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Contact: Karyn Brown

STARKVILLE, Miss.ā€”A Lafayette County graduate student is the first at Mississippi State selected for a new university internship program with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

William D. Harris of the Yocona community is pursuing a masterā€™s degree in applied anthropology.

The Ļć½¶Ö±²„College of Arts and Sciencesā€™ Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures is joining with the federal agency to provide the pre-graduation training experience. A newly created Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit will support multiple summer internships over the next five years, said Michael Galaty, professor and department head

Galaty said the cooperative effort benefits all involved. ā€œOur partnership with the USFWS will help protect our nationā€™s archaeological sites, many of which are under threat as a result of various human impacts, including development and climate change,ā€ he explained.

ā€œArchaeologists from Ļć½¶Ö±²„and the USFWS, working together, can identify and study such sites before they are lost and help preserve them for future generations,ā€ he added.

Galaty credited USFWS administrator Henry Sansing, whose office is located at MSU, for fostering and helping develop the internship program.

Sansing is Region 4 chief for conservation, delivery and support, as well as regional forester. Previously, he managed the nearby Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.

Harris and succeeding interns will work with Richard Kanaski, a Savannah, Georgia-based archaeologist and USFWS regional historic preservation officer.

Kanaskiā€™s office oversees cultural resource programs throughout the Southeastern U.S. and Caribbean areas. They include archaeological contracting, consultations with Native American and other descendent groups, public outreach efforts, historic-structure rehabilitations, archaeological and historic investigations and other duties delegated by the National Historic Preservation Act and related legislation.

A 2016 Ļć½¶Ö±²„anthropology graduate, Harris is in his second year of a masterā€™s degree program that requires a summer internship to help prepare for careers in a highly complex resource-management field. His studies are directed by Professor Evan Peacock.

ā€œOpportunities such as the MSU/USFWS partnership are ideal for providing this kind of training, giving students a competitive edge as they begin their careers while ensuring better historic preservation outcomes for the nation,ā€ Peacock said.

For complete information about the College of Arts and Sciences, visit ; the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, at .

Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiā€™s leading university, available online at .