Anthropology

at Northern Kentucky University

Anthropology Careers Day

Anthropology Career Day

Careers Day 2008

Northern Kentucky University's annual
Anthropology Careers Day

Friday, April 17, 2009
3-5 PM
110 Landrum

Speakers on Archaeology and Other Areas of Anthropology

ALSO: Viewing of an Anthropology Careers Film, Questions & Answers with Faculty & Alumni, Free Careers Handouts and Refreshments

Everyone is welcome. Free and open to the public.

Where can I find a job in anthropology?

NKU Anthropology Careers Day Talk

The world famous author of Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, was interviewed in Time Magazine. Asked the inevitable question about how his career as a best-selling writer developed, Crichton answered that he "went to Harvard in 1960 intending to be a writer. But the English department rubbed a blister on his soul (it was 'not the place for an aspiring writer,' he said; 'it was the place for an aspiring English professor'), so he switched to anthropology."

In fact, there are several successful literary types who began their careers with a solid foundation in anthropology. The famous science fiction authors Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Ursula K. LeGuin, Joan D. Vinge, and Chad Oliver are examples. Horror writer Douglas J. Preston was an anthropologist. Mystery writers Aaron Elkins and Kathy Reichs were forensic anthropologists, and mystery writers Elizabeth Peters and Lynda Robinson were archaeologists. Author Zora Neale Hurston was a cultural anthropologist. Noble Prize winning poet Octavio Paz was an anthropologist. Non-fiction writers Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and NKU graduate Kathryn Miller Ridiman were anthropology majors. Pueblo Indian authors, Edward Dozier and Alfonso Ortiz, were anthropologists. Other anthropologists who have tried their hand as authors of fiction include Jose Maria Arguedas, Laura Bohannan, Saul Bellow, Francois Bordes, Tim Buckley, Rebecca Cramer, Isadore Durant, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear, Tess Gerritsen, Amitav Ghosh, Michael Jackson, Bernard James, Oliver Lafarge, Frederica de Laguna, Ted Lewellen, Sharlotte Neely, Conrad Quintyn, Gregory Reck, Mary Doria Russell, Ernest L. Schusky, Joseph Shepherd, Paul Stoller, and Stan Struble. Steve Riggio, the founder of the Barnes and Noble mega bookstore chain, was an anthropology major. In the arts, singers Tracy Chapman and Mick Jagger were also drawn to anthropology, as were directors Joan Campion and George Lucas, and actresses Glenn Close and Ashley Judd, who has been quoted as saying that the purpose of anthropologists is to "then go forth and make the world a better place." (She said this just before donating $50,000 to the Anthropology Department at the University of Kentucky.) NKU anthropology grad Greg Rust is an ethnophotographer, and former NKU anthropology professor Ken Tankersley is a documentary film maker. Gary Larson, famous for his "Far Side" cartoons, took every college elective in science, including anthropology and archaeology. In higher education, Crow Indian, Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top, the President of Little Big Horn Tribal College, was an anthropology major. Dr. Larry D. Shinn, the President of Berea College, was an anthropology major, too. The first woman director of the Public Library system of Cincinnati and NKU graduate, Kimber Griffin Fender, was an anthropology major. In the realm of politics, anthropology majors include the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and the former Congressman from Ohio's second district, Rob Portman. NKU graduate Rose Pfaff serves on the Highland Heights, Kentucky City Council. Anthropologists show up at every end of the political spectrum. For example, nationally syndicated conservative talk show host Michael Savage is a medical anthropologist. In fact, anthropologists turn up everywhere. Football players like John Clair of the St. Louis Rams and Monsanto Pope of the Denver Broncos and New York Jets were anthropology majors. Roman Catholic priest Father Patrick Gaffney of Notre Dame University is an anthropologist. Evangelist Rev. Billy Graham was an anthropology major, too. For years the late Jewish rabbi Edgar E. Siskin, founder of the Jerusalem Center for Anthropological Studies, did fieldwork with the Washoe Indians of Nevada every summer, leaving his congregation after confirmation and returning before Rosh Hashana. There are even examples of royalty who are anthropologists in the persons of Prince Charles of England and Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark. Primatologist Jane Goodall is an anthropologist. Even McGruff, the Crime Dog (as played by NKU anthropology major Carl Agner), is an anthropologist. There are anthropologists who are archaeologists, environmentalists, applied social scientists, politicians, attorneys, police officers, crime scene investigators, forensic scientists, probabtion officers and other court workers, interpreters and translators, religious leaders, teachers, professors, librarians, genealogists, physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, photographers, actors and musicians, travel agents, flight attendants, park rangers, bankers, business people, zoo employees, primatologists, writers, farmers, factory workers, and royalty. And the list goes on. But the real popularity of anthropology can be demonstrated by the fact that on the preschool educational cartoon show, Dora, the Explorer, Dora's mother is an archaeologist.

