Elizabeth L. Krause Appointed as Commonwealth Honors College Terrence Murray Professor

Content

Department of Anthropology’s Elizabeth L. Krause has been appointed the new Commonwealth Honors College Terrence Murray Professor, beginning in fall 2021. The Terrence Murray Professorship was established in 2003 through a $1 million donation in honor of Terrence Murray, former chairman of FleetBoston Financial Foundation (now Bank of America).  

The professorship is gifted to distinguished Honors faculty with the goal of developing cutting-edge courses and initiatives for more than 3,800 students enrolled in the program. When it was first introduced, the professorship gave way to several programs that coalesced community service and world-class academics to create a more hospitable learning environment. Previous Murray professors have developed a plethora of courses for undergraduate students. For instance, a previous professorship led to the creation of an Honors course that teaches genomics via computer games.  

“I am thrilled Dr. Krause is the new Murray Professor for Commonwealth Honors College,” says Dean Mari Castañeda. “Her pedagogical and ethnographic expertise will contribute greatly to our efforts to support Honors students throughout their Honors Thesis experience and enhance the ways in which undergraduate research can extend the college’s mission of inclusivity.” 

What Krause will develop is still undecided, but her outstanding history of academic accomplishment and awe-inspiring upbringing gives the Honors community confidence that she’ll create something to be remembered. Failure was never an option, and as one of few siblings to even graduate high school, let alone attend college as a first-generation student, Krause certainly had big shoes to fill.  

Krause graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 1984 and went on to earn her master's from Oregon State University in 1992, this time in applied anthropology. Since two degrees weren’t enough, she decided to pursue a PhD in anthropology at the University of Arizona, where she completed her dissertation in 1999, titled “The Political Economy of Love, Labor, and Low Fertility in Central Italy.” 

Having taught as an assistant, associate, and now professor since 2000, Krause has proved there's always progress to be made. She's been featured in hundreds of published articles, chapters, and abstracts since she began teaching more than 20 years ago and has even written three books. If that wasn't enough, the accomplished professor recently concluded her time as a residential scholar for the University of Arizona School of Anthropology in fall 2020. 

She has also been the recipient of several grants and fellowships from organizations such as the Ford Foundation (2012–15), the National Science Foundation (2004, 2010–11, 2012–16), and the U.S. Fulbright Program (1995–97).    

When she’s not publishing books and winning awards, Krause is learning more about the world around her. She can speak and write in English and Italian, some French, and little bit of Belauan—the national language of the small Oceanic nation of Palau. She is currently working on a new project, titled “The Pedagogy of Figs: Uncommon Lessons for a Sweet Life,” a work meant to expose how multispecies worlds, relations, and memories ensure value.  

Overachieving would be an understatement for Krause’s progress within the field of anthropology and ethnography. From the Terrence Murray Professorship to the “Pedagogy of Figs,” Elizabeth Krause is a living reminder that Honors students are in good hands.