Home » Trip Will Show ACM’s Fieldwork Site for Students in Northern Tanzania

Trip Will Show ACM’s Fieldwork Site for Students in Northern Tanzania

Trip Will Show ACM’s Fieldwork Site for Students in Northern Tanzania March 24, 2014

An opportunity to see students conducting fieldwork in and around Tarangire National Park will be a highlight of ACM’s faculty site visit to Tanzania this fall.

The field practicum research project is a focal point of the program, and the field site in Tanzania’s Rift Valley offers distinctive resources for students to engage in independent and collaborative field studies.

ACM has put out a Call for Applications for faculty interested in getting a firsthand view of the Tanzania: Ecology & Human Origins program on October 20-24, 2014 (plus additional days for travel). The deadline to apply is May 1.

Tanzania Program fieldworkTanzania Program students taking measurements in the field.

Photo by Karin Linnea Karlen

The site visit will begin in Dar es Salaam, the country’s largest city, for meetings with faculty at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), where students on the program take classes, prepare their field project proposals, and return after the six-week fieldwork phase to complete their project papers.

Then it will be off to the country’s northern region to stay at the field camp with the students, Faculty Program Director Jim Ebersole (Professor of Biology, Colorado College), and other staff and UDSM instructors.

“We expect that the group of students this fall will represent a variety of majors, so there should be opportunities  to observe ongoing fieldwork in biology and ecology, environmental studies, geology, and anthropology,” said Joan Gillespie, ACM Vice President and Director of Off-Campus Study Programs.

Students’ project topics in recent years have ranged widely, from anthropology and archaeology to ecology and biology to public health and education, reflecting the field site’s proximity to extensive savannahs and wetlands with diverse wildlife, paleo-anthropological sites such as Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge, and predominantly Maasai villages.

“For faculty on the site visit, it’s a chance to see the kinds of projects and experiences this program can offer, which will be a great advantage when they advise their students about off-campus study,” Gillespie said.

The faculty visitors will also contribute to the program’s curriculum while they are in Tanzania by giving a presentation in their field of expertise, such as a guest lecture, master class, or research methods workshop.

A group of four or five faculty from ACM member colleges will be selected to participate in the site visit. Preference will be given to applicants not already familiar with the Tanzania Program. ACM covers expenses for travel, lodging, meals, and visa fees connected with the site visit.

ACM’s Faculty Site Visit Program sponsors two trips per year to acquaint faculty with consortial programs around the world. The spring 2014 site visit is also in Africa, with five faculty traveling to see the Botswana Program in Gaborone on March 23-28.

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