Interest in and respect for anthropology are growing, and by 1995 more anthropology degrees were awarded in the United States than in any other previous year. The number of anthropology students continues to rise. According to the American Anthropological Association, in the ten years from 1987 to 1997, the number of anthropology majors nationwide increased 109%. (At NKU the increase was closer to 300%.) The number of Master's degrees awarded went up 60%, and the number of Ph.D. degrees by 35%. During the same time enrollments nationwide in undergraduate anthropology classes increased 78%.

National Public Radio reports that the World Bank is restructuring and plans to hire fewer economists and more anthropologists. Anthropologists, it is felt, will best be able to understand the financial needs of businesses in other countries. It is assumed that anthropologists will make the projects of the World Bank more relevant and more cost-effective.

The 1999 edition of Newsweek's "Career and Graduate School" guide lists "anthropologists" as a career that's "up," one of the "hot careers" of the future. The November 2001 issue of Cincinnati Magazine makes a similar claim for anthropology careers and says that "employers have been snatching up anthropologists as if they were nuggets at the Gold Rush." According to the magazine, among the companies who hire anthropologists are Sapient, Intel, Kodak, Whirlpool, AT&T, General Motors, and Hallmark. While we at NKU have become accustomed to telling our students that job ads rarely state that a particular company or agency is specifically hiring an anthropologist, we have had to modify our position. In the past, we have told our students, that companies or agencies will list the kinds of skills that anthropologists have. Lately, we have had to tell our students that more and more job ads do specifically state that the individual hired should be an "anthropologist" or an "archaeologist." Not only do contract archaeology companies advertise for "archaeologists," but so do government agencies like the National Park Service. Brighton Center, a social services organization in nearby Covington, Kentucky, recently advertised for an "anthropologist" to evaluate their effectiveness in the community. Hallmark Greeting Cards has advertised to hire an "anthropologist" who can conduct an ethnographic survey of when and how Americans use greeting cards. In fact, there are more than a dozen published books on careers advice for anthropologists, including Blythe Camenson's recent one, Great Jobs for Anthropology Majors.

Recently the Kentucky Council on Higher Education conducted a survey of business and industry leaders throughout the region. These business leaders evaluated the skills most important in anyone they hired. High on the list was the ability of an employee to work well with people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, a skill typical of anthropology graduates. The August 16, 2002 issue of USA Today ran a letter to to editor praising liberal arts subjects like anthropology. "Many of the country's top professional employers recognize the value of a liberal arts education," wrote accountant Christina Hardin. "They hire liberal arts graduates because they demonstrate a combination of academic preparation, intellectual versatility and strong leadership skills that makes them indispensable in the workforce."

The February 18, 1999 edition of USA Today ran in its "Money" section a cover story titled "Hot Asset in Corporate: Anthropology Degrees." USA Today concluded that "as companies go global and crave leaders for a diverse workforce, a new hot degree is emerging for aspiring executives: anthropology." Among the companies with anthropology majors among its executives, the article listed Citicorp, Hallmark, Hanseatic Group, Hauser Design, Koss, and Motorola. Anthropologist Katherine Burr, CEO of the Hanseatic Group, an investment company, was among the first to predict the 1998 Asian financial crisis. As a result, her investors made profits while the clients of other money managers lost out.

