Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is named the 28th Distinguished John Deaver Drinko Academy Fellow, one of the University’s highest recognitions.

Lassister, a professor of humanities and anthropology and director of the graduate humanities program at Marshall, will be awarded a stipend, financial and clerical support for research and scholarly projects over the next two years.

Joining the University in 2005, Lassister, along with colleagues Dr. Elizabeth Campbell and Dr. Brian Hoey, previously won Appalachian Studies Association’s 2019 Weatherford Award for their work on “I’m Afraid of that Water: A Collaborative Ethnography on a West Virginia Water Crisis.” He was also named as Historic Glenwood Foundations president.

Lassister earned his doctorate in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before teaching at Ball State University in Indiana then joining Marshall.

The honor was awarded during a dinner on Saturday, April 15 that also featured art by Sandra Reed, the 26th Drinko Fellow and professor of art.