Curriculum Vitae 

Sydney Leigh Yeager

Education

Southern Methodist University: Fall 2010 – Spring 2021

Cultural Anthropology – PhD

Southern Methodist University: Fall 2010 – Spring 2012

Cultural Anthropology – Masters of Arts

University of Central Arkansas: Fall 2005 – Fall 2009

History Degree – Bachelors of Science

Research Projects

  • Facebook Shrines: Online Grieving Practices
  • Neuroanthropology of Cell Phone Use: Absorption and Anxiety
  • Transformative States of Consciousness
  • Cures Without Healers: Traditional Health Strategies in Ireland
  • Good Roots: An Ethnohistory of Ozark Traditional Storytelling and Alternative Healing Practices

Awards & Honors

2020 SMU Peggy Harrison Scholarship

2017 Great Bear Writing Project’s Invitational Summer Institute – National Writing Project

2016 SMU Peggy Harrison Scholarship

2014 SMU Graduate Students Association Presentation Travel Grant

2013 SMU Steed Travel Grant

2013 SMU Graduate Students Association Presentation Travel Grant

2012 SMU Travel Grant – Ireland Fieldwork grant

2013 to 2017 SMU Tution Waiver

2010 to 2013 SMU Anthropology Department Teaching Assistantship

2008 Student Travel Grant – UCA Dean of College of Liberal Arts Fund

2007 SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fund) Grant

2008 Travel Aboard Grant – Greece: Archeological Dig

2007 Travel Aboard Grant – Tanzania: Environmental Science and Sociology

2007 Travel Aboard Grant – Baltic States: History, Ethnography, and Political Science

Teaching Experience

Adjunct Instructor – University of Central Arkansas (Fall 2019 – Present)

  • Introduction to Four-field Anthropology
  • Social Health in the US – Medical Anthropology & Sociology

Adjunct Instructor – Hendrix College (Fall 2018 – Fall 2019 and Fall 2021 – Spring 2022)

  • Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Social Media, Society and Me
  • Death and the Afterlife

Academic Mentor – University of Texas (2016) I supervise student-athletes’ academic progress throughout the semester. Providing training in organizational and study skills as well as tutoring related to their current coursework.

High School Mathematics Instructor (November 19, 2014 to May 2015) Secondary Mathematics at the Smackover-Norphlet Public School District teaching students in 12th to 8th grade. On November 19, the school district lost a teacher and needed an emergency replacement for the remainder of the year. I taught Algebra III, Algebra II, Bridge to Algebra II, and 8th grade Math. This includes seven class periods taught five days a week, lesson planning, grading, and classroom management.

Discussion Lab Instructor & Teaching Assistant – Southern Methodist University (Spring 2012 Fall 2012, Spring 2013) Introduction to Cultural Anthropology with Dr. Diane Hardgrave- Spring 2012; Introduction to Cultural Anthropology with Dr. Caroline Brettell – Fall 2012; Introduction to Cultural Anthropology with Dr. Faith Nibbs – Spring 2013.

Teaching Assistant – Southern Methodist University (Fall 2010 to Spring 2013) Sustainable Living with Dr. Ben Wallace- Fall 2010; Magic, Myth, and Religion with Dr. Caroline Brettell- Spring 2011; Good Eats and Forbidden Flesh with Dr. Carolyn Smith-Morris- Fall 2011

Teaching Assistant –University of Central Arkansas (Fall 2008) Anthropology and Modernity: Honors College Junior Seminar with Adam Frank

Honors College Freshmen Mentor (2006 to 2008) As a freshmen mentor, I lived with Honors College Freshman and spent ten hours a week “hanging out” with the freshmen in addition to the mentor programing. We planned educational and community-building events, including Honors papers peer-review nights, study groups, social mixers, charity events and fundraisers. Both years, I received fifty-six hours of professional development.

Research Experience

Occupational Folklife Project Research Assistant (Fall 2015- Summer 2016) on an Occupational Folklife Project of the American Folklife Center with the Library of Congress working for Adam Frank of the University of Central Arkansas. I transcribed interviews, generated time codes, and created metadata for the Occupational Folklife Project database.

Co-Editor (Fall 2015 to Spring 2016) of the Masks of God: Primitive Mythology for reprint for the Joseph Campbell Foundation, Publication Pending.

Anthropological Consultation(Fall 2013 to Spring 2015) on the Smackover – Norphlet Public School consolidation process.

CAAH Seed Bank and Seed Swap Research Assistant (2008) I worked with Dr. Brian Campbell of the University of Central Arkansas on his Conserving Arkansas’ Agricultural Heritage Seed Bank and Seed Swap project, establishing protocols and setting up logistics. Dr. Campbell has worked throughout central and north Arkansas to establish contact with local farmers and gardeners who still use and save heirloom variety produce. The program continued and expanded to include a second Seed Swap in South Arkansas.

Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Intern (January to June 2007) Spring Internship: I did extensive archival and ethnographic research for nominations for a Bridge and later a Cemetery with a Native American Mound to the state review board of the National Historic Registry. Both were approved.

Professional Associations

Lambda Alpha National Collegiate Honors Society for Anthropology (2016 to Present) Graduate Student Member of the SMU Chapter

American Anthropological Association (2011 to Present) Student Member

Digital Anthropology Interest Group (2012 to Present) Founding Member

Society for Medical Anthropology (2011 to Present) Student Member

Society for the Anthropology of Religion (2011 to Present) Student Member

Media Anthropology Network (2016 to Present) Member

Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (2012 to Present) Student Member

National Society of Ethnobiology (2008 to 2011) Student Member

Phi Alpha Theta (2008 to Present)

Service

Society for Medical Anthropology Webmaster (Fall 2017 to Fall 2019) managing SMA’s offical website http://www.medanthro.net/ This is an exo-staff position. I also serve on SMA’s communication committee as part of this position.

Program Co-Chair (2016, 2017 & 2018) for the Soceity for the Anthropology of Consciousness a section of the American Anthropological Association. I was in charge of putting out a call for papers, recruiting submissions, and designing SAC’s program at the AAA’s annual conference.

Convener (2015 to Present) of the Digital Anthropology Interest Group of the American Anthropological Association.

Program Ambassador: Fulbright Afghanistan Fall Enrichment Seminar (2015 & 2016) I assisted University of Arkansas’ J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences as a graduate student peer for the Enrichment Seminar focused on Social Movements.

Social Media Coordinator and Blog editor (2012 to 2015) for the the Digital Anthropology Interest Group of the American Anthropological Association.

Member-At-Large (2013 to Present) the Society of Anthropology of Consciousness a section of the American Anthropological Association.

Media and Social Media Chair (2013 to Present) ) the Society of Anthropology of Consciousness a section of the American Anthropological Association. In charge of Media and Social Media for SAC (Anthropology News Editor, Facebook, Twitter, SAC Website and Blog).

Publications & Presentations