Michael received an Illinois Consortium for Educational Opportunity Program Fellowship. This award is given to minorities based on their professionalism and work done in their department. The award also fosters minority representation in academic departments or disciplines that lack diversity.

Michael has taught/co-taught and created three classes both for the Anthropology Department and the Women’s Studies program. The first was a very popular course, “Anthropology of Sexual Behavior”, offered fall 2002. The class used a three sub-field approach, (physical, cultural, and archaeological) to examine and understand the development of sex and sexuality issues and identities on a global scale. During the 2001-2002 school year he developed and updated the Women’s Studies core curriculum class, “Women Studies: Multicultural Perspectives of Women in America”. The updated class now focuses on the understanding of social development and gender identity formation using several academic disciplines including anthropology, sociology, mass communications, speech communications, music, and art. Michael taught both a fall and spring course. He expected 50 students in the first ever half-semester course. When the class started the enrollment topped at 123 students. The following spring the course reached 145 students. Also this year, Michael co-edited a reader for this course. The WMST 201 Undergraduate Reader includes the work of Dr. Sutton and Kara Firestone (B.A. graduate), both from the SIUC Anthropology Department. The final class, co-developed and taught with Christy Routon, was “Anthropology of Gender”, taught through the Women Studies program during the summer 2003 intersession. Because this class was both a graduate and an undergraduate class, Michael was granted Adjunct Graduate Faculty status from the SIUC Graduate School.

Along with the courses that Michael developed and taught, he was also a T.A. for the University Museum. During this time he oversaw research and practicum projects in the Museum Administration (Political Science 446) course and the Historical Museum, “Sites, Restoration and Archives” (History 497) course.

Michael also completed the “Digging into the Past” exhibit and has overseen educational programming for the exhibit. During the development and construction of the exhibit, he supervised 30 graduate and undergraduate students. Along with getting a large grant from the Illinois Humanities Council for the exhibit, the exhibit has won an award for excellence from the Illinois Association of Museums.

During the year Michael gave one paper co-authored with Dr. Michelle Miller (Sociology) and Dr. Bev Stitt (Women’s Studies) at the National Women’s Studies Association, in New Orleans, on his work and teaching experience at SIUC. This past year Michael was one of two discussants for the paper panel, “Identity”, at the Central States Anthropology Conference in Louisville, KY. He continues to be committed to public outreach. In 2003 he gave a number of lectures to area groups, including “Social Construction of the Gay Closet” for the Carbondale, Illinois chapter of P-Flag (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).