The Presidents Council of State Universities of Michigan has selected Tamara Bray, professor of anthropology and director of the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology at Wayne State University, as a Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year. The program recognizes outstanding contributions made to undergraduate students at Michigan’s 15 public universities.

Bray, who lives in Ypsilanti, says, “My teaching philosophy is an amalgam that emphasizes concerns with academic rigor, active student engagement, experiential learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, and variability. In the classroom, I like to incorporate a variety of methods, activities, and formats for conveying information in an effort to keep things interesting and reach students with different learning styles.”

Outside of the classroom she incorporates field trips, site visits and collections-based research into her courses because of the impression they make on students.

Wayne State Deputy President Phyllis Vroom nominated Bray.

“Dr. Bray’s research and teaching are inexorably intertwined,” said Vroom. “She is an excellent scholar in her discipline, and she brings all of this knowledge to bear on her teaching with skill and passion.”

Bray was also recognized recently for her role in new discoveries about the Inca Empire. Archaeology Magazine's December 2012 issue highlighted Bray's work on the Inca-Caranqui Project. Bray believes the site, thought to have been the location of a ceremonial pool, was the last imperial Inca settlement constructed prior to the Spanish invasion.

Bray, who joined Wayne State in 1995 and was promoted to full professor in 2010, will receive her award on April 12 during a luncheon in Lansing.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.