff.)

Students will come to Penn for the Spring 2007 semester and work on research and collections at Penn Museum. In addition, the students will matriculate into the University of Pennsylvania and take up to 4 class units in any of a number of study areas available at Penn. It may be possible to transfer these credits depending on the policies of the student's home institution.

You can read the REU summary statement here.

Penn graduate Gladys Tantaquidgeon