Faculty Research
William Balco
Dr. William Balco secured a Student Engagement Fund grant from NIU to direct collaborative research engaging four undergraduate students (Bee Williams, Leo Rodriguez, Nessa Randall, and David Falling). Together, they partnered with faculty at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Georgia to conduct an archaeometric study of deer bones from an Oneota site in southeast Wisconsin. They presented the results of their research at NIU's Conference on Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) and plan to also present at the Midwest Archaeological Conference in Iowa City, Iowa, in October 2025. Bill also continues to conduct archaeological investigations throughout much of the year for the Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Dana Bardolph
Assistant Professor Dana Bardolph initiated a new field project in the northern Peruvian highlands, where she has been conducting high-resolution drone mapping of agricultural landscapes and archaeological excavation to understanding how ancient people in high-altitude environments responded to political booms and busts and climate change over a 2,000-year period. She also has continued analyzing ancient plant remains from archaeological sites in Illinois with undergraduate and graduate students in her lab, co-presenting research with students at the Midwestern Archaeological Conference and the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings. This spring, she received the 2025 NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Women Outstanding Mentor Award as well as the NIU Department of Anthropology Outstanding Professor Award.
Giovanni Bennardo
As a recipient of a Faculty Research and Artistry Opportunity Grant ($15,000), for his project titled Quality Distinctions in Polynesia: Language, Mind, and Socio-Centrism, Professor Giovanni Bennardo conducted data collection in Tonga and Italy during summer 2024. In August 2024, he received a small Undergraduate Research Program Grant that he used to support Tait Kellogg, research assistant, who worked on the data collected in the summer. In fall 2024 and spring 2025, two of his graduate advisees received their M.A.: Wedad Ayesh (December 2024), Okusitino Tae (May 2025). He also co-edited the book " Cognition In and Out of the Mind: Advances in Cultural Model Theory" (London: Palgrave-MacMillan), contributing a chapter and an Introduction. In spring 2025, he published a chapter titled "Cognitive Foundations and Cultural Models: The Mental Life of Culture" in The Cambridge Handbook of Psychological Anthropology. Finally, he presented his research at the Society for Anthropological Sciences meeting (Santa Fe, NM) and the Society for Anthropological Sciences meeting (Portland, OR), and presented a graduate seminar for the Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment at NIU.
Kris Borre
Dr. Kris Borre received grants from the University of Illinois Extension and from the Episcopal Charities to fund the growth and development of a partnership between communities of faith and NIU to develop Communiversity Gardens. The mission of the gardens is to deliver fresh produce to food pantries serving the most vulnerable residents of DeKalb County and NIU students, as well as to train community members and students in sustainable horticulture practices and gardening. The grants funded four NIU student interns, trained 130 NIU students, 26 community members, and delivered 2000 pounds of organic produce to four pantries. In addition, an OSEEL grant funded an undergraduate student to conduct ethnographic research with one of the faith-based pantries and found that, contrary to the literature, this pantry was welcoming and supportive of all members of the community and provided social and emotional support to vulnerable community members without judgment or expectations. The Rick Johns Community Donation Garden is recognized as a USDA People's Garden for its efforts to address food insecurity, build community partnerships, and educate community members about gardening.
Mitch Irwin
Professor Mitch Irwin continues his research studying how habitat change affects the nutritional health of lemur populations, and in March 2025 he published his first study adding a second lemur species (the brown lemur) to his existing research on the diademed sifaka – it turns out they follow different rules in how they select from available foods, and this has a significant impact on their vulnerability to seasonal scarcity and habitat disturbance. He additionally presented research papers at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists, The Wildlife Society, and the Midwest Primate Interest Group (for whom he serves as vice president). He is also excited to be preparing to attend the International Primatological Society meeting, which is happening in Madagascar this year – several of his student mentees from the University of Antananarivo will be presenting their research. He continues to serve on the board of directors of the NGO Sadabe, which is the co-manager of the Tsinjoarivo-Ambalaomby Protected Area that he helped to create, and on the External Research Advisory Committee of the Duke Lemur Center, which houses the largest collection of living lemurs outside Madagascar.
Emily McKee
Associate Professor Emily McKee has continued to share observations and analyses on Palestine in light of the ongoing crisis, including at two conferences in Iowa and NIU's Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Conference. Her extensive fieldwork in the Middle East, documented in her 2016 book Dwelling in Conflict, makes her uniquely qualified to help students understand the complex political ecology of the region. To guide students through engaged learning, she has mentored four undergraduate students in research projects on water governance, agriculture, and hunting, joined an inaugural cohort of faculty with courses designated as Engaged Learning Courses, and led another cohort of students through climate action projects in ENVS 303: Nature in Society. She is also involved in interdisciplinary research, bringing together faculty and graduate students from three departments (Anthropology, Communications, and Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment) to learn about farmers' use of weather and climate information.
Micah Morton
Assistant Professor Micah Morton published his first book Enchanted Modernities: Ancestral Vitalizations in the Upper Mekong with the University of Wisconsin Press in February 2025. This great achievement is the culmination of years of fieldwork spent in rural northern Thailand in the homeland of the Akha people (who span Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China). He was awarded a grant from the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in support of the publication. Earlier in 2024, he published an article entitled "From blood to fruit: Transcosmogenerational modernities in Akha Worlds of the Upper Mekong" in Anthropology and Humanism. More recently, in April 2025, he gave a talk entitled "Bring it Back, Move it Forward: Indigenous Resurgences in the Upper Mekong" for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Anthropology Graduate Colloquium. Dr. Morton also continues to serve on committees vital to the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, where he is jointly appointed.
Leila Porter
Professor Leila Porter thoroughly enjoyed her first year of "not being chair" in a while! She attended the Midwest Primate Interest Group meeting in Kentucky, and the American Association of Biological Anthropology conference in Maryland to present data on the nutritional value of insects consumed by saddleback tamarins – these high-protein and high-mineral foods turn out to be an essential part of their largely frugivorous diet. In May, she taught a week-long field school for Bolivian primatology students in Bolivia funded by the Primate Action Fund and NIU's Center for Latino and Latin American Studies. She is also actively submitting several grant proposals for future studies of the saddleback tamarins in Bolivia, including some that focus on how their different foods (including insects) contribute to their nutritional goals, and have contributed to the evolution of their anatomy and social behavior.
Mark Schuller
On leave during the 2024-25 academic year, including a sabbatical this spring, Professor Mark Schuller was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study international collaboration, organizing workshops in Haiti with Cuban specialists regarding disaster risk reduction and climate change. He also received a contract for his ninth book, Decolonizing Disaster: Lessons from Haiti. Four other articles have been accepted for publication. While he missed teaching and being with students during this year, Schuller has been active in the profession: noteworthy among his service this year, as co-chair of the Society for Applied Anthropology's Risk and Disasters interest group and co-editor of Catastrophes in Context, Schuller led fundraising efforts for a new first book prize in critical disaster studies. He also received NIU's Exemplary Faculty Mentoring Award.
