Anthropology Students Win Awards for Opinion Pieces

More than a dozen UCF Anthropology students are now award winning writers with the Public Anthropology Award for their outstanding opinion pieces.

From Vance Geiger’s General Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology courses, 16 students have won the award. Over 4,000 students from 30 different schools participated in the nationwide competition.

Each winning student has a published opinion piece on the Public Anthropology website. Based on information from five case studies, they were asked to voice their view on how Institutional Review Boards and/or Review Ethics Boards should enforce a set of common rules regarding research.

To elaborate on the prompt, they were asked to consider how much freedom researchers should be allowed in conducting their research. They were also asked to consider which regulations should be enforced to prevent the abuse of research subjects.  More generally, that the research strives to promote positives benefits for the larger society sponsoring it.

Students seemed to reach a general consensus among their articles that human beings are more important than research. The safety and well-being of people should not be compromised in the name of research.

For a full list of the students and to read their award-winning opinion pieces please click here.

Geiger, professor of the award winning students, has a wide array of experience within the field of Anthropology. He specialized in refugee issues in South East Asia, particularly issues growing out of the Vietnamese war.

Among UCF students, he has showcased their ability to learn effective writing skills while being active global citizens.

In his courses, he has combined technology with cultural concerns in academic courses.  He demonstrates that together they can positively engage students to participate in the world beyond their academic setting. Broadening student participation takes place while they gain the skills needed for a productive, active life after graduation.

To learn more about the Public Anthropology’s Community Action Website Project click here.