Commencement Profile: Jessica J. Stabell

Jessica Stabell has earned a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology with minors in forensic anthropology and indigenous studies, attaining a 3.98 GPA.

Stabell will receive the President’s Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate Student and deliver the student address during the 2:00 p.m. baccalaureate ceremony at Buffalo State’s 141st Commencement, Saturday, May 18, in the Sports Arena. She will also deliver the student address at the 10:00 a.m. baccalaureate ceremony.

In the classroom, Stabell answers questions concisely and correctly and performs lab assignments meticulously. She is a focused researcher, able to organize and complete challenging projects in a timely manner. She undertakes fieldwork with the same diligence and high quality that she demonstrates in lecture-based and seminar courses.

Her abilities led to a teaching assistant position with Julie Wieczkowski in fall 2012 and guest presenter appearances in Stephen Vermette’s Applied Climatology course. She is a member of the Buffalo State Anthropology Society and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and is a certified notetaker for the Disability Services Office.

Stabell earned an Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship in 2012 to study the effects of temperature on decomposition in Western New York using the method of accumulated degree-days and will present her findings at the 2013 Student Research and Creativity Celebration and the 2013 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Earlier in her college career, she was selected as a team member for a community partnership between the Buffalo State Anthropology Department and the McClurg Museum, home of the Chautauqua County Historical Society. On that team, she cataloged and analyzed artifacts from the Orry B. Heath Collection and presented her research at the 2010 Student Research and Creativity Celebration. She also served as a member of the archaeology field school crew at the Martin II site, a multicomponent excavation site in Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island, in summer 2010.

Away from campus, she has volunteered her time with the Genesee County Democratic Committee and the Darien Art Show committee for Darien Community Day.