GMAC Committee Members and Subcommittees

Chair: Florie Bugarin, Howard University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, P. O. Box 987, Washington, D.C. 20059; Phone: (202) 806-68536; florie_bugarin@yahoo.com

Members: Jamie Arjona, Lori Lee, Liza Gijanto, Mia Carey, Mary Elizabeth Ibarrola, Chris Fennell, Erin Rodriguez, Katrina Eichner, Kathy Ehrhardt, Meris Mullaley, Carol McDavid, Jenna Coplin, Megan Springate, Kim Christensen, Jodi Barnes, Michael Nassaney, Paula Saunders, Cheryl LaRoche, Kaitlin Scharra, Lewis Jones, Christopher Matthews, Shannon Dunn, Whitney Battle-Baptiste, Ayana Flewellen, Ray Hayes, Alexandra Jones, Christina Brooks, Stacey Camp and Justin Dunnavant.

The Mentoring Program is a collaborative effort between the GMAC and APTC.  Subcommittee members include: Jenna Copline, Program Chair; Stacey Camp, APTC Chair and APTC liaison; Jodi Barnes, Evaluations and Outcomes Assessment Coordinator; Kaitlin Scharra, Program Manager; Carol McDavid, Subcommittee Member; Kim Christensen, Subcommittee Chair; and Florie Bugarin, GMAC Chair.

Mentoring appeared as a focal points across many organized sessions in Seattle.  GMAC members and other SHA members discussed mentoring as a key component of diversity issues, success in publishing and career paths.  The mentoring program was highly visible across the meeting.  Yet, although applications for participation in the program were distributed widely, the program received fewer applications than expected this year.  To increase participation, the goals for the program going forward include a digital distribution of the application.

The GMAC A-R Subcommittee was formed in 2014 to identify racism in the SHA and in the field of historical archaeology; develop strategies to transform the SHA towards becoming an anti-racist, multicultural institution; and to strive to create a more diverse archaeological community.

To achieve this goal we promote the following activities:

• Organize annual events such as an anti-racism workshop to provide an introductory process for SHA members to deepen their understanding of systemic racism;
• Collect data on a regular basis from minority members to monitor organizational change and retention of minority members;
• Identify and define benchmarks and goals in assessing progress toward institutional change;
• Organize sponsored panels, sessions, and posters at the annual conference;
• Continue developing a working document that clearly identifies examples of structural racism and/or institutional barriers to an all-inclusive organization and profession;
• Design programs, policy recommendations, and other solutions to help the SHA confront and overcome identified barriers;
• Build and encourage a critical mass of members to support transformational initiatives in their own archaeological practice and outreach efforts;
• Develop a clear list of specific guidelines to assist in transforming the SHA and our profession and incorporate these lessons and values into our policies, programs, practices, and mission;
• Assess successful strategies for recruiting minorities into the profession, including the diversity initiatives created by the GMAC.  Examine the history of our organization and profession to determine successes and challenges in recruiting minorities.
• Critically evaluate the ways in which our actions reproduce a racialized hierarchy in the SHA and our profession and actively work to interrupt those behaviors to achieve greater equity and inclusion.

Download the Summary of the 2015 GMAC Anti-Racism Workshop.

Members for the 2016 Award competition include: Liza Gijanto, Megan Springate, and Paula Saunders.

Erin Rodriguez is our new Social Media Coordinator and is responsible for building a presence and organizing submissions for our blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

This committee consists of the following members: Ayana Flewellen, Lori Lee, Justin Dunnavant, Christine Brooks, and Florie Bugarin.  We continue compiling, reviewing and documenting the history of the GMAC.  We will be working on related publications.

Students have been active in the GMAC and have taken on leadership roles in various subcommittees.  Mia Carey is our APTC student laison.  We are currently discussing new goals and tasks for students.

Subcommittee members on this task include Mia Carey, Katrina Eichner, and Chris Fennell.  This competition awards Principal Investigators and teams who design field schools that increase diversity and/or address issues and themes related to diversity.  Springer and Left Coast Press have volunteered to support the competition by offering books as an award to the first place winners. 

The GMAC members continue to disuss the establishment of a second opportunity related to increasing diversity through field schools (i.e. a competition that financial supports a student registered for a field school).  We are in the process of organizing a team to work on a proposal for this initiative.  In the past, our proposals for student participation in field schools have been turned down due to a lack of funds.  Since the GMAC has unanimously sustained a long-term interest in this award, we continue to work on this task with the goal of submitting a proposal to the Board and the SHA Development Committee.

For the 2015-2016 period, Chris Fennel is joining Lewis Jones as a GMAC liaison for the ACUA Photo Competition.  At the last 2015 GMAC annual meeting, members raised concerns about the lack of diversity represented in the photo submissions for the competition despite having a category devoted to diversity.  There was some discussion centered on whether or not SHA members understood that diversity themes are related directly to the GMAC working definition of diversity, rather than diversity in artifacts, methods, and applied practices.  In collaboration with members of the ACUA, Lewis and Chris will continue to work on setting up a framework that better solicits directly appropriate diversity submissions.  Since Lewis was also asked to judge the 2015 submissions, they may be asked to serve in that same capacity for the 2016 competition.

At the 2015 GMAC meeting, we formed a subcommittee that will work on this task.  Members of this subcommittee include: Kim Christensen and Lori Lee.

At the 2014 GMAC meeting, it was suggested that we conduct targeted short surveys of the SHA membership to collect data relevant to the goals of the GMAC.  It was proposed that we do a series of 5-7 question surveys through our online survey service.  Charlie Ewen and Karen Hutchison said that they would support this endeavor.  After further discussion amongst the GMAC members, it was decided that we would wait on this project to see the results of the 2014 SHA Membership survey.  Since analysis of that data was presented at the 2015 meetings, we have some direction as we continue forward.  This subcommittee will also distribute the assessment questionnaire to the participants of the 2015 GMAC Anti-Racism Workshop.

This year, we identified key GMAC members that would serve as liaisons to other SHA committees and archaeological organizations.  Chris Fennell volunteered to be a liaison between the GMAC and other SHA committees.  Paula Saunders is our liaison for the Society for Black Archaeologists.  Florie Bugarin is our liaison to the World Archaeological Congress and the American Anthropological Association.  Ray Hayes is the liaison for the SHA Ethics Committee, and Mia Carey and Stacey Camp are the liaisons to the student subcommittee of the SHA Academic and Professional Training Committee (APTC).

Ray Hayes is the GMAC liaison to the SHA Ethics Committee.  As a result of participating in the 2015 GMAC Anti-Racism Workshop, he recommended that the GMAC revisit the SHA Ethics Statement on diversity and propose revisions to Principal 5.

At the request of Chris Fennell and Chris Matthews, Florie Bugarin and Justin Dunnavant wrote the proposal for the GMAC Mark E. Mack Community Engagement Award.  Together, the four of them presented this proposal to the GMAC members at the 2015 meetings.  After some discussion, the GMAC voted unanimously to support this proposal and submit it to the SHA Board, which approved the proposal.  The award competition will be run by Chris Fennell, subcommittee chair, and the following GMAC members: Chris Matthews, Cheryl LaRoche, Justin Dunnavant, and Alexandra Jones.