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Dr. Josh Snodgrass -- Teaching, Mentoring, and Campus LeadershipTeachingAfter
25 years of teaching, which has included work with
over 4000 University of Oregon students, I am still
excited about every single class I get to teach. I
see teaching as the part of my job in which I can
make the most difference in the world.
In all my classes I emphasize integration across the subfields of anthropology and bridging between anthropology and other disciplines in the natural sciences (such as evolutionary biology, ecology, human physiology, and molecular biology), social/behavioral sciences (such as sociology, psychology, and economics), and the health sciences (such as medicine, epidemiology/public health, and nutritional sciences). I emphasize the connections between classroom learning and present-day issues in all of my courses. I believe in challenging students with complex and controversial ideas and strive to create a safe and respectful classroom, while giving students the tools with which to grapple with these issues. In my Human Growth and Development (ANTH 369) course, for example, we discuss complex and controversial issues such as genetic screening & abortion, vaccination & quarantine, and academic pressure & teen suicide. I have established an outstanding record as an educator and have been honored for my teaching and advising, including being named Williams Fellow in recognition of distinguished undergraduate teaching (in 2012) and receiving UO and national faculty advising awards (UO Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award [2014] and a NACADA National Faculty Advisor Award [2015]). I have developed a
number of novel courses (e.g., Evolutionary
Medicine [ANTH 175] and Bioanthropology
Methods [ANTH 487/587]) that present
cutting-edge science using innovative,
evidence-based teaching practices. I taught a
new, seminar-style course starting in Winter 2021
called Emerging Infectious Diseases and
Pandemics (ANTH 410/510) that situates the
recent pandemics of COVID and HIV/AIDS within the
evolution of novel infectious diseases and considers
the contribution of ecological disruption &
climate change, economic development &
population pressure, and social determinants of
health (here is the syllabus).
With the
world turning upside down in 2020 as a result of
COVID, I revised my Evolutionary Medicine and
Human Growth and Development courses to include
new lecture materials, discussion activities, and
research assignments. This includes emphasis in
both classes on social determinants of health.
In Evolutionary Medicine we discussed the evolution
of new infectious diseases, the likely explosion of
sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) in the US in
the aftermath of COVID, and ethical and practical
issues with vaccination in the US and globally. In
Human Growth and Development, in addition to our
focus on social determinants of health, we discussed
the educational impact on kids of COVID and the
mental health and economic impacts on adults. And
both classes include group research projects aimed
at helping students understand public health policy,
with Evolutionary Medicine students writing a White
Paper on the next disease to focus on post-COVID and
the Human Growth and Development students writing a
COVID Briefing that is imagined as going to a newly
elected US congressperson detailing pressing
COVID-related issues in their state or district. I’m open
to sharing teaching materials with
educators--just drop me a line.
Regularly-Taught
Courses
UGST 112: Health Sciences ARC (Academic Residential Community) (next taught: Fall 2022/Winter 2023) ANTH 175: Evolutionary Medicine (Syllabus) (next taught: Fall 2022) ANTH 199: Paging Dr. Darwin FIG (First-Year Interest Group College Connections Course) (next taught: TBA) ANTH 369: Human Growth & Development (Syllabus) (next taught: Winter 2023) ANTH 410/510: Emerging Infectious Diseases & Pandemics (Syllabus) (next taught: Fall 2022) Less Frequently Taught Courses ANTH 270: Introduction to Biological Anthropology ANTH 362: Human Biological Variation ANTH 468/568: Evolutionary Theory ANTH 487/587: Bioanthropology Methods ANTH 610: Current Topics in Biological Anthropology Mentoring
In addition to my teaching in regular scheduled courses, I work closely with students at different levels in a number of different ways. I have mentored numerous graduate students who have achieved career success and are now shaping the field of Anthropology. As part of this, I have established a strong track record of training students from underrepresented backgrounds. Graduate students that I have mentored/co-mentored include:
I direct a research laboratory (the Global Health Biomarker Laboratory) that focuses on the development and application of minimally invasive techniques (e.g., dried blood spots and saliva) for assessing health and physiology in population-based research, and creates research opportunities for undergraduates.  With
undergraduate Alli Dona in the Global Health
Biomarker Laboratory
I also work closely
with several students each year on original
research projects through the Clark Honors College.
In addition to
their honors theses, many of these students also
presented their thesis at national conferences.
In the last several years, I've served as the primary advisor for a number of Clark Honors College students including:
 Undergraduate
Will Olson presents his thesis research--part
of the WHO's Study on global AGEing and adult
health (SAGE)--
at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research (Seattle, June 2014) I also work closely
with students who are not part of the Clark Honors
College. In the past few years, these students
have done original research for theses and/or have
presented the work at national conferences.
Students include:
 Undergraduate Tigest
Mequanint presents her research as part of UO's
Undergraduate Research Symposium
Members of my lab
and I have also mentored many (~90) undergraduates
in community outreach activities, including
through the annual Huerto de la Familia
(The Family Garden) health fair (Dia de Salud)
that I organize and co-sponsor (along with the
United Way, Head Start of Lane County, Holden
Center, Volunteers in Medicine, Lane Community
College, and White Bird Clinic), which serves low
income Latino families in the Eugene/Springfield
area. Although the 2020 event was canceled because
of COVID, we had a streak of 11 Dia de Salud
events held since 2011; these Dia de Salud
events provided health services to over 700
low-income community members. Most recently, we have
partnered closely with the UO Minority Association
for Premedical Students. Many of the students
participating in Dia de Salud have gone on
to careers in the health sciences or to graduate
school to do research on social determinants of
health.
 UO staff of the 2019 Dia
de Salud event, including Dr. Geeta Eick
and student leaders Alli Dona, Sabrina Angel
Campus
Leadership
I am active in campus leadership, including serving as UO’s Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Research and Distinguished Scholarships from 2016 to 2020. From that position I led the creation of and directed for two years the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE), created and served as the Director the Office of Distinguished Scholarships, and oversaw the McNair Scholars program as an Interim Director and then supervising the Director. In 2016, I took over the responsibilities from the Office of the President in coordinating campus applications to prestigious scholarships, and created the Office of Distinguished Scholarships. This position involved serving as the campus representative for 12 scholarships, which included coordinating the nomination of undergraduates for external scholarships and awards such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, & Truman scholarships. In my nearly 5 years in the position, I had the pleasure of working with dozens of truly amazing students from across campus and seeing a number of them win scholarships. I also helped lead the development of undergraduate curricular initiatives in global health, serving as one of the founders and current Co-Director of the Center for Global Health and one of the Core Faculty who led the development of the Global Health Minor, which launched in Fall 2017 and has generated enormous student interest. In response to COVID, I partnered with Jeff Measelle, Angela Long, and Dennis Galvan to create Corona Corps, a multifaceted project that has employed over 50 UO students as part of the Monitoring Team and the Care Team (in close coordination with Lane County Public Health). Another component of Corona Corps, led by Elly Vandegrift, brings together academic partners from around Oregon, the US, the Pacific Rim, and the world to bring research on COVID and the effort to mitigate it into their classrooms. My passion for undergraduate education drove me to help lead the campus movement at UO on evidence-based, high-impact teaching practices. I am a founding member and served on the Advisory Board of the Provost's Teaching Academy (from 2017-2020)--a leadership group that brings together UO's distinguished teachers. Here's my Teaching Academy Profile. I also helped create and co-organized for several years the New Faculty Success Program that trains and supports newly hired faculty at UO. And I helped redesign UO’s Convocation ceremony starting in 2018. I also helped reorganize UO's summer orientation programming (known as IntroDUCKtion) and in 2020 led the development of a very cool Faculty Perspectives series that included 40 lectures organized into 5 tracks: COVID, BLM/anti-racism, climate change, engaged humanities, and innovation & entrepreneurship. I've also worked extensively on parent and family programming for IntroDUCKtion--check out a recent podcast interview I did on teaching and learning in the quarter system. My
overarching vision for the creation of the Center for
Undergraduate Research and Engagement
(CURE) was to better align the
research and teaching missions of the
University, with cutting-edge research
infused into virtually all our coursework
and with expanded undergraduate research
opportunities available outside the
classroom. I started that push from my
position as Chair of UO’s Undergraduate
Council (2012-2014) and continued it as
Associate Vice Provost within the Division
of Undergraduate Education and Student
Success (2016-2020). CURE launched in
2017 as a campus-level center for
undergraduate research and advanced
opportunities to coordinate undergraduate
research for the campus (>19,000
undergraduates in 8 colleges) in close
collaboration with other units including the
Office of the Provost, Office of the
President, Office of the Vice President for
Research and Innovation (VPRI), College of
Arts and Sciences, Clark Honors College,
Office of Student Life, University
Housing/Residence Life, University
Advancement/Development, Office of
Stewardship, and the University Libraries.
 At the lauch of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) in October 2017; left to right President Michael Schill, VP and Dean of Undergraduate Studies Dennis Galvan, me, CURE graduate assistant Christabelle Dragoo, CURE undergraduate assistant Alli Dona, Provost Jayanth Banavar, and CURE Director of Undergraduate Engagement Lanch McCormick I have
also been deeply involved in the Undergraduate
Research Symposium since
its establishment in 2011--and
co-chaired it with Kevin Hatfield from
2016-2020. In 2018, Oregon
Quarterly published an interview
with Kevin and I about the importance of
undergraduate research (What
It Is, Why It Matters). As part of
the Symposium, CURE created a Faculty
Research Mentor Award that
recognizes faculty from anywhere on
campus for exceptional mentoring of
undergraduate research and experiential
learning. My own experience with
undergraduate research at UCSC under Professor
Alison Galloway is what started me
on my career path. I talk about this
regularly at campus events and have
written about it too, including in the Oregon
Undergraduate Research Journal.
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