Walking up to the front of the classroom for the her third week of instruction as a full-time professor, Tara Carter stands on a chair to pull the overhead projector screen down. Students in her class attentively watch as her petite figure moves around the front of the classroom.
“Anthropology has a broad approach,” Carter explains to her Anthropology 104 class, “Introduction to Linguistics in Society.”
Carter invites her students to engage with the class, helping them feel comfortable discussing trending topics and asking questions. Her personality energizes the classroom and her curriculum made her a full-time faculty member at City College.
Carter instructs by taking the concepts from her lectures and putting them into practical situations, such as debating whether tweeting is considered a language and if it is changing how we think.
“She connects our lives with the material,” said Nicole Lundahl, an English major at City College. “It’s actually my favorite class right now.”
Tara Carter stands by images of island Vikings on Thursday, Sept. 8, in her office at City College. Carter, an island anthropologist, was recently hired as a full time instructor in the anthropology department.
Carter also teaches two other courses at City College, Anthropology 103, “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology,” and Anthropology 109, “Comparative World Cultures.”
“She has a really interesting life,” Lundahl said. “Wearing different socks every day is her thing.”
Carter’s height, or lack thereof, has never slowed her accomplishments. Before Carter was wearing dinosaur socks to the classroom, she was growing up in the San Fernando Valley.
She specialized in archaeology and earned her doctorate at University of San Diego.
After graduating, she instructed anthropology for one year and soon after received her bachelor’s degree at the University California, Los Angeles. Lastly, she spent four years teaching at Stanford University.
In 2015 Carter published a book about the trade network in the Viking period in Europe titled, “Iceland Network Society.”
Carter’s curriculum helped former Superintendent-President Dr. Lori Gaskin select her from a pool of candidates.
“I can certainly tell you I am thrilled to have convinced the Academic Senate to approve the second Anthropology position,” said Phyllisa Eisentraut, chair of the anthropology department.
“No shame in my height” she tells her class, “I’ve gotten good at scaling grocery stores.”
As a new full-time instructor at City College, Carter would like students to come talk with her and encourages students to pursue anthropology.
