Explorer’s Club Scholar
April 28, 2015
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Senior Named Prestigious ‘Explorer’s Club’ Scholar
April 28, 2015
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)
April 28, 2015
Natalie Haynes of Plains, a senior at The University of Texas at Tyler, has received a scholarship from The Explorer’s Club to study Maya archaeology in Belize, Dr. Martin Slann, College of Arts and Sciences dean, announced.
Haynes was awarded a 2015 TEC Youth Exploration Fund scholarship in the amount of $1,500. The club offers scholarships to high school, collegiate and post-graduate students in support of exploration and field research.
With the award, Haynes will travel this summer to Belize where she and other student-scholars will assist excavation teams and collect data through the Maya Research Program.
“I am so grateful for the funding I have received from The Explorer’s Club,” said Haynes, a social sciences major. “Their generosity will help support me on a trip that I have looked forward to and hoped to have the opportunity to go on for a very long time. I thank them for making this possible for me.”
The program offers UT Tyler students and other student scholars worldwide the opportunity to participate in real-world research and study of the Mayan Indian culture through the Blue Creek Archaeological Project at the Blue Creek Research Station in Tulix Mul, Belize.
“Natalie is a wonderful, multi-talented student. She is the sixth UT Tyler recipient of TEC Youth Exploration Fund support, ensuring that UT Tyler remains the single, most-awarded university in the country,” said UT Tyler associate professor of anthropology Thomas Guderjan, who will lead the UT Tyler group and co-founded the program in 1992. “The Explorer’s Club is the most prestigious organization of its kind in the world, having launched polar exploration, Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki expedition and many others. The Explorer’s Club flag has even been with UT Tyler to Central America.”
Upon graduation, Haynes plans to attend graduate school to continue her studies.
“I have had so many interesting experiences at UT Tyler with the knowledge and tools that I have attained through my social science classes,” Haynes added. “I am hoping to combine those disciplines to pursue a career in a non-profit or private sector organization where I can work with children to get them interested in this exciting field. I am particularly interested in the study of ancient cultures and how it paints a picture of a life long gone.”
She is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the UT Tyler Anthropology and Geography Club. She also serves as a ‘Night Owl’ at Camp Tyler.
Her hobbies include traveling, outdoor recreation, DIY projects, cooking and gardening.
A nonprofit organization, the Maya Research Program sponsors archaeological and ethnographic research in Middle America. The program is supported by the National Geographic Society and National Science Foundation.
For more information, email Guderjan, tguderjan@uttyler.edu, or visit mayaresearchprogram.org/.
The Explorers Club is an international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Since its inception in 1904, the club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide.
For more information, visit https://explorers.org/.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler features excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of more than 8,000 high-ability students. UT Tyler offers courses at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine as well as a location in Houston.