ECU anthropology professor selected for distinguished professorship in international studies
East Carolina University professor of anthropology Megan Perry has been selected for the Thomas W. Rivers Distinguished Professorship for International Studies in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. Perry will hold the professorship through the 2023-24 academic year and is eligible for reappointment.
Megan Perry has been selected for the Thomas W. Rivers Distinguished Professorship for International Studies in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. (ECU photo)
The professorship is named after the late Thomas W. Rivers. According to his daughter, Helen R. McLawhorn, her father’s curiosity about the world made him a lifelong explorer. Before his death in 1985, he established a fund at ECU “so students could taste the world beyond eastern North Carolina,” McLawhorn said. “He was always interested in people in foreign countries and their cultures. He enjoyed meeting them and opening the doors of the community to them.”
“I feel honored and excited to continue efforts to internationalize the campus through providing support for students and faculty in their international endeavors, as well as receiving additional support for my own research activities,” Perry said.
Perry has taught at ECU since 2003 and specializes in biological anthropology, bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology and the Near East. In addition to her teaching, research and service duties, she served as graduate program director for the Department of Anthropology from 2016-18 and director of international initiatives for Harriot College from 2018-22.
“Dr. Perry’s expertise and passion are both globally focused. Her application highlighted how excited she would be to hold a professorship designed to bring international experiences to her colleagues and students,” said Dr. Allison S. Danell, dean of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.
Through the professorship, Perry will share her research with the community. She said she would focus on finishing the publication of two large, multi-year archaeological projects in Jordan that involve the contributions of researchers from around the globe.
“One is a legacy project that I took on after my co-principal investigator S. Thomas Parker passed away suddenly, and the other covers the results of Dr. Parker’s and my research at Petra, in Jordan.
“I will continue to give lectures on the results of these excavations to local archaeological organizations, such as those affiliated with the Archaeological Institute of America and to the ECU community. Also, I am hoping to host a Jordanian Fulbright scholar next year, who I will collaborate with on isotopic investigations of diet and population mobility in the ancient Near East,” Perry said.
In addition to Perry’s research goals, she wants to create new opportunities for student and faculty international research or internationalization of faculty courses. She said this could include providing financial support or awards related to faculty or student international research and teaching.
“The Office of Global Affairs is excited to have Megan Perry in place as the Thomas W. Rivers Distinguished Professor,” said Jon Rezek, assistant vice chancellor for global affairs. “Our office has had a great working relationship with the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, and we believe filling this position will strengthen our mutual desire to expand ECU’s global impact.”
Throughout the professorship, Perry will continue to teach anthropology courses. She is teaching ANTH 4400/4401 Human Skeletal Analysis, which meets with a graduate section ANTH 6020, as well as ANTH 3027 Human Diseases and Ancient Environments, which she stated is one of her favorite classes to teach, “especially now with heightened awareness of infectious diseases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Perry discusses a coffin recovered from the recovered from the Rhem family ancestral tomb in New Bern’s Cedar Grove cemetery, with family member Michael Miller, right, and anthropology graduate students Bridget Cone and Ceara Nicholson. (ECU photo by Rhett Butler)