Northern Arizona University-Anthropology Alumni Testimonials

Social & Behavioral Sciences

Emily Altimare (2007)

MA Applied Socio-Cultural Anthropology

NAU’s Anthropology Department offers its students an academically stimulating environment coupled with a supportive community. It is rare to find so many talented scholars that are willing to share their time, expertise, and know how with their students. The professors are very committed to the education, development, and achievement of their students. The program thoroughly prepared me for my current Ph.D. program and I am very thankful for the combination of rigor and practicality that characterize the department. As I progress in my career, I often think of the skills that I depend on daily that, I learned as a student at NAU particularly in terms of professionalization. Attending NAU for my Master’s degree in Anthropology was one of the wisest choices that I have made in my academic career to date.

Stephen R. Anderson (2007)

MA Applied Archaeology

My experiences at the NAU Anthropology Department’s archaeology masters program provided me with the skills necessary to become a well-rounded archaeologist at the management level. NAU’s archaeology program is a no-nonsense multifaceted program that not only covers the theoretical aspects of archaeology, but also the practical field and office aspects through classes like Archaeological Inference and Method ,Cultural Resource Management, GIS in Archaeology, and advanced field schools. In addition to the classroom work, my experience as a graduate assistant, working with Wolf Gumerman and the Hopi tribe, both in the classroom and field setting, gave me new insights into how indigenous people view their history, as well as archaeology. I can say without a doubt that my experiences at NAU prepared me for my current job as an archaeology project manager in the CRM field. I felt that the faculty at NAU really wanted each of us to succeed and they were always there to lend assistance in any way necessary. In my opinion, it was a tough graduate school, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I could not have picked a better program!!

Andy Bessler - shown far left (1999)

MA Applied Socio-cultural Anthropology

I graduated in 1999 and completed the applied cultural internship track focusing on how activism on tribal lands are impacted by cultural, social and political boundaries. During my internship, I helped Navajo community members set up a non-profit corporation that worked on land restoration and traditional farming. Bringing about social and environmental changes in policy and practice require a holistic outlook. My work at NAU prepared me to look at problems holistically and not through just one lens.

Lee Rains Clauss (2001)

MA Applied Archaeology

The Applied Archaeology Graduate Program at NAU prepared me for the real work of community-based archaeology and indigenous cultural resource management. The coursework and my internship experience gave me the necessary ability to interweave historical contexts and archaeological data with regulatory frameworks and contemporary community needs and concerns. Due to my education and experiences at NAU, I discovered a way to conduct an especially elusive, but extremely rewarding, form of archaeology: one that is both scientifically rigorous and culturally-appropriate, and thus, ultimately, mutually-beneficial.

Anna Corwin (2007)

MA Thesis Linguistic Anthropology

I completed my MA in linguistic anthropology at NAU in May 2007. I am currently pursing a PhD in linguistic anthropology at UCLA. The fact that I am pursing a PhD in this subject is a testament of the encouragement, enthusiasm, and preparation provided to me by the Anthropology department and my NAU adviser, Jim Wilce. Now that I am at UCLA, I find that the theoretical, methodological, and analytical background in linguistic anthropology that I received at NAU has well prepared me to pursue a PhD in this field.

Duane C. Hubbard (2000)

MA Archaeology Thesis Track

NAU gave me the academic foundation necessary to work in the National Park Service as a park archaeologist and resource manager. I now work cooperatively with several professors in the Anthropology program on important archaeological preservation projects. The lasting relationships developed with staff and faculty continues to assist me in my career development. Graduate classes such as Cultural Resource Management, Archaeological Method and Inference, graduate grant writing workshops and theory classes are essential for a career as a federal archaeologist. The emphasis on professionalism by faculty continues to help me during important presentations to colleagues, Native American tribes, and other government agencies and partners. The NAU anthropology department has a long-history of properly preparing students for careers through formal internship programs. NAU graduates are currently working in numerous parks throughout the Southwest as professional archaeologists with permanent full time employment. The amount of former graduates in federal service is a testimony in itself to the success of the Anthropology Program.

Ora V. Marek-Martinez ( 2003)

MA Applied Archaeology Track

It wasn’t until I was enrolled at another University that I realized the education and training I received at NAU’s Department of Anthropology was unique. The practical training I received, for example, how to create a successful resume and C.V., how to effectively address and present your research to audiences, and how to secure funding for your research, has proven to be invaluable. The anthropological education I received while at NAU has also given me the skills to become a Native American cultural resource manager. My critical thinking skills have enabled me to analyze and create academic research. The twofold approach they take at NAU has not only prepared me to be a serious academic, but it has also prepared me to be a professional academic.

Eleanor McLellan-Lemal (1994)

MA Applied Socio-cultural Anthropology

I graduated with an emphasis on international development and public health. While I worked on my degree, I had the opportunity to begin applying many of the qualitative, quantitative, and project management research skills acquired in my anthropology course work to my role as an ethnographer with the Flagstaff Multicultural AIDS Prevent Project. I continue to be involved in HIV/AIDS prevention research and currently work for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA as a Behavioral Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. I serve as a project officer and technical advisor on multi-disciplinary, team-based research projects domestically and internationally. Domestically, I have participated in both survey and qualitative (formative, rapid, and in-depth) HIV/AIDS multi-site research among vulnerable populations, including drug users, men who have sex with men, sex workers, women, and ethnic minorities. My newest domestic project involves a mixed methods approach to assessing HIV risk factors for African American and Hispanic women in the southeastern United States. Internationally, my work focuses on community acceptability and HIV biomedical interventions, in particular HIV vaccine clinical trials. Currently, I am involved in a prospective cohort study to estimate incidence of HIV seroconversion among adolescents and young adults in Kisumu, as well as to identify determinants of successful recruitment and retention in preparation for an HIV prevention trial in western Kenya. I am also involved in analyzing focus group and key informant interview data collected for a rapid qualitative assessment of community perceptions of HIV research initiation and conduct in Southwest, Littoral and Centre Provinces, Cameroon. I am one of the co-developers of AnSWR: Analysis Software for Word-based Records and the Global AIDS Program’s International Rapid Assessment, Response, and Evaluation (I-RARE) training curriculum, and provides training for both. Occasionally I teach courses in qualitative research methods in international health and qualitative data analysis at the Rollins School of Public Health. I have authored and co-authored several articles and book chapters on qualitative data management and analysis. Post graduation, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Robert Trotter and other NAU alumni (Gilbert Quintero, Josh Gagne, Emily Brelsford-Namey, and Moez Solis) on HIV/AIDS prevention research projects. The theoretical, methodological, and analytical foundation I received in the applied anthropology at NAU continues to influence how and why I conduct research.

Fredy R. Rodriguez (2007)

MA Applied Socio-cultural Anthropology

The anthropology department at Northern Arizona University has gone above and beyond students’ expectations. Never before at a department in an American institution did I feel such as sense of community among professors and students and such sense of support and guidance. The faculty members at NAU’s anthropology department include scholars who graduated from the top anthropology departments around the country and the world. Together they have come to form an excellent applied anthropology program which successfully prepares students for both academia and other work settings. I arrived at the anthropology department at NAU with a vague set of ideas about my future in anthropology and left with an immense set of tools which have extensively prepared me for my experience as a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University. As a graduate of the M.A. program I have notably improved in areas such as conference attendance, public presentations, writing style, and research— all attributes which I gained from the professional and academic guidance I obtained from different professors at NAU’s anthropology department. I am immensely thankful for all of the opportunities and training I received from the anthropology department.