Rice University’s anthropologist elected to executive board of American Anthropological Association

Dominic Boyer, a professor of anthropology in the School of Social Sciences at Rice University, has been elected to the executive board of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

Boyer, who joined Rice in 2009, specializes in the study of energy, climate, politics and society.

“It’s a great honor to have been elected by the AAA membership to serve,” Boyer said. “It’s an exciting opportunity to address some of the many challenges facing the association and the discipline, everything ranging from the struggle against deprofessionalization and academic precarity as well as the opportunity to transition the AAA’s publication portfolio to an open access standard.”

Boyer’s term begins Nov. 19, following the AAA Annual Meetings, and will conclude in 2026.

Founded in 1902, the AAA is the world’s largest scholarly and professional organization of anthropologists. The association is dedicated to advancing human understanding and applying that knowledge to the world’s most pressing problems.