The October 15, 1996 issue of CIO Magazine ran a story titled "Joining the Culture Club," which made similar points about anthropology careers. In the article sociologist Tom Davenport says that when it comes to corporate research, "not just any ol' social scientist will do; you should look for the real anthro thing" because important research cannot be gained "by gazing at a computer screen." Among the companies Davenport mentions who make use of anthropologists are Motorola, Nynex, Hoffman-LaRoche, Xerox, National Semiconductor, Sun Microsystems, and the Institute for Research on Learning. Motorola even trains its employees to do "anthropological analysis." He goes on to say that "smart companies will hire anthropologists in the future, and corporate anthropologists are already in demand." In fact the problem may be in finding enough anthropologists since "universities don't turn out a whole heap of anthropologists each year."

Welcome to our annual Careers Day in Anthropology. Help yourself to some refreshments, and settle back for an interesting and informative afternoon. NKU is fortunate to be located in Greater Cincinnati, consistently one of America's top 20 best cities for employment opportunities. We are also fortunate to live in times that are, even now, generally good for job-seekers. Newsweek reports that in mid-2000 the jobless rate in the United States fell to 3.9%, well below the 6% unemployment economists previously had suggested as the lowest "natural rate" of unemployment possible. Even with recent crises, the unemployment rate nationally in 2008 is only 4.8%. The average annual starting salary for someone with a four-year college liberal arts degree, no matter what the major or university, is in excess of $30,000. Average college graduates over the course of their working lives will make one million dollars more apiece than average high school graduates.

Most people realize too that whether the economy is good or bad, a college degree, in just about anything, increases one's lifetime earnings and decreases the chances of unemployment. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the difference in the earnings gap between college and high school graduates is 60% and growing; a New York Times study of job losses shows that it is high school graduates who account for 66% of all people who have lost their jobs.) And according to Joseph J. McGowan, Jr. of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities, "the liberal arts [such as anthropology] have been, and will continue to be, the most effective preparation for the leaders of tomorrow."

So college is a good idea, but is anthropology the career path you should take in college? We have some exciting presentations that should help you to decide whether you want a career in anthropology and, if so, what areas of anthropology offer the most promise. Before we get down to the basics of where the jobs are and how much money there is to be earned, I would like to address briefly what, in my opinion, is an even more important issue: what would you enjoy doing for the next forty or fifty years of your life?

While the least a career should do is offer you a salary and some security, I think it should offer so much more. Therefore, I ask you to consider this advice. Before you ask the questions of where are the most jobs and how much money you can make, I suggest you ask yourself what you enjoy. If you think what you would enjoy doing in life is anthropology, we hope to answer your questions today.

I love being an anthropologist. At times it offers all the excitement of an Indiana Jones story and all the challenge of a Tony Hillerman mystery. I will never forget riding horses in Canyon de Chelly with a Navajo guide in search of Anasazi ruins or living in a remote, haunted cabin on the Cherokee reservation. I have danced around a campfire, my face painted with magical designs, and I have slept under the stars. I have climbed inside the Great Pyramid in Egypt and stood atop the Pyramid of the Moon in Mexico. As an applied cultural anthropologist, I have researched and written a report that stopped a highway from barreling through an Indian reservation. And every time I do something like that, I marvel that I actually get paid to be an anthropologist.

If I won the lottery tomorrow and never had to work another day in my life, I would not quit my job because the money is only one of the reasons I am an anthropologist. I suggest you ask yourself the question of what gives you so much pleasure that even if you won the lottery, you would not quit. I think that question should be the first that you ask yourself in your quest for a career.

But you should also know that I enjoy the more contemplative tasks that go into being an anthropologist, too, at least as I define anthropology. I enjoy teaching, even topics like kinship terminology, and watching the faces of my students as they "get it" for the first time. I enjoy analyzing my research and the thrill that comes when I "get it" for the first time. I enjoy writing books and articles about the people I have studied and realizing that long after I am dead someone will pull a dusty book I have written from a library shelf--or punch it up on the internet--and feel some of the same wonder I did so long ago.

