Pitt Anthropology Lecturer Kathleen Allen Receives 2012 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising

Kathleen Allen

Kathleen Allen, director of the undergraduate anthropology program in the Pitt Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Anthropology, has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising from the Dietrich School.

The award—a $4,000 cash prize established five years ago by the Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation—honors outstanding faculty achievement in undergraduate advising and recognizes the many contributions advisors make to help students maximize their educational experiences.

The letter announcing the recipient of the award stated that, “for almost 20 years Allen’s extraordinary energy, passion, and dedication to higher education have greatly influenced the academic excellence of her students. Many students she has worked closely with have received prestigious undergraduate research awards through Pitt and have gone on to graduate school with funding.”

Through her newly established advising procedures, Allen has been credited with significantly increasing the number of majors, particularly in the honors program, resulting in improvements and expansion in the curriculum. In addition, through her development of an advising model for the department, undergraduates have been able to more easily connect with faculty members active in research and teaching, allowing these students to better structure their coursework, fieldwork schools, study-aboard opportunities, internships, direct research experience, and independent study.

Allen’s commitment to undergraduate student success extends to her involvement as faculty advisor for Pitt’s Anthropology Club; Lambda Alpha, the Pitt chapter of the anthropology honor society; and the anthropology newsletter Panthropology.

Allen earned her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She has published in national peer-reviewed journals and has presented more than 50 papers on her areas of interest—Native American tribal societies, household archaeology, gender and identity, regional settlement patterns, and contact studies exploring the interface between anthropology, history, ethnohistory, and archaeology.

The Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising is given annually to a full-time faculty member who has served as a department advisor on the Pittsburgh campus for at least three years.

Additional information about the Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize can be found at www.as.pitt.edu/teaching/ampco-pittsburgh-prize.