Eric Gable, University of Mary Washington professor of sociology and anthropology, was named the recipient of the 2018 Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award at a general faculty meeting on Wednesday, April 25.
Established in honor of Shirley Van Epps Waple, a 1952 graduate of the University, the nomination-based award recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to their scholarly or creative area of expertise.
During his 22 years of service to UMW, Gable has distinguished himself as an international scholar with an extensive publication record and an active research agenda. He is an expert on museum studies, heritage, and the religion and politics of West Africa and Outer Island Indonesia, having conducted extensive field research in these areas, as well as at Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello.
“He is a collaborative and supportive colleague, and an engaged member of the University community,” said Teresa Coffman, chair of the University Committee on Sabbaticals, Fellowships and Faculty Awards. “He is considered a strong and connected educator to his students and his colleagues hold him in high regard, as well.”
Gable wrote Anthropology and Egalitarianism: Ethnographic Encounters from Monticello to Guinea-Bissau, published in 2011 and co-wrote The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg, published in 1997. He also has published more than 40 articles and multiple book reviews in, served on the boards of, and given keynote speeches for leading academic journals in his field, including American Anthropology, Journal of American History and Cultural Anthropology.
He is book review editor for American Ethnologist, managing editor of Museum and Society, and a past member of the editorial board of Cultural Anthropology. At UMW, he has served on multiple committees and as department chair.
Gable received a doctorate from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California at San Diego, both in anthropology.
