Dr. Amber Johnson

My primary research interest is figuring out how to explain both the overall patterns of (what comes first, second, third) and rates of culture change (how quickly does the culture change) around the world for the last 20,000 to 30,000 years. (I like small problems!)

How do you involve undergraduate students in your research?
I include elements of research in many of the courses I teach to help students become familiar with real world problems and encourage students to pursue their interests by joining my research team (I have about six students working for me each semester) and proposing their own projects for summer research. I have regularly had students receive undergraduate research grants for summer projects related to my areas of interest.

What do you like best about teaching at Truman?
I really enjoy getting to know my students well during their time at Truman - seeing them progress in their understanding of anthropology and of themselves

What has been your greatest accomplishment or success while teaching at Truman?
I have had several good research students who have gone on to graduate school. It is very rewarding to see them at national meeting and know that I had something to do with their choice of career and their success.

What has presented you with the greatest teaching challenge?
My greatest challenge in teaching is figuring out how to design classes which do not assume students come into the class with a lot of the background needed for thinking in depth about a subject, but which still allow us to move well beyond the intellectual level of most basic textbooks (I rarely use textbooks) through the course of the semester. Largely, this has involved finding ways to get students involved in doing something that helps them learn the basics, rather than simply presenting information in a lecture.

What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishment?
The publication of my first book: Processual Archaeology (Praeger Press, 2004), for which I edited a collection of papers (written by colleagues and myself) which relate to how we use what we know as part of a learning strategy in archaeology.

What do you do for fun in Kirksville?
The same things I did for fun living in a big city Ã? I visit with my friends, cook, garden, read novels. Plus there are more free concerts, plays and lectures on campus than I can attend in a semester.