麻豆无码版

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Incidentally, I had done some field work in Minnesota in New World archaeology and that's kind of where my interest was, even though some of my undergraduate degree work was in a different part of the world. I didn't articulate my interest very well in my application, so, the first time they saw me, they were like, 鈥渨hat's this guy doing?鈥� I ended up talking with Diane Hanson, who became my advisor in the graduate program, and she encouraged me to take some courses as a non-degree seeking student just to kind of get familiar with folks. Sure enough, when I reapplied the next year, I got in no problem. I worked full-time while I got my degree, which meant that I took mostly night and evening courses, so it took me a little longer to complete my course work than if I had been a full-time student.鈥�

 

Let's talk about what you do now. What is your role? 

鈥淢y title is the Cultural Resource Manager for DOWL, which is an architectural and engineering firm with deep roots in 麻豆无码版. I manage a group of nine great staff, and we support everything from federal agencies to private individuals or private companies to tribal entities with meeting their requirements under the National Historic Preservation Act or other state or local level historic preservation laws and regulations. We deal with cultural resources, historic buildings, archaeological sites, those kinds of things. The work is largely compliance-driven, but we help our clients navigate the processes; what do they have to do, who do they need to talk to and when, what do they have to consider, what are the steps they have to take, the processes they have to complete or conduct in order to get their permits, to get their funding to eventually advance their project, whatever it might be. We鈥檝e helped with everything from constructing new healthcare facilities, permitting and constructing telecommunication projects in rural and remote 麻豆无码版, to developing new roads to access, either resources or, other places of interest for a community, agency, or company.鈥�

The course of my work has taken me all across 麻豆无码版, including some of the most remote places and to many of the rural Indigenous communities spread across our state. Work in the field can be challenging, but the rewards of travelling to beautiful places and meeting and learning from community members makes me grateful that I have the privilege of doing this kind of work. 

 

In your role with DOWL, you offer internships to UAA Students. How has your experience working with the UAA students been? What is the internship opportunity? 

鈥淭hey're all success stories in their own way. And it's a journey. There's no end point here. We actually have one staff member now who joined us as an intern, and got her master's degree at UAA. She has accelerated into a leadership role in our group; she's leading field teams, she's conducting significant field work in 麻豆无码版 and just excelling at everything. That's not to say that anyone else is doing anything different. She's just one that we can say came to DOWL as an intern and is now an emerging leader within our group. In some cases we hire UAA graduates that have come back to 麻豆无码版. They come home to the state and we say, 鈥榟ey, come home to DOWL鈥�.

The DOWL Internship opportunity is open to undergraduate and graduate students. I have largely focused on graduate level interns. In cultural resources, the master's degree is kind of like your professional engineer stamp, saying you meet a certain standard of qualification so you can do work in our field. Now, that's not to say that undergraduate students can't do meaningful and good work, but my approach is to give the folks that are at that master's level or pursuing that master's level that trajectory. It provides a career path that's going to put them into the private sector of cultural resource management once they do get their degree. Showing them that there is this path and help build up the skill sets that you might need to enter the private sector that do get covered in the graduate programs.鈥�

 

Reflecting on your time at UAA, with the value of the educational experience you had here, would you recommend it to other people?

鈥淵es. 100%. I know that during my time at UAA, there was a strong focus in the anthropology program at UAA on cultural resource management. There's anthropology in the academic circles, doing a different kind of research, but then there's also this whole world of applied anthropology. Cultural resource management is a form of applied anthropology, as we are trying to adapt and use that knowledge to consider the effects of projects on cultural practices, archaeological sites or historic buildings. How do we develop things in a way that avoids, if at all possible, destroying or changing the characteristics of sites, places, buildings, or structures? 

In fact, I continue to interact and intersect with many from my cohort at UAA who have positions in other private-sector firms, agency positions, or in other capacities. There is a strong and lasting legacy in the state of UAA anthropology graduates who continue to shape the practice of Cultural Resources Management in 麻豆无码版. UAA continues to produce high-quality graduates at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about a career in Cultural Resource Management to contact anyone in the UAA anthropology department to seek additional information and current course offerings.鈥�

Thank you, Jake, for taking the time to sit down and talk with us about your journey!