UMSL's Susan Brownell has been named to the advisory council of the Wenner-Gren Foundation, a private operating foundation dedicated to the advancement of anthropology throughout the world. (Photo by August Jennewein)
Susan Brownell will lend her expertise to an international organization that is one of the major funding sources for anthropological research in the U.S.
Brownell, professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has been named to the advisory council of the Wenner-Gren Foundation, a private operating foundation dedicated to the advancement of anthropology throughout the world.
“I am quite honored to have been selected for this important position,” said Brownell, an expert on the Olympic Games, and an internationally recognized expert on Chinese sports. She’s been heavily in demand by the media to comment on the London Olympics, especially the performances of China’s athletes and China’s Olympic legacy.
“I myself benefitted from a writing grant when I was a new PhD,” she said. “So, I know how important the foundation can be in scholars’ careers.”
The advisory group consists of seven members, who serve four-year terms. They advise the board and the president on current developments in anthropology, on the effectiveness of foundation programs and on future initiatives. The group also acts as reviewers for the foundation’s Institutional Development Grant program.
The Wenner-Gren Foundation is one of the major funding sources for international anthropological research and is actively engaged with the anthropological community through its varied grant, fellowship, networking, conference and symposia programs.
Joining Brownell on the advisory council are faculty from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Duke University in Durham, N.C., as well as scholars from institutions in Brazil, Switzerland and France.
“It is a select group, and I am glad that UMSL will be represented among them,” Brownell said. “I look forward to working with them on shaping research trends in the discipline.”
The Wenner-Gren Foundation works to support all branches of anthropology and closely related disciplines concerned with human biological and cultural origins, development, and variation.
