Professor Spotlight:

Glastonbury, Connecticut native, Robert Goodby is the Associate Professor of Anthropology here at Franklin Pierce University. Currently residing in Stoddard, New Hampshire, he lives with his wife of 21 years, and his daughter who is now a freshman at Mount Holyoke. He was drawn to Franklin Pierce because of his passion, anthropology. "I'm in love with the study of Native Americans in New England, and also because I'm from New England," he said. Since Franklin Pierce is such a small school, Goodby is able to take his archeology and anthropology classes out into the field, and get hands on right away. He and some of his students actually dug into a site in Peterborough, New Hampshire and found artifacts such as stone tools that dated back to over 5,000 years ago. "It was a great find because there isn't much archeology in this area." Goodby went to University of New Hampshire where he studied anthropology and received his B.A. From there, he went on to graduate school at Brown University where he received his M.A and Ph.d in anthropology as well. Why is he interested in anthropology do you ask? "Anthropology helped explain the world to me, and provided a theory and holistic look at all people and places at all times," said Goodby. He finds it beneficial that he is able to take his undergraduates out onto sites immediately so that they can get the full experience right away. Working out on the field with students is arguably one of Goodby's favorite things about Franklin Pierce. In his free time, Goodby enjoys "lifting weight while listening to loud music," and traveling. He has traveled to New Mexico and Arizona because he loved the landscape and Native American culture over there. "Unfortunately, I haven't done any archeology outside of New England, but there is so much more I want to learn about the people around here in New England," Goodby said. If you know Goodby pretty well, you might know him as a hardcore democrat. However, in college, he was very conservative, and it's one thing that many people do not know about him. "College was the result of the change in political parties. I used to argue with professors, and reflect after and realize that my arguments would lose, so it made me re-think a lot of things," said Goodby. He wants to let everyone know though that he is indeed a liberal now! To end with some inspirational words, Goodby wants students to enjoy what they do. "I love my work, and most people don't. It's our job to prepare students for life, and I think it's a tragedy if they don't enjoy their job." Since this is a liberal arts university, take advantage of different options and experiment with different classes that you may not have thought about taking.