The Donaghey Scholars Honors Program is pleased to announce that we have a new Program Administrator! Dr. Jessica Scott joined our team last September, replacing Eileen Turan, who began a doctoral program at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Scott is an Arkansas native and a graduate of Benton High School. She studied anthropology and history at UALR and went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Environmental Dynamics from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Along the way, Dr. Scott also gained business experience, working for The Walt Disney Company in Orlando,Florida, and Neiman Marcus in Dallas,Texas. She taught for four years at UA-Fayetteville, including 2 years of teaching exclusively in the Fulbright Honors College, and has spent the last 3 semesters teaching here at UALR.
Dr. Scott’s academic research improves our understanding of human evolution by reconstructing the ancient environments occupied by our ancestors millions of years ago. She has conducted research in South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Great Divide Basin in Wyoming. With fifteen peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals like The American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Mammalia, The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and The Journal of Human Evolution, Dr. Scott is a respected scholar in her own field and we are very lucky to have her on board. In addition to her position in the Donaghey Scholars Office, Dr. Scott teaches Introduction to Physical Anthropology, Human Paleontology, Dental Anthropology, and Egyptology for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at UALR. This spring, she began teaching Science & Society II for the Scholars Program.