How do you define anthropology? What would give you pleasure? How will you make a living out of something that gives you satisfaction? Some areas of anthropology are more popular than others. Most of us, often as children, have read the story of archaeologist Howard Carter as he gazed upon the treasures of King Tut's tomb for the first time. Archaeology is a subfield of anthropology. Forensic anthropology is another popular subfield, and I realized recently just how popular when I ran across a children's book, The Bone Detectives: How Forensic Anthropologists Solve Crimes and Uncover Mysteries of the Dead. Archaeology and forensic anthropology both seem like such interesting ways of making a living. Is that possible? The answer is yes and no.

For archaeology the answer is a loud yes. There are more than half a dozen contract archaeology companies operating right here in the tri-state and hiring people at every college degree level from the Bachelor's degree to the Doctorate. Throw in local universities and museums that hire archaeologists, and the job market is even bigger. And that is true of archaeology all over the world. So, if your interest is archaeology, go to it.

What about forensic anthropology? Exciting? Yes. Jobs that pay money? Only for the lucky few. There are only about 150 forensic anthropologists in the United States, and only about 15 of them work full-time as forensic anthropologists. The rest of them do forensic anthropology part-time and support themselves working in related areas of anthropology, biology, medicine, or criminal investigation. Part-timers might get only one or two grizzly cases a year. If your interest is forensic anthropology, you need to decide how the availability of work affects your career choice. Could you be happy earning your living in a related area of anthropology where there are numerous jobs and do forensics here and there?

Other job prospects in anthropology lie somewhere along the continuum between archaeology and forensic anthropology. Applied anthropology and environmental studies lie closer to archaeology along the job continuum. College teaching has slipped toward the forensic anthropology end of the continuum when it comes to new jobs as a professor (although that may be changing for the better). Could you be happy teaching in college part-time and making your living as a contract archaeologist or an applied researcher?

As may be obvious by now, our mission today is not only to give you the answers in your career search but to help you pose the questions important to you? Along the way we will tell you what careers are hiring and which ones are weak, at least for now. What should your strategy be in your quest for a career in anthropology? That is something for you to decide. But I can tell you what I would do, with what I know now, if I were just starting out.

I would have a two-pronged approach. I would prepare myself to go after the career in anthropology I most wanted, job availability or not. But then for me, when it comes to career, I am willing to be a risk taker. But even risk takers hedge their bets. The second part of my approach would be to amass as many job skills as possible in every area of anthropology and related fields, especially those areas where jobs are more readily available. The most important question you can answer for yourself today is what your approach should be. We are here to help.

Follow your heart, but in a pragmatic sort of way. Take courses that will develop important skills, anthropology courses like ethnographic methods, museum methods, laboratory methods, and archaeology field school and courses outside of anthropology like statistics, a foreign language, computer skills, workplace writing, historical research, photography, and sociological methods. Accumulate work experience, even if at first you have to do it on a volunteer basis, with museu ms, contract archaeology companies, and human services organizations. NKU's Career Development Center reports that it is easier to get a job if one has "real-world" work experience. That experience can be gotten through internships, practica, co-op jobs, work-study programs, part-time work, summer jobs, and volunteering. Start your career search or search for a graduate school program at least a year before you graduate.

Your attendance today at this Anthropology Careers Day workshop is a great start in your career quest. Be sure to get a copies of our numerous hand-outs on the anthropology job market. Continue your careers research by talking with the anthropology faculty and alumni. Read the articles on the anthropology careers bulletin board outside our anthropology lab on the second floor of Landrum. Browse the American Anthropological Association's Guide to Departments of Anthropology. A copy is in the department office. Surf the AAA's web site (at http://www.aaanet.org). Consider whether graduate school is something you do or do not want to attend. Read books and articles on the various subfields. Take more anthropology courses.

We wish you all the best in your career quest, and stand ready to help you along the route you choose. Thank you.

by Sharlotte Neely (email)
Professor and Careers Advisor,
NKU Anthropology