Ungar Receives SEC Faculty Achievement Award

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Peter Ungar, Distinguished Professor of anthropology

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Peter Ungar has been named a winner of a 2018 SEC Faculty Achievement Award. These awards honor one faculty member from each SEC university who has a record of extraordinary teaching and nationally recognized scholarship.

“Across every dimension in which a contemporary faculty member is evaluated — research, teaching, service, administration and outreach — Dr. Peter Ungar sets the standard and exceeds expectations in everything he does,” said U of A Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz in his nomination letter. “His contributions to science; his dedication to his students; his administrative accomplishments; and his service to campus, the community, and his discipline are simply extraordinary. He is more than qualified for this honor.”

Ungar is a Distinguished Professor of anthropology and the director of the environmental dynamics doctoral program at the University of Arkansas. He has observed wild monkeys and apes in the forests of Latin America and Southeast Asia; studied fossils from Tyrannosaurus to Neanderthals; and, most notably, developed new techniques for using surface analysis technologies to gather information about evolution and diet from tooth shape and patterns of use wear.

Ungar has written or coauthored more than 180 scientific works. One of his books, Mammal Teeth: Origin, Evolution, and Diversity, won the PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers for best book in the biological sciences. His latest book, Evolution’s Bite, is on bookstore shelves now. Ungar’s work has been featured in documentaries on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel, among others.

Ungar received his doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook University and taught in the medical schools at Johns Hopkins and Duke before coming to Arkansas. He is an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has served as visiting faculty at universities in Australia, Finland and China.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.