The founding of the Midwest Primate Interest Group (MPIG) in 2004 began with a series of conversations among Robert W. Sussman (Washington University, St. Louis), Paul A. Garber (University of Illinois, Urbana), Agustin Fuentes (Notre Dame), and Katherine C. MacKinnon (Saint Louis University). Following the leadership of these four founders, Julienne Rutherford (then at University of Illinois Chicago) served as president for many years.
MPIG began with the recognition that the midwest was home to a large number of outstanding research institutions, biological anthropology and primatology programs, students, and faculty. Acknowledging that national meetings are often very large, intimidating, and somewhat impersonal, MPIG’s goal was to create a yearly local conference in which graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty could come together as an intellectual community to discuss new ideas and present recent research. Moreover, the founders were determined to construct an environment for MPIG in which students could ask questions, explore ideas, and get feedback from more senior scholars.
MPIG - Midwest Primate Interest Group 