Preparing Anthropology Students for Diverse Careers
By creating a closer community among students, teaching faculty and instructors, and practitioners.
WHY THIS COMMISSION
The concept for a Commission emerged amid a confluence of trends. Practitioners represent the rising majority within the discipline of anthropology. Yet, current students in BA, Masters, and PhD programs get little training in professionalization skills and little experience in anthropological practice (some applied programs excepted). Even academic employment for PhDs is on a downward trend, as hundreds apply for the few open positions in a saturated market. Simultaneously, many anthropology departments are struggling to remain relevant in the eyes of college/university administrators. At the same time, opportunities for anthropologists to work outside the academy in a wide variety of sectors continue to grow.
WHO WE ARE
The commission is made up of volunteers who are passionate about increasing anthropology’s relevance in the world. It includes leaders from all U.S.-based anthropology professional organizations, representatives of all anthropology subfields, including the AAA, SfAA, NAPA, AAPA, SAA, RPA, LSA, COPAA, EPIC, and WAPA.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Updates from the Career Readiness Commission
Stay up to date on our World of Work blogs, news, and events.
How Can We as Anthropologists Be the Change We Wish to See in the World?
This is a question that I have struggled to answer, but it has also lit a fire under me, spurring me to teach, write, podcast, and live more intentionally. After I completed the doctorate and finished my first book, [...]
What can applied archaeology offer anthropology?
I live in two professional worlds. Part scientist, part science communicator, I navigate a cross-disciplinary career with a saying from time in archaeology: Work from the known to the unknown. The Career Readiness Commission’s Fordham Conference cued up this [...]
How Does a Conference Help Anthropology Matter?
“Anthropology helps us think about the world differently; it helps us uncover social silences.” These words by anthropologist and journalist Gillian Tett resonated in my mind while attending the conference “Building Careers in Anthropology” on Friday, May 13th, 2022 [...]
Our First Year Review
If you’re interested in what the Commission has been doing during the past year, check out our “First Year Review” which is now posted on the website. You’ll find a description of what the Commission is, what we planned to [...]
“Huh, get a job?” say the B-52s or A View from a Liberal Arts University
Higher education institutions are remarkably diverse: rural/urban; private/public; union/nonunion; R1/research intensive/regional comprehensive/liberal arts; religious/secular; and the list goes on. Today, in most institutional settings there is at least lip service paid to the linkage between education and career. All [...]
How Can I Apply My Anthropology Experience to Get the Job I Want?
Wow! That’s such a relevant question for those on the job market. Our job search as practicing anthropologists is unique. Unlike other job seekers with degrees in fields that sell themselves, we anthropologists have to explain the value of [...]
Join Our Network of students, instructors, and practitioners.
Be Part of Making Anthropology Practice Friendly