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NEWPORT - Oregon State University will host the 52nd annual Northwest Anthropological Conference April 8-10 in Newport, Ore. The conference will focus on the theme, "Reaching Out to the People."

There will be more than 150 presentations at the conference, which is expected to draw anthropologists, other scientists and professionals, Native American tribal members, students and others from all over the northwestern United States as well as southwestern Canada. It is being hosted by OSU's Department of Anthropology.

The conference will feature a number of lectures, papers, panel discussions and symposia. Topics range from Kennewick Man, to coastal "sprawl," to updates on research studies involving human health, archaeology and cultural diversity.

Not all of the topics are about the Pacific Northwest. Presenters also will examine the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua, the discovery of a new fossil monkey in Indonesia, and ethnicity and gender roles in different African nations, as well as other topics.

Several sessions will have central themes. OSU anthropology professor Roberta Hall, for example, will coordinate a symposium on Saturday, April 10, from 8 a.m. until noon that will look at "Native Use of Resources on the Pacific Coast." Symposium presenters will look at a variety of topics, including adaptive behavior in managing natural resources, conservation of fisheries, plant cultivation and cultural sites and settlement patterns. A number of other OSU faculty also will be coordinating symposia.

Courtland Smith, a professor of anthropology at OSU, will deliver the keynote address Friday night, April 9, after the banquet. His talk: "Can a Cassowary Reach Beyond Euphoria and Doom?"

Registration for the conference, which is open to the public, costs $45 ($30 for students). It will be held at the Holiday Inn, Newport at Agate Beach.

For more information, contact Loretta Wardrip of OSU at 541-737-4515, or visit the conference web site.

Wardrip and David Brauner, an associate professor of anthropology at OSU, are co-coordinators of the conference.