About - Career Readiness Commission

Elizabeth K. Briody delivered her Malinowski Address in March 2021. She proposed the creation of the Commission to serve as a single voice on student preparation for a variety of workplace settings. She envisioned a cross-association, anthropology-wide Commission with members recruited from anthropology associations, diverse occupations, and all subfields.

Rationale

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.

Background

Elizabeth Briody invited Riall Nolan to help lead the Commission. Serving as Co-Chairs, they launched the effort in May 2021 and have been assisted by scores of volunteers – practitioners, faculty/instructors, and students. Commission members are involved in several workstreams—from brainstorming ideas to compiling materials on practice to identifying characteristics of various work sectors. By May 2022, the Co-Chairs anticipate that program frameworks, recommendations, and resources will be tested and available to anthropology programs through the Commission’s website.

Logo

Claire Sigworth, a design anthropologist, created the Commission’s logo. The three inner triangles represent anthropology students, anthropologists, and Commission members. The green, orange, and blue triangles are enclosed in a black scalloped circle to represent the mission of the Commission: coming together to impact the future of anthropology and anthropological training.

Website

Matt Artz, a business and design anthropologist, created the Commission’s website. He volunteered to create the website given his passion for supporting anthropologists in their pursuit of careers in business, non-profit, and government. Matt’s other career-focused initiatives include the podcasts Anthropology in Business and Anthro to UX.

Volunteers and Supporting Organizations

Volunteers, passionate about increasing anthropology’s relevance in the world, leaders from all U.S.-based anthropology professional organizations, representatives of all anthropology subfields.

LEADERS

Elizabeth K. Briody has been involved in cultural-change efforts for over 30 years – first at General Motors Research and later through her own consulting practice, Cultural Keys. She has led several careers’ initiatives including an analysis of AAA Mentoring programs (2014), 14 AAA career webinars (2020-21) and the careers video Anthropologists at Work: Careers Making a Difference (1992-93).

ELIZABETH BRIODY, Co-Founder

Riall Nolan is a British-trained social anthropologist with an interest in cross-cultural learning, international development, and the application of anthropology to issues and opportunities outside of the academy. His career has focused on development work, internationalizing higher education, and the training of practitioners, and his research and publications reflect this.

RIALL NOLAN, Co-Founder