Campus Briefs

Lafayette Named Top Producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars

Lafayette is among the colleges and universities that produced the most 2020-21 U.S. Fulbright students. Fulbright is the government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Lafayette previously received the honor for 2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2017-18. Six students from Lafayette’s applicant pool of 22 received Fulbright awards for 2020-21, and another three were named as alternates.

Anthropology and Sociology Celebrates 50 Years

Anthropology and sociology (A&S) is celebrating a major milestone: It’s been 50 years since its official formation with the hiring of Bill Dobriner as department head in 1971. “When the College began offering A&S classes in the 1950s and ’60s, students were eager for sociological and anthropological perspectives on the social problems they were witnessing,” says Caroline Lee, associate professor of sociology and department head. “Now, we have a really healthy number of majors and minors, and we have tons of students from all over the College who take courses like Race, Racism, and Health in the U.S.—subjects that help them make sense of the issues they’re facing right now, and that will be important to them professionally.” Throughout the upcoming academic year, A&S will host a variety of speakers and panels of departmental alumni in conversation with faculty and students on anthropological and sociological perspectives in education, business, law, and other fields. “Five decades in, the work of the department is as relevant as ever,” Lee says.