Graduates in Anthropology

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In 1995 anthropology at Bates became a fully-fledged department. To mark this event, we have put together a departmental newsletter. We hope it will help us all keep in touch with one another and serve as a useful document for majors interested in learning about career paths that draw on their background in anthropology.

1994

Heidi Bishop is coaching various sports teams and working in the Sports Information and Communications office at MIT in Cambridge. Everyday she encounters diverse groups of people and finds it challenging to incorporate anthropology into her work.

While working as a temp in an office three days a week, Audra Kelly interns at the American Forum, a non-profit media organization in Washington. This organization disseminates op- ed articles and public service announcements to a variety of media representatives. Audra has found her thesis, which analyzed rock music, to be particularly helpful in relation to her internship.

Allyn Pazienza is currently working toward a Ph.D. in physical anthropology at SUNY in Buffalo. She is also a work-study student, participating in a project that deals with the conservation behavior of a hunting and gathering society in the Sulawesi region of Indonesia.

As a result of his long-standing fascination with Japan, Jeffrey Smith is presently teaching English in Japan. He uses anthropology every day as he teaches Japanese students about American culture and helps them communicate successfully with Americans.

1993

After working in the Bates Admissions Office Megan Hollis has moved on to become the Director of Admissions for Dynamy, an experiential education program in Worcester, Massachusetts. She deals with statistics, program representation, marketing, and diverse groups of people as she attempts to evaluate how the program can attract families. Megan also values the time she spent in Japan and her volunteer work in the Admissions Office with Dean Hiss. Her future plans center on graduate work in Educational Psychology at Miami University in Ohio.

Carson LaRoche-Fiske is pursuing his interest in photography with his new job in a camera shop, where he sells cameras and equipment. He has also begun to think more about the relationship between photography and anthropology. This Autumn he will head off to a graduate program in Audiology at the University of Nebraska.

After graduating Melanie Mala Ghosh moved to San Francisco where she worked for the Asian-American Theatre. She returned to Bates in 1994 to become the first co-ordinator for Multicultural Affairs at the college. Next Autumn she will enter a graduate program in Comparative International Education at Stanford with hopes of finding a career that will improve access to higher education for people of color.

Aliza Karetnick graduated with an interdisciplinary major in anthropology and religion and went on to law school at the University of Pennsylvania with hopes of combining graduate work in cultural studies with a J.D..

1992

Heather Coulehan is currently working as a women's advocate at a center for abused women in Anchorage, Alaska. Her job entails individual counseling, facilitating weekly groups for clients, accompanying women to court in order to obtain restraining orders, and giving presentations on domestic violence and conflict resolution in schools. Heather has found her education in anthropology to be invaluable. She employs it to increase her sensitivity and help her look at the cultural roots of domestic violence within the Native Alaskan society. Also helpful to her present job is her former training with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and her thesis which included fieldwork at a Pentecostal Church in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Laura Detwiler attends Columbia University's School of Nursing, studying to become a Certified Nurse Midwife. Her interests in midwifery stemmed from her anthropological work in women's health and her position as a medical assistant in an OB/GYN office where she helped with the daily routine and provided support and education for patients.

Having administered the School for International Training program in Bali for three semesters, John MacDougall has entered the graduate program in Anthropology at Princeton. In the meantime, he worked with Steve Kemper on two Bates short terms in Bali and assisted Prof. Douglas Lewis(University of Melbourne) in Flores in his ethnographic research.

Jim Noone studied archaeology in Ireland for a year while enrolled at Bates. He spent the summer after his graduation working on an excavation in the Mediterranean. These days he is a graduate student in archaeology at the University of Michigan.

After Bates, Katie Parke worked for community arts organizations and then moved into the social services. More recently she began working as a receptionist and office assistant for a non- profit organization called WomenVenture in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The primary goal of the organization is to help women with career transitions, who want to start or expand a business. Katie also has intentions of pursuing her MBA in 1997.

Elizabeth Pratt is an Americorps/VlSTA volunteer at the Center for Human Services in Seattle. Her job entails recruiting and training volunteers to work with children, homeless youth, ESL students, and many others. Elizabeth also works at the Family Support Center at Center for Human Services, where she is working to recruit families of diverse backgrounds in order to increase their involvement in the family support center. Her background in anthropology has been helpful as she works to increase understanding and communication among different groups of people. Elizabeth has recently applied to graduate programs in public health at the University of North Carolina.

1991

Kristi Bright went on to graduate school in anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Having won a Watson Fellowship, Corey Harris spent the year after his graduation studying the development of pidgin languages in Cameroon and New Guinea. The following year he worked for Teach For America in New Orleans, while playing blues guitar in his spare time. A full account of his career as a bluesman can be found in Living Blues magazine, April 1996. Corey is featured on the cover, and an interview with him follows.

Matt Spencer works in the field of environmental consulting in Washington, D.C. He is a marketing specialist working with the Environmental Protection Agency helping businesses and utilities develop more energy efficient and pollution free technologies. While anthropology is not directly relevant to his work, Matt credits the anthropology department at Bates with helping him develop the communications skills he uses everyday.

1990

While teaching English in Budapest, Hungary for three years after graduating from Bates, Katie Ablard learned Hungarian and travelled throughout Eastern Europe. Upon returning to the United States, she taught English to adult immigrants and is presently working in the Boston area with groups that provide housing, services, and employment for developmentally delayed adults and children.

After Bates Sue Canavan attended the Rhode Island School of Design and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration. She uses her talents in jewelry-making and in book design while searching for a job in which to utilize all her interests and talents .

Laura Graves developed a concern for children and family dynamics as an anthropology major. After graduation she enrolled in a master's program in social work at Smith College.

Jennifer Holzwarth is currently working as the bilingual Outreach Coordinator for the Hemophilia Association of San Diego County. She coordinates the program which deals specifically with the Latino community and other ethnic groups affected with hemophilia and HIV/AIDS. "Not only do I research various ethnic groups and their corresponding cultures, but I use this knowledge to tailor my interactions with clients as well as design and implement culturally specific health interventions." Jennifer is also studying to obtain her Master's in Public Health at San Diego State University. This has been a natural move for her as she has always been interested in Latino culture. After graduating from Bates, Jennifer worked in Mexico as a health educator/program coordinator for the development program Los Ninos.

These days Dianna Lee works as director of Member Services for Vermont Health Care Association, the trade organization for Vermont's nursing homes and community health care homes. The most challenging and interesting aspect of her job is observing American cultural discourse on aging and death.

Caitrin Lynch is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her interests include issues of nationalism, gender, development, and transnational processes in Sri Lanka where she has just completed fieldwork for her dissertation. She has also worked on issues of immigrant constructions of national identity in the United States and violence against women in the South Asian community.

After Bates Ellen Nam went on to teach English as a second language in Budapest, Hungary and in Massachusetts to students from South America, Asia, and Western Europe. She decided to stay in the field of education and has enrolled in the Education Department of the Antioch New England Graduate School. She is particularly interested in environmental education at the elementary school level.

Jennifer Watt has moved from teaching in Nicaragua to wilderness rangering in the state of Washington and her present job running an outdoor education program for a diverse group of people. Because the people she works with range from displaced loggers to at risk teens, her job provides her with total immersion in a variety of cultures.

As Project Coordinator for an assessment and intervention study on HIV and adolescents in New York City, Whitney Wright's job demands a strong commitment and constant unconditional sensitivity to diverse populations. Prior to taking this position, she taught Anthropology and Women's Studies at a private college in Ecuador. "My anthropology background enabled me to create that job for myself, which in turn gave me the skills and credentials to apply for a job in project development and management here in the States." Her interest in anthropology encouraged her to work outside the United States and to expand her knowledge of the world, all of which led her to her present position.

1989

Loraine Jones attended a graduate program at Johns Hopkins that focussed on law and public health. One of Loraine's main interests is women's reproductive health.

Now a third year graduate student in Anthropology at Brandeis University, Peter Muise is about to start his dissertation which will deal with the religious conversion of Americans to Native American Indian religions. In his spare time he is also involved in AIDS activism and fundraising for Boston's AIDS Action Committee, as well as education and outreach programs dealing with stereotypes for a group of Boston artists and activists.

Although she graduated from Bates with a major in biology, Andrea Nightingale found anthropology to be relevant to her graduate studies in the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota. She is interested in analyzing race, class, gender and caste relations and how they manifest themselves in different environmental conditions and different political contexts.

Hiram Sibley is a Director at the Elan School in Poland Springs, Maine. He manages a staff of Assistant Directors and plays a therapeutic role in attempting to socialize teenagers with behavioral and emotional problems. He finds that this is the most anthropologically interesting and challenging aspect of his job.

Having moved back to Germany after graduation and then on to Paris where she worked for a small company translating between English, German and French, Lauren Walsh moved to Washington D.C. in the fall of 1990 to work for an international teachers' union as an organizer and legal assistant. In 1993 she began law school at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She spent thatsummer working for the United Nations and is currently in London as part of an international law program.

1988

Laura Blair first became interested in design when she took a theater class at Bates. Later, after taking an adult education class on furniture building, she went on to the North Bennett Street School to take a two year course in cabinetmaking. She is presently working for a cabinetmaker in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she builds anything from kitchen cabinets to custom entertainment centers.

Mark Desjardins is currently teaching history, coaching various sports, and working in admissions at Hotchkiss, a secondary boarding school in Connecticut. "As an educator the greatest challenge is helping students expand their worldview by exposing them to a variety of different perspectives and experiences. I consistently use anthropological resources and authors as a guide to help students."

As the Area Admissions and Marketing Director for Sunrise Healthcare Corporation in Peabody, Mass., Betsy Flanagan finds her greatest challenge is working with people with very different personalities. The most helpful aspect of her anthropology major has been the fact that is has enabled her to learn how to acquire information from people in order to understanding them.

After Bates Jennifer Galbraith began volunteering at Planned Parenthood. After graduation she enrolled in the Master's program in Applied Anthropology at the University of Maryland to acquire skills for a job in the field of reproductive health. She is currently working on an HIV prevention program with adolescents as a Community Health Educator in Maryland. The goal of the program is to improve the health behavior of pre-adolescents and adolescents, the majority of whom are African-Americans living in low-income housing.

Benjamin Malcolm is presently serving in the Peace Corps in Thailand.

Courtney Malcolm travelled to India and Nepal after graduating from Bates and then returned to the United States to enroll in a Master's program in Broadcasting. She now works at WGBH, a public television station in Boston, as production assistant. In the future Courtney hopes to do travel documentaries with an anthropological bent. She feels strongly that her anthropology background definitely helped her get her job.

After Bates Anna Megyesi went on to obtain her Master's in Intercultural Administration from the School for International Training. She then worked in Brazil with a grassroots group which promotes social justice and environmental awareness in the Brazilian Amazon and internationally. Three years later she returned to the United States to begin working as a community representative for the American Friends Service Committee, where she works to promote peace through education and nonviolent action. Anthropology helps Anna 4analyze current social crises and understand cultural reasons behind them."

After graduating Kaja Beenhouwer Reynolds attended the University of Washington in Seattle and received a degree in Ceramic Art. She is now a self-employed potter and is looking for a job teaching pottery. In her spare time she cares for her new daughter and studies cultural differences in childbirth and childrearing practices.

James Stern enjoys looking for and finding the best solutions to people's problems as an attorney. Being able to analyze and understand the background of his clients helps him better assess their needs and determine how best to work with them. James lives in Manlius, New York.

Currently a graduate student at Purdue University Jennifer Stevens is working on an M.S. in Agricultural Economics with a specialization in international trade and development. Her interest in other cultures led her to a position in a consulting firm which conducts studies in developing countries in the areas of agricultural policy analysis, community resources, and small business development.

1987

After Bates Anna Brackett moved to New York City and became an editorial assistant for The Twentieth Century Fund, a non-profit organization that publishes public policy reports on social issues. For the past four and a half years she has been employed as an editor and designer with Guilford Press, a scholarly social science book publisher. She works with authors, copy editors, and typesetters and oversees many aspects of a book's production.

Jamie Ervin is working as the coordinator for the Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit, non-government organization. Her work involves bringing various stakeholder groups from around the world to consensus on issues concerning sustainable forest development. Jamie's background in anthropology has given her the tools with which to understand the various cultures of Switzerland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Honduras, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada, all of which she has visited as part of her job. Her junior year in Nepal and her Master's in International Management from the School for International Training have helped her a great deal in her work.

After taking three years off from school, Michelle Behm McBreen returned to pursue her Master's in Geography at the University of Cincinnati. She is presently working as the Manager of Technical Support and Training for a new Geographic Information System. Her anthropological training enables Michelle to deal with socioeconomic data in the United States and handle international issues from many other countries. Michelle lives in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Patricia Parker is a graduate student at the University of Texas in the Classical Archaeology program. Her focus is on the Aegean Bronze Age. Prior to going back to school Patricia designed and sold children's books until the variety of the academic calendar and the challenges of study and travel called her back to her former discipline.

Rochelle Rosen is living in Providence and working toward her Ph.D. in anthropology at Brown University.

After her junior year on a University of Wisconsin program in Thailand, Laura