Matthew Velasco, assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Anna Whittemore, doctoral candidate in anthropology, received awards from the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) at the SAA annual meeting on April 25. Velasco and Whittemore are both members of CIAMS, the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies (A&S).

“CIAMS is incredibly fortunate to have extraordinary faculty like Prof. Velasco and exemplary graduate students like Anna contributing to our community. We are delighted that the SAA has recognized their contributions to both scholarship and to the discipline,” said Adam T. Smith, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Anthropology (A&S) and director of CIAMS.

Velasco, CIAMS’s Director of Undergraduate Studies, received the Presidential Recognition Award, along with Sara L. Juengst, University of North Carolina, Charlotte. They were recognized for their outstanding service to the SAA as co-chairs of the Bioarchaeology Interest Group, which provided essential ethical consulting to the SAA Board and co-organized the 2025 Presidential Opening Session at the annual meeting.

Ruth Portes is assistant director of CIAMS and a doctoral candidate in classical archaeology.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.