Robert J. Kegerreis Distinguished Professor of Teaching

Amelia Hubbard

Amelia Hubbard, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, is the recipient of the 2020–21 Robert J. Kegerreis Distinguished Professor of Teaching Award.

Hubbard is a popular and inventive teacher who challenges her students to excel. Throughout all her teaching responsibilities, she brings dedication, creativity, fortitude, passion, compassion, dynamism and integrity.

During her time at Wright State, Hubbard has developed 10 novel courses, including lab-based and large-scale active-learning format courses. Introduction to Biological Anthropology, which she created, is unique among the courses in the College of Liberal Arts because it fulfills the university’s natural sciences core requirement.

In addition to designing all of the labs herself, Hubbard also expanded the collection of teaching materials in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology by adding more skull casts and artifact replicas. This large course regularly fills its 105 seats every semester.

Hubbard has developed 10 new upper-level courses for anthropology majors. Several of these courses have been profiled by the Wright State Newsroom, including a course featuring a “citizen-science” research project at Woodland Cemetery and one of the few bioarchaeology field schools in the nation.

Hubbard is considered approachable and caring while not interested in empty popularity among her students. Feedback from students suggests students see her courses as having value while engaging them in learning about anthropology, science and even themselves.

As part of her dedication to an inclusive classroom, Hubbard has championed low-cost learning and accessibility. For her introductory course, she developed a lab manual that costs only $35 and also offers the textbook as a self-published and interactive e-book reader for free. In all of her other courses, she is always aware of accessibility issues, ensuring that readings are available in PDF form, textbooks are free or optional, and where possible, videos include transcripts or closed captioning.

Hubbard has also mentored and trained students on research projects with students outside of the classroom, resulting in several professional presentations before the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and at other regional conferences.