Gifts in Action - Lynn Fisher

MEET LYNN FISHER

Lynn Fisher, associate professor of Anthropology at UIS, is a 2006-2007 University Scholar. She is one of 16 faculty members and the only one from UIS who has been chosen for the award, which honors outstanding teachers and scholars at the three University of Illinois campuses.

Fisher is currently helping investigate the economy and society of the earliest farmers in central Europe, particularly how farming spread across the region. The project brings German and American scholars together from different backgrounds and focuses.

Before she learned she’d been named a University Scholar, Fisher had been finishing up negotiations for a grant budget where she had been forced to cut a few things from her list. Thanks to the scholarship, Fisher will be able to continue her work without sacrificing unnecessary resources. In her words, “Right after that was completed, I got the word about the University Scholar award and I thought ‘Oh thank goodness, now I can restore the student worker that I really wanted to have.’”

Fisher came to UIS in 2000 from Oberlin College, where she had been a visiting instructor. She earned a B.A. in anthropology at Oberlin and an M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also serves as an adjunct research associate with the Illinois State Museum.

"The things that brought me to UIS were its liberal arts focus, small size, and close contact with students,” she says. “Yet it’s also a place where I can really pursue my research interests.” Fisher’s accomplishments are many –in publications (peer reviewed articles in leading journals, chapters in books, an edited volume) and awards (a Fulbright Foundation Senior Research and Teaching Award, and the University of Tübingen’s prize for ice age research).

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Margot Duley, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was one of those who helped to nominate Fisher. She says that to be named a University Scholar, one must have outstanding accomplishments both as a teacher and a scholar. She says Fisher meets the highest standards in both categories. “Not only is she skilled in the traditional classroom,” Duley says, “she has also developed field placements and field trips in both Illinois and Germany to bring archaeology alive to students.”

THE UNIVERSITY SCHOLAR

In addition to the honor of being recognized by their peers, University Scholars receive $10,000 a year for three years to support research and other scholarly activities.

Story courtesy UIS newsBureau.