GSU Anthropology

05/23/2026

Congratulations to Chloe Calabria (BA, GSU Anthropology), who will be attending the Master of Fine Arts Programme in Curating at Goldsmiths, University of London. While she was a student at Georgia State, she held an internship with another one of our alumni, Susan Caolo, in her work with the Library of Congress Veterans Oral History Project (two of the photos below are of Chloe doing archival work for that project). While she was a student in our department, she also had a chance to gain some experience working with some of the collections housed in our Archaeology Lab with Dr. Jeffrey Glover. After graduating, Chloe held an internship with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia.

Good luck in your graduate program in London, Chloe!

Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State Alumni

05/21/2026

Congratulations, Jasmine! Although not an anthropology major, Jasmine took multiple upper division GSU Anthropology courses as part of the Interdisciplinary Studies degree.

05/18/2026

Nakalya Banks, alum of both our BA and MA at GSU Anthropology, recently completed a Master’s in Nursing at Vanderbilt University. Before starting that program, Nakayla was an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant and a Certified Full Spectrum Doula; in Georgia, she worked with immigrant and refugee communities and other underserved populations in DeKalb and Cobb Counties. Her anthropology MA capstone project was focused on ways to address maternal mortality in Georgia. In July, she will be starting work on the postpartum floor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; she will also be continuing at Vanderbilt to complete the dual graduate program for Family Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Midwifery.

After this degree completion, she said, “I’ll finally be able to act on the vision I have for providing care for whole families and standing by them as they welcome new members!"

She also told us, regarding her work and graduate studies: “I use my anthropology background in ALL of it.”

Congratulations, Nakayla!!



Georgia State Alumni
Vanderbilt Nurse-Midwifery

05/13/2026

Joy Przybyla, alum of our BA and MA program at GSU Anthropology, recently passed her PhD dissertation proposal (“State and Household Religion as seen through the Production and Circulation of Postclassic Maya Deity Effigies”) defense. She is now ABD (all but the dissertation) in the PhD program in Anthropology at the University of Albany in New York. Congratulations, Joy!!


Georgia State Alumni

05/12/2026

Congratulations to Emmett Cantkier, who is graduating this semester with his BA from GSU Anthropology and a minor from the Georgia State University Department of History. Emmett is a recipient of our Robert L. Blakely Endowed Scholarship in Anthropology. He was part of the Humanities Inclusivity Program through the The CASA at GSU, held a Mellon Foundation-funded fellowship, served as a research assistant in the Phoenix Project Lab (working with our MARTA Collection), and completed an Honors thesis (“From Bottling Plant to Buried Trash: The Archaeology of Atlanta’s Soft Drink Industry,” supervised by Dr. Jeffrey Glover. He has presented conference papers at several academic conferences locally and around the U.S. He did a summer course through the University of St. Andrews that involved excavation at a 12th century monastery. Emmett was also Vice President of our Anthropology Club and a DJ and Promotions Director for GSU’s radio station, WRAS Album 88.

This fall, Emmet will start the Master’s program in Historical Archaeology at the University of Iceland! We’re excited to continue to follow his academic journey!







Emmett shared these great photos, including one of him standing in front of the ruins of Sparks Hall, the former home of our department, and one of him in our Archaeology Lab in Dahlberg Hall.

05/11/2026

Ammad Caesar is another one of our recent graduates (BA GSU Anthropology). Ammad shared these great photos (two from GSU's commencement and one of Ammad performing live in Atlanta) will be starting the MA program in Musicology at Florida State University this fall!

Ammad told us:

"For my thesis, I plan on doing research on a yet undecided topic in the country of Panama, the birthplace of my mother. I look forward to my time in grad school but am forever grateful for my time at GSU! GO PANTHERS!"

Congratulations, Ammad!!




Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State Alumni

05/11/2026

We are excited to continue celebrating our GSU Anthropology spring and summer 2026 graduates! Grayson Stanley completed her BA in Anthropology this semester. While still a student at GSU, Grayson held an internship with the Cultural Resource Management firm, New South Associates, Inc., and was later hired in a full-time position with New South as a Laboratory Assistant and mortuary Field Technician. She also attended the Slavia Foundation’s Mortuary Field School in Poland in summer of 2025.

Congratulations on graduating, Grayson!!



Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State Alumni

05/11/2026

Check out this course, Activist Anthropology, to be taught (as ANTH4980, a Special Topics course) this fall (2026) by Georgia State University Urban Studies PhD candidate Wan Smith

05/10/2026

We had to share this fun graduation post from Lavai Manus. Lavai just graduated with a BA from GSU Anthropology and an Undergraduate Certificate in Event Management from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Lavai has also served as an official tour guide for Georgia State for the past almost three years.

Lavai wrote on her post, "To the 10 year old girl who wanted to be a forensic anthropologist, we are halfway there." Congratulations!!







*skeleton pictured is plastic :)

05/06/2026

Katherine Duplessis is also a graduate of our MA program at GSU Anthropology, and this online exhibit is part of her capstone project for the MA:

NSA’s Curation Assistant Katherine Duplessis has an online exhibit with the Michael C. Carlos Museum called Highlighting the Ordinary: Archaeology and Art!

The exhibit explores a collection of ancient Greek and Roman pottery sherds that Katherine curated and researched as an intern at the Carlos Museum while completing her master’s degree in 2024.

Check it out here: https://tinyurl.com/5b9jzmnp