{"id":3466,"date":"2026-05-08T16:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=3466"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:00:31","slug":"faculty-friday-bill-mcfarland-is-an-ambassador-of-the-anthropology-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/05\/08\/faculty-friday-bill-mcfarland-is-an-ambassador-of-the-anthropology-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Friday: Bill McFarland Is An Ambassador Of The Anthropology Discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Josiah Ann Nelson)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Bill McFarland was a freshman at the University of Central Florida, sitting in classes that he did not find fun or very engaging. He was going to school for something he immediately realized was a mistake, and he drifted through his first year until he took a general anthropology class at the start of his sophomore year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that there was a framework for understanding the world and a framework for understanding people, plus the professor was really good at telling stories,\u201d Professor McFarland, chair of the anthropology department, said. \u201cHe was communicating these complex ideas through stories. It just all made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then decided to take this newfound love of the world and people and study anthropology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Well, this is something I could absolutely do,\u2019\u201d McFarland said. \u201cThe professor was a cultural anthropologist, and I thought, \u2018Oh, I’ll do cultural anthropology.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, his true love became archaeology when he was selected for a research project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did cultural anthropology for about two or three years; that was the track I was on. And then I had an opportunity to do field work,\u201d McFarland said. \u201cProfessors at Central Florida had a field project in Belize, and they would take a dozen or so students each year, and so I applied, and I was accepted to go on that, and I just immediately fell in love with doing field work in archaeology.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFarland is part of the JCCC Anthropology Department and has been with the college for 21 years. He teaches physical anthropology and world prehistory, to name a few, as well as many other anthropology classes throughout his career. He is also currently teaching an honors class called \u201cThe Good Life,\u201d which focuses on advanced topics in anthropology.<\/p>\n

Something Iskandar Azizi, a student in McFarland\u2019s class, really appreciates is the knowledge he is gaining from his course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t only learn theoretical knowledge,\u201d Azizi said. \u201cWe learn wisdom, which is applicable knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of McFarlane\u2019s goals in his classes is to be an ambassador to the discipline of anthropology. He wants students to go to another layer and ask themselves questions about who they are and where they want to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut ask them that from an anthropological perspective, here’s what anthropologists think about the world,\u201d McFarlane said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to figure out where you are in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of being an ambassador is providing resources to deepen the topic’s meaning. He touches on many subjects, professionals and authors. Then he will provide students with information to help them expand their knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like that he gives you extra resources for things you’re interested in,\u201d said Janet Turrietta.<\/p>\n

Students find his teaching style engaging, and he carries that perspective to all of his classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love that he is really super personable,\u201d said Agnes Turrietta, a student in his class. \u201cI love how he kind of takes the serious topics and turns them into something that’s a little more accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFarlane\u2019s classes have a give-and-take between discussions and lectures that fosters open, honest dialogue between student and professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every single one of my classes, there is a balance between my lecture and discussions,\u201d McFarlane said. \u201cIn the best classes, it’s not quite half-and-half, but almost half of their interaction is we’re discussing concepts, we’re discussing readings, we’re discussing research, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill McFarland was a freshman at the University of Central Florida, sitting in classes that he did not find fun or very engaging. He was going to school for something he immediately realized was a mistake, and he drifted through his first year until he took a general anthropology class at the start of his sophomore year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[342],"class_list":["post-3466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/05\/DSC0542_1_optimized_2000-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/mike-kemper\/","display_name":"Mike Kemper"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 months ago","modified":"Updated 4 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2026","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2026 4:00 pm","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2026 4:00 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":342,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"mike-kemper","display_name":"Mike Kemper","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/05\/DSC0542_1_optimized_2000-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3468,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466\/revisions\/3468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3466"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}