Greetings Graduates
2 Pages Posted: 15 Jun 2014
Date Written: June 14, 2014
Abstract
Alumni address at the University of Washington Anthropology Department graduation ceremony for the Class of 2014. Dr. Thomas W Murphy completed a doctoral dissertation, "Imagining Lamanites: Native Americans and the Book of Mormon," under the guidance of Dr. Eugene Hunn, Dr. James Green and Dr. Charles Keyes at the University of Washington in 2003. Dr. Murphy founded a multi-campus environmental anthropology field school, known as the LEAF School, and based out of Edmonds CC in 2006. The LEAF School partners with tribes, government agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses to apply traditional knowledge to modern sustainability challenges. His students build ethnobotanical gardens, tradition knowledge trails, harvest traditional foods, restore habitat, monitor wildlife, host powwows and support Tribal Canoe Journey under the guidance of Coast Salish tribal elders. Students selected Dr. Murphy as Edmonds CC's Outstanding Faculty of the Year in 2005 and the Board of Trustees followed with an Excellence in Education Award in 2008. The Washington Association of Conservation Districts named him the Washington State Conservation Educator of the Year in 2011 and the LEAF School he founded earned a VISION 2040 Award in 2012 from the Puget Sound Regional Council for its role in the Japanese Gulch Fish Passage Project in Mukilteo.
Keywords: Environmental anthropology, doing anthropology, traditional knowledge, ethnobotany, Tribal Canoe Journey
JEL Classification: Z10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation