Robert A. Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and professor of international relations, has received the 2026 Sol Tax Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology. The award ceremony will take place March 20 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the organization’s 86th annual meeting.

Presented each year to a member in recognition of long-term and outstanding service, the award is named for Sol Tax, a pioneering anthropologist who advanced the concept of “action anthropology” emphasizing collaborative, community-engaged research designed to produce practical benefits. Tax played a key role in institutionalizing anthropology, including founding the journal Current Anthropology.

The Society for Applied Anthropology works to address local and global challenges through anthropology, and to deepen understanding of the world through sociocultural and environmental lenses. It promotes research, education and practice that serve the public interest through awards, meetings, mentorship, networking, professional development and publications.

Rubinstein previously served on the society’s Founders Endowment, Public Policy and Sol Tax Award committees. He was also a founding board member of the Higher Education TIG, an interdisciplinary group that connects anthropologists with higher education scholars, practitioners and administrators from various fields, and dedicated long-term leadership to the Commission on Peace and Human Rights of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences.

Rubinstein is a senior research associate for the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, the Middle Eastern Studies Program, the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

He specializes in political and medical anthropology and has conducted research in the United States and internationally, including in Egypt, where he resided for four years, as well as throughout the Middle East, Belize and Mexico.

In July 2025, Rubinstein was honored with the Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching. Awarded annually to a faculty member from Maxwell and the College of Arts and Sciences, the prize honors the legacy of the late William Wasserstrom, a noted professor of English at Syracuse University who died in 1985. Wasserstrom was known for his broad intellectual interests, profound impact on learning and dedication to the graduate seminar.

By Jacob Spudich