The Gabriel W. Lasker Service Award in 2017: John H. Relethford

John Relethford, Anthropology, has been awarded the 2017 Gabriel Lasker Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropology. He will receive the award at the Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans in April 2017.
This award is given “to recognize and honor individuals who have demonstrated a history of excellence in service to the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, its members, and/or the field of physical anthropology.” (AAPA web page). AAPA is the largest professional association of biological/physical anthropologists in the world, with over 1700 members internationally.
Relethford has been a member of AAPA since graduate school in the 1970s, and was a member of its Executive Committee for many years, including service as Vice President and Program Chair (2003-2004) and then as President (2006-2007). He has served on the AAPA Nominations Committee, Publications Committee, and Student Affairs Committee. As President, he initiated an ad hoc committee that later became the permanent Committee on Diversity. Relethford has also served as an Associate Editor for the Association’s journal, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, from 1996 through 2002. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as the Chair of the Anthropology section of AAAS.