Richard Wilk
E104 Global Consumer Culture

Richard Wilkis professor of Anthropology, and has been teaching at IU for ten years. He has done research with Mayan people in the rainforest of Belize, in West African markets, and in the wilds of suburban California. He has written and edited live books and over a hundred book chapters and articles; when he is not teachng and writing he is a devoted fan of African and Caribbean music and loves scuba diving.


Michael Dickson
E103 Quantum Mysteries for Everyone

Michae received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of South Carolina in 1990, a B.A./B.S. from the Honors College of the University of South Carolina in 1990, and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1995.  He has received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and the Javitz Foundation. In 1992-93 he studied at Cambridge University, England, and in 1995 he was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Philosophy at Cambridge University. His research interests are in general philosophy of science, general philosophy of physics, and in particular the philosophy of quantum mechanics and the relation between quantum mechanics and relativity theory. He also has strong interests in ancient philosophy, especially late Hellenistic Philosophy. He loves to cook and play the french horn. Lately, and for no good reason, he has taken up rockclimbing.

John Hanson
E104 Voices from Africa: History in Novels, Films, & Memoirs

I have always been fascinated with history, but I first became interested in Africa, the focus of my research, during a foreign study experience in Ghana as an undergraduate. After that I decided to learn much more about the African past and received a PhD in African history in 1989. Since then I have published two books and numerous articles concerned with Islam in Africa. Perhaps you have read my contribution, "Islam and African   Societies," in the textbook, Africa (edited here at Indiana University by Phyllis Martin and Patrick O'Meara)? Most recently I spent two years in Ghana, involved in a new project about conversion to Islam in the twentieth century. Currently I am working on making a CD-ROM with videotaped materials from this Ghanaian research experience. When I want to relax, I enjoy riding my touring bicycle or listening to good music. I also like to visit friends and relatives in western Michigan, my place of birth, where the summer fruit is delicious and the beaches are spectacular.

Geoffrey Conrad
E104 Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilization

I'm an archaeologist; I did my graduate work at Harvard and have been at IU since 1983. I'm now Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Mathers Museum. In the past I've done fieldwork in the United States, Canada, and Peru, and I'm currently working in the Dominican Republic. My major academic interests are South American archaeology, Caribbean archaeology, prehistoric New world civilizations, comparative ancient civilizations, ancient religions, and museum anthropology. I have a hobbyist's interest in the history of aviation, especially during World War II. I'm married and have three children; my oldest son graduated from IU in May 1998. http://www.indiana.edu/~mathers/ancient/home.html.

Steven Chermak
E104 Crime, Mass Media, and Society

Professor Chermak is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. He has been a member of the criminal justice department since 1993. Professor Chermak received his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice in 1987, attending Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He received his PhD in criminal justice from The State University of New York at Albany. Chermak teaches several courses in the department, including the Introductory Criminal Justice Course (P100), an intensive writing course on victimization (P444), a topics course on Crime, Mass Media and Society, and a graduate seminar examining criminal justice administration theory (P501).

Professor Chermak's primary research interest is the representation of crime and criminal justice in the news media. He has published several scholarly works in this area. First, his book, Victims in the News: Crime and the American News Media, was published in 1995 by Westview Press. This book examines the images presented about crime, crime victims, and criminal justice in print and electronic media. Chermak looks closely at the production of news stories to identify how organizational factors affect the images presented to the public. Second, Chermak published an article, in the American Journal of Police, that examines police-media relationships. In this article he examines how the reliance on police officials for crime incident information affects public understanding of the police. Third, Chermak expanded on this understanding of the reliance of officials for story information, examining how politicians and criminal justice sources have affected the presentation of drugs in the news media. This article was recently published in Justice Quarterly.

Currently, Chermak is involved in two externally funded research projects. First, Alexander Weiss and Chermak received a grant from the National Institute of Justice to study the strategies used by police departments to market community policing. This project involves the survey of public information officers, media managers, and media reporters. Second, Chermak and Ed McGarrell are also conducting a federal funded project in Indianapolis, examining the measurement of community policing implementation strategies.

Chermak was raised in Parma, Ohio (near Cleveland). He enjoys watching the Tribe, likes playing golf, and loves spending time with his wife and dog.

Peter Guardino
E104 Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in Latin America

I grew up in the small town of Watertown, NY, and then studied for about a decade at the University of Chicago, where I received my BA, MA, and PhD. I spent most of the 1980s in Chicago, Mexico City, and various small Mexican towns. My research focuses on the political histories of peasants and the urban poor in Mexico. I have been with the Department of History at IU Bloomington since 1993. When not working, I am sometimes sighted wondering around Bloomington with my two small children, fixing up our old house, or playing basketball.

Michael Tansey
E105 Controversial Issues In Human Biology

Professor Tansey teaches courses about fungi (mushrooms, molds, and yeasts), as well as introductory biology. He has recently received several local and national teaching awards. His research in the past concerned rapid detection and killing of fungi that cause human disease. Today, he is most interested in improving undergraduate biology teaching, and he is Ombudsperson for the Department of Biology. He enjoys matting and framing pictures, and life with his wife and three German Shepherd Dogs. He spends much time in the forest, hunting fungi for his students to study.