I will assess your progress toward these goals in a variety of ways. Classroom discussions and interaction during field trips will allow me to evaluate the extent to which you have identified the nature and scope of anthropology, as well as evolution in your critical thinking. Collections research in the USU Museum of Anthropology will familiarize you with a culture or cultures of a major world region through library research, and production of web page copy will enable you to refine your computer and written communication skills. An independent museum evaluation and grant proposal requirement will both provide additional critical thinking, written communication, and computer write-up practice. Finally, a term-long project will provide an opportunity to think critically by identifying and solving a problem, and in so doing to apply museum studies methodologies. You will ultimately present your project in both written and oral form.

Required textbook (available in the bookstore)

None. All readings will be available via electronic reserve through the USU library system. To access the Anth 3310 e-reserve site, follow these steps:

1. Go to the USU home page (www.usu.edu)
2. Click on the "libraries" tab (top row, fourth item from the left)
3. Click on the "course reserves" tab (left side of the page, second item down)
4. Click on "course reserves material"
5. Select Anth 3310 as prompted either by department (Anthropology) or professor (Pitblado)
6. Click on Anth 3310
7. Enter password "PIT3310" (for every class, the e-reserve password combines the first three letters of the professor's last name and the course number)

Assistance
I strongly encourage you to ask questions and make comments in class, by e-mail, or during my office hours. I am happy to help you in any way that I can. If you have a disability that may require classroom assistance or other accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during my office hours so that we can make whatever arrangements are necessary to help you succeed in the course.

Course grading
A (100 - 93%); A- (92 - 90%); B+ (89 - 87%); B (86 - 83%); B- (82% - 80%); C+ (79 - 77%); C (76 - 73%); C- (72 - 70%); D+ (69 - 67%); D (66 - 60%); F (? 59%)

Course requirements

• Assignment 1: Museum event organization (25 points)
• Assignment 2: Grant proposal (25 points)
• Assignment 3: Grant proposal review (25 points)
• Assignment 4: Collections research (25 points)
• Assignment 5: Museum evaluation (25 points)
• Term project (75 points)
• Term project presentation (25 points)
• Daily attendance and participation (25 points)
• Field trip attendance and participation (15 points each = 45 points total)
• "Anthropology and the Arts" event attendance (2 X 10 required points; 5 bonus points for each event attended beyond the required two)

Assignment 1: Museum event organization (25 points). This spring, the MOA has been fortunate to receive funding from the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation to bring a series of visiting scholars to campus for a speaker/workshop series called "Anthropology and the Arts." You will work with "Anthropology and the Arts" coordinator Melanie Dixon and a group of your peers to plan, advertise, and execute one event and associated reception. Your grade for this assignment will be based on the following five criteria:

Assignments 2 & 3: Grant proposal and review (25 points each). One of the greatest challenges any museum faces is securing adequate funding to allow it to operate. One key way museums meet this challenge is by writing and submitting grant proposals to government agencies, private granting programs, and corporate and individual sponsors. For this assignment, you will develop a grant proposal of your own, based on the real Utah Office of Museum Services (OMS) grant program. You will brainstorm a museum event, public program, or infrastructure improvement for the USU MOA, and then complete an OMS "enhancement" grant application to fund it. Using an application form that I provide, you may request up to $6,000 in funding for your proposal.

On the date the grant proposal is due (Tuesday, Feb. 3), you will bring 9 copies of your completed proposal to class. Members of the class will be divided into four grant review panels of approximately eight people apiece. You will give copies of your proposal to all classmates in one of the groups, plus a copy to the professor. Before class on Feb. 5, everyone must read, evaluate and score (out of 25 points) the eight proposals they have received. On Feb. 5, panels will reconvene to discuss and then assign a consensus point value to each proposal (again, out of 25 points). Panels will then decide how to distribute $12,000 per panel in funding. Thus, if each of the eight proposals in a group has requested $6,000, only two can be funded in full.

Grades for the proposals will be assigned as follows: All funded proposals will automatically receive 25 points for the assignment. Any proposal that requests and receives the full $6,000 in funding will receive an additional 10 bonus points. If I am particularly impressed with one of the proposals, I will work with its author-if he or she chooses-to finalize it for actual submission to OMS for their April grants deadline. Receiving a grant as an undergraduate is a tremendous accomplishment, and one that looks very impressive on a resume. Non-funded proposals will be assigned point values based on my evaluation and those of the panel that assessed it.

Grades for the review process will be assigned on the basis of the effort you put into reviewing the eight proposals you receive. I will gauge your effort by reading the comments you provide on the review sheets you fill out for each proposal. The more extensive, incisive and constructive your critiques are, the higher your score will be. After my grading is complete, the proposal copy you provided to me and all evaluations of your proposal will be returned to you.

Assignment 4: Collections research (25 points). In mid January, you will tour and learn about the USU Museum of Anthropology. You will see not only the current exhibits, but also collections that we own but are not currently displaying. For your collections research project, you will choose an object or group of objects from the museum's collections and conduct research on it/them. Your investigation will include interviewing the donor of the object, if (s)he is available, and it will certainly include library research. You will learn to conduct such library research on Feb. 19, and your final research is due March 4.

Rather than producing a standard paper based on your collections research, you will produce text for the USU MOA web site. A USU computer science graduate student, Sai Suresh, is currently constructing a new web site for the museum (www.usu.edu/anthro/museum). A link on the page opens a "collections" section with details about the museum's donors and acquisitions. You will provide details for this portion of the web site. I will provide a template to guide you in the collection and proper reporting of your data, so that everyone's research is comparable and easily posted to the MOA web site. You will turn in a hard copy of your rough draft, and then a final electronic version for posting.

Assignment 5: Museum evaluation (25 points). For this assignment, due March 25, you will visit and evaluate a museum of your choice. You may choose any museum, except one that we visited as a class. You may visit the museum with a partner or team, but you must each produce your own evaluation. The general format of the evaluation should be that you first clearly identify your criteria for "grading" the museum, based on what you have read and discussed for class and upon prior museum visits. The remainder of the paper should discuss the extent to which the museum meets each of your identified criteria. Paper mechanics, including page length, margin and line spacing, and so on, should comply with the following (violation will result in a five-point deduction per item):

Term project and presentation (100 points). Your term project, which you may conduct independently, with a partner, or with a team (depending on the project), will be to contribute something tangible to the USU Museum of Anthropology. I will circulate a list of possible projects, and we will discuss them in class on January 20. You may also suggest additional projects that I haven't thought of. Anything that improves the quality of our museum is fair game. Examples of term projects completed by past members of the course include designing high-quality, anthropologically oriented games for young museum visitors; evaluating our current docent tours and developing improved versions; creating new tours; developing a reading list for an anthropology "story hour" for kids; designing a poster to be used at public events to advertise the museum; and planning a museum event or speaker's series. The latter, by the way, is how this year's "Anthropology and the Arts" series got its start!

You will work closely with Amy Clements (USU Museum Curator), Brian Munk (T.A.) and I throughout your project, to insure that you create something that you will be proud of and that we can put to immediate use. Your grade will reflect your effort and the quality of the execution of your project. The product will vary from project to project, and I will help you determine what your individual product should include. In addition to the 75 points you may earn for the project itself, you will be able to earn up to 25 more through an in-class presentation, made on one of the last three days of the class. Your presentation should be 7 - 10 minutes long, and should explain to your classmates (a) why you undertook the project you did; (b) how you executed it; (c) what your product entails (with visuals, as appropriate); (d) problems you encountered; and (e) how your product will benefit the USU Museum of Anthropology.

Daily attendance and participation. Attendance and active participation in this course is imperative. The class is relatively small, so it will be clear to me who has read and is participating and who has not read and is not participating. I may also occasionally circulate sign-in sheets to help me keep track of attendance. Twenty-five points will be determined by your willingness to attend class, read assignments, and actively engage in class discussions.

Field trip attendance and participation. We will take three off-campus field trips this semester. The first will be to the capitol building in Salt Lake City for "Utah Museums Day." On this half-day (Friday) trip, you will serve as a representative of the USU Museum of Anthropology, and you will actually lobby a cause (fund museums!) to Utah legislators who visit our exhibit. You will have your choice of attending Friday morning or Friday afternoon. The second trip will be on campus to the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, and it should only last for the regular class period. The final trip will take us back to Salt Lake City, to the Utah Museum of Natural History for a comprehensive tour. You will earn 15 points per field trip by showing up, actively engaging in activities, and participating in follow-up class discussions. Field trip points may not be made up, except under the most extraordinary of circumstances and with prior approval.

"Anthropology and the Arts" event attendance. The MOA, with your assistance (as per Assignment 1), will host a series of visiting scholars this spring, who will give lectures and workshops on topics exploring how arts function in various cultures of the world. You must attend two events and associated receptions (if applicable), for which you will receive 10 points apiece. In addition, you may earn five points of extra credit for each lecture and workshop you attend beyond the required two. To earn all points (regular and extra credit), you must turn in a typed one-paragraph summary of what you learned from the lecture or workshop about the relationship between art and the culture under consideration. These should in all cases be turned in before or during the next class period after the lecture (e-mail received within this time frame is acceptable). Late write-ups will not be accepted.

Classroom policies

Attendance. Your grade is based in large part upon your attendance. If you miss more than a couple of classes, your grade will suffer. Field trips may not be made up, except under the most extraordinary of circumstances and with prior approval.

Late assignments/projects. I will not grant extensions for your assignments or projects, so please plan your time wisely. Late assignments will not be accepted, and late term projects will be docked 10 points/day (including the due date, if not turned in during regular class time).

Extra credit. There are two ways-and only two ways-to earn extra credit in this course. First, you may earn 10 bonus points by writing a grant proposal for the full $6,000 (Assignment 2)-and receiving the money from the panel that reviews your proposal (Assignment 3). Second, for 5 points apiece, you may attend and write up more than the two required lectures and/or workshops in the spring MOA "Anthropology and the Arts" series (see discussion of course requirement 10, above). Please do not ask for additional extra credit opportunities, because I will not grant them.

Tardiness. Late arrivals are distracting to me and other students. If you arrive late, I will note this. Excessive tardiness will result in a penalty in your grade.

Classroom etiquette. During class time, do not talk to others, allow your cell phone to ring, snap your gum, read the newspaper, or engage in other inconsiderate activities. If your behavior disturbs your colleagues or me, I will deduct points from your final grade.

Academic dishonesty. Engaging in any form of academic dishonesty as outlined in the USU honor code-will result in a grade of "F" for the course.

Student privacy. In compliance with the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA), the Anthropology department maintains the confidentiality of students' records. I will circulate a waiver to allow me to return your assignments in ways that may not perfectly preserve your privacy (e.g., passing around graded assignments as I lecture). The FERPA waiver will also allow me to circulate attendance sheets that list your name. The waiver is optional, and I will accommodate students who prefer to have their work returned directly to them and/or not to be listed on attendance lists.

Syllabus

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