2015 Marshall Scholarship Winner: Pete Parker
Eugene “Pete” Parker is currently a senior at MSU and is the 2016 recipient of the Marshall Scholarship, given in memory of Dr. Richard Marshall, an archaeologist and longtime MSU faculty member. The Marshall Scholarship is presented each year to an excellent anthropology major who specializes in archaeology. Pete’s interest in anthropology stems from his love of history; the more he learned about world history, the more he wanted to understand the cultures of those peoples who had global impacts, such as the Mongolian nomads. Pete’s interests have shifted now to prehistoric archaeology. In May 2016, he attended the excavation field school with Dr. Shane Miller at the Topper site in South Carolina and was particularly excited to receive hands-on training in archaeology. When asked about his favorite anthropology class, Pete could not choose just one and said that “all of them are my favorites.”
2015 Rafferty Fund for Archaeological Survey Winner: Walker Parrish
Walker Parrish is this year’s recipient of a Rafferty Fund award. He recently finished his undergraduate degree in anthropology, and attended AMEC’s archaeological survey field school, taught by Jeffrey Alvey, the Cobb Institute’s CRM program manager. According to Walker, Alvey convinced him that taking a field school would be a great way “to get my foot in the door and jump start my career in archaeology.” Walker has found that survey work is difficult, but it “puts you on the frontlines of archaeological research and has proven to be an invaluable experience.” Walker and his classmates have been surveying the drainage of Mississippi’s Big Black River. “Moving forward, I feel confident that what I was taught will help me to provide the best services possible to both the public and my fellow archaeologists.” Walker is thankful for the support he received from the Rafferty Fund, saying “I encourage any archaeology student to apply, and I know that for me, being given an award named after one of the country’s great archeologists has driven me to do the best work in the field I possibly can.”