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Photograph of Sue Taylor

Sue Taylor Public Anthropologist-in-Residence Anthropology

Contact
Sue Taylor
(202) 885-6793 (Office)
CAS | Anthropology
Hamilton Building 202
Spring 2016 Wednesday 1:00-2:00 and by appointment
suetaylor@verizon.net ()
Degrees
PhD Anthropology, University of Massachusetts<br>MA Anthropology, University of Cincinnati<br>BA Anthropology, University of Cincinnati

Bio
Taylor had extensive experience in nursing administration and clinical practice when she pursued a career in anthropology focusing on issues of health and gerontology. She directed a graduate program in medical anthropology at Wayne State University where she was a faculty associate and directed the minority aging program at the Institute of Gerontology. She served as a state commissioner on the Michigan Commission on Aging. She drew on her background as an administrator, policy maker, practitioner, and researcher in developing undergraduate courses geared to experiential learning and provided internship supervision and research direction for Master’s of Gerontological Studies at Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University. She combines research and praxis on issues of public policy for presentation in the classroom as well as conducting workshops for professional and community groups. She continues as an independent consultant on aging, ethnographic research methods, aging, oral history, and urban anthropology.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • American Anthropological Association
    Member (1978 to present)

  • Association of Black Anthropologists
    Member

  • Association for Feminist Anthropologist
    Member

  • Gerontological Society of America
    Member

  • National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
    Member

  • Society for Applied Anthropology
    Sustaining Fellow

  • Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists
    Member

  • National Caucus and Center on Black Aged
    Board of Directors 1990-2005

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

       
  •  Editorial Board, Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (2000-2008)
  •    
  • Appointed delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging.
  •    
  • Research Fellow, Ohio Department of Mental Health, 1991-1992 (18 months).
  •    
  • Commissioner, Michigan Commission on Services to the Aging (1981-1984)
  •    
  • Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, elected 1976.

Research Interests

       
  • Urban anthropology with an interest in parks, memorials, and city streetscapes
  •    
  • Oral history focusing on perceptions of place, memory, and meaning with an emphasis on cultural heritage conservation

 

Professional Presentations

       
  • Commemoration & Reconciliation: Politics and the Use of Public Space. Society for Applied Anthropology, Memphis, TN, March 28, 2008.
  •    
  • Oral History Workshop African American Civil War Memorial. Washington, DC, July 17, 2008.
  •    
  • Children at Risk. Teaching Conflict Resolution & Violence Prevention. Society for Applied Anthropology, Tampa, FL, March 31, 2007.
  •    
  • The Politics of Cultural Programming. George Mason University, Arlington, VA, September 29, 2007.
  •    
  • African Americans in Prince William Forest Park. Prince William Forest Park Lecture, Triangle, VA, February 2, 2007.
  •    
  • Conserving Place: The African American Experience in Prince William Forest Park, 1933-1945. Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists, Washington, DC, January 6, 2004.
  •    
  • Time and Place in the Life Stories of African American Women. Guest Lecturer, Millersville University, Millersville, PA, April 6, 1999.

 

Professional Services

       
  • Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
  •    
  • National Park Service
  •    
  • American Fellowship Panelist, American Association of University Women
  •    
  • African American Civil War Memorial
  •    
  • Cultural Tourism DC

 

Selected Publications

       
  • Conserving Place: Prince William Forest Park 1900-1945. Washington, DC: US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Capital Region, 2008.
  •    
  • At or Near: An Analysis of Proximity. IN James Cummings, et al. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center. Site Selection Study Environment Analysis. Appendix F.1-15. Washington, DC: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 2005.
  •    
  • Place Identification and Positive Realities of Aging. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 16:5-20, 2001.         

Grants and Sponsored Research

       
  • African American Oral History Project: Prince William Forest Park (2004-2006) and (1998-2000). Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Capital Area.
  •    
  • At or Near: An Analysis of Proximity. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation, 2005.
  •    
  • Streetscape: U Street NW, Washington, DC. Center for Urban Design in Transportation, Howard University, 2004.

 

Professional Certifications

       
  • Methodist Hospital of Indiana School of Nursing, Licensed Registered Nurse

Work In Progress

       
  • African American Women on the Home Front: WWII.