Faculty Profile
Karen Weinstein
Professor of Anthropology (2001)
Contact Information
717-245-1281
Bio
Karen Weinstein is a biological anthropologist with interests in human variation and adaptations to environmental stress, human osteology, human evolution, nutritional anthropology, and comparative primate skeletal biology. She has done anthropological fieldwork and museum data collection throughout the United States, Peru, Chile, Japan, the Cook Islands, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, and Tanzania.
Education
- B.A., Washington University, 1991
- M.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, 1994
- Ph.D., University of Florida, 2001
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
ANTH 100 Intro to Biological Anthro
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of biological anthropology. We will examine the development of evolutionary theory. We will then apply evolutionary theory to understand principles of inheritance, familial and population genetics in humans, human biological diversity and adaptations to different environments, behavioral and ecological diversity in nonhuman primates, and the analysis of the human skeleton and fossil record to understand the origin and evolution of the human family.
Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. Offered three semesters over a two-year period.
Spring 2025
ANTH 241 Quantitative Meth Biocult Anth
This course introduces quantitative data analysis used in biocultural anthropological research. Students will learn statistical methods to engage in research about health status, diet and nutrition, socioeconomic, and other salient factors that affect people’s quality of life in the United States and globally.
Prerequisite: At least one course in SOCI, ANTH or AMST.
ANTH 345 Restoring Personhood
Museums and universities that hold collections of human skeletons and other artifacts amassed during the 19th and 20th centuries are rightfully returning these materials to known descendant communities. Indeed, many professional and academic associations publish guidelines for anthropologists, anatomists and medical schools, biologists, museum curators, and academic legal offices to collaborate with descendant communities to return their ancestors in culturally appropriate ways. Despite these decades-long efforts, there are no guidelines for repatriation when cultural affiliation is lost or unknown. This course is devoted to exploring this pressing problem of how to restore personhood to unidentified human skeletons. We will work to establish protocols for the ethical treatment of unidentified human remains using methods and theories from forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, and archival investigations.
ANTH 495 Senior Thesis
Permission of Instructor Required.