Barbara Jackson in early days of the department
Anthropologists have taught at IU Indianapolis since the creation of the university, but the discipline was initially represented by a few introductory courses taught by part-time instructors administered by the Department of Sociology. In the early 1970’s, Carol Bart, an anthropology M.A. from IU Bloomington, taught classes at the newly created IU Indianapolis but was unable to meet the demand for introductory cultural anthropology classes and advanced courses. In response to the demand for anthropology classes, Dean Joseph Taylor moved to create an anthropology program and broaden the disciplinary curriculum. In 1974, Dean Taylor hired Barbara Jackson as the first full-time Ph.D. anthropologist in the newly created anthropology program. Dr. Jackson began coordinating the program, then combined with the Department of Sociology.
In 1975 and 1976, Dr. Jackson began constructing the fundamental elements of the department, targeting the development of an introductory course sequence (based on Anthropology A103 and A104) and assembling audiovisual and material teaching materials (e.g., slide sets, film strips and fossil casts, of which some remain in the department’s teaching collections today). During the department’s first year, Dr. Jackson quickly began to work with a broad range of community organizations, serving as the primary consultant to the Children Museum’s “Emergence of Man” exhibit, giving a dozen community lectures, and conducting an adult education program on the work of Erich Von Daniken. The first upper division anthropology course was taught in Fall 1975, when Indians of North America (E320) was offered, and both the Fall 1975 and Spring 1976 offerings of the course filled with 50 students each semester.
