You guys, I got *another award* for this whole blogging thing!

Tonight at the annual business meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, I received the Award for Excellence in Public Education.

Per the conference program:

Dr. Kristina Killgrove has earned the SAA's Award for Excellence in Public Education for her exemplary contributions to public education and service to the profession. Dr. Killgrove's masterful contributions to writing archaeologically for the general public have included her own website as well as at Forbes.com and at Mental Floss, with some online compositions receiving millions of views. She has produced an extensive corpus of published work on how archaeology, anthropology, and science intersect with our daily lives, as well as having excelled as a teacher and scholar. In particular, she has successfully entered into the public fray on ethical issues related to the treatment of human remains and how nonrenewable archaeological resources can be exploited by television and looting. Finally, her online writing has served as a litmus test for the efficacy of how archaeologists can serve as barometers of the "truth," and how we can actively work against t he dissemination of falsehoods like Dr. Ben Carson's patently untrue claim that the Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain. For her storytelling, advocacy, and public outreach, we are proud to nominate Dr. Killgrove for this award. The spiffy plaque I got is in the upper right. And here's what I looked like receiving it from outgoing SAA president Diane Gifford-Gonzalez... (I'm sure the professional photographer got a better pic, but this was helpfully snapped by Lynne Goldstein):

Last time I got an award for my outreach, I thanked a whole bunch of people. This time is no different. In addition to the awards committee, I would like to thank Megan Perry for nominating me and Lynne Goldstein and Jane Buikstra for writing letters of support. Of course, I appreciate the opportunities that my editors Alex Knapp and Forbes and Jen Pinkowski at mental_floss have given me in terms of a platform to write about why the past is relevant to the present. Thanks to all of my colleagues who have let me cover their latest article or discovery, given me comments on my pieces, and allowed me to interview them.

And last but definitely not least, thanks to all my readers here, at Forbes, and at mental_floss, and my peeps on Twitter and the PbO Facebook page! If you keep reading, I'll keep writing!

Posted in: Bioarchaeology, Blogging, Conferences, Forbes, mental floss, Public Anthropology, public outreach Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook
Source: You guys, I got *another award* for this whole blogging thing!