PULLMAN, Wash. — A retirement reception to honor William Willard, Washington State University professor of Comparative American Cultures, is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 10, in the Anthropology Museum from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. A program is slated to begin at 3 p.m.
Willard came to WSU in 1977 to direct the Native American Studies program and held a joint appointment in the Department of Anthropology. After the Department of Comparative American Cultures was created by combining several ethnic studies programs, including the Native American Studies program, Willard served as CAC chair twice. For many years he has served as an informal adviser for students and activities at the Native American Center.
A medical anthropologist, Willard has recently made the primary focus of his research the impact of radiation exposure from the Hanford nuclear reservation, particularly on farm workers. Willard’s other research has covered a wide range of issues related to Native American populations, including federal policy and treaties; literature, music and teaching; religious freedom; the survival of American Indians in contemporary society; self governance; and economic development.
Since 1986, Willard has been associate editor of the Wicazo Sa Review, a journal for the development of Native American Studies as an academic discipline, which is published by the University of Minnesota Press. He received a College of Liberal Arts Edward R. Meyer award in 1997 to develop a research project on transethnic group identity formation.
Willard earned his doctorate in cultural anthropology at the University of Arizona in 1970. He is a member of the American Anthropological Association; Sigma XI, an honorary scientific research association; and the societies for medical and applied anthropology. He has served as an article referee for the American Anthropologist and the National Science Foundation.
Sponsors for the reception are the Native American Student Center, the Native American Advisory Council to the Provost, and the departments of Anthropology and Comparative American Cultures.
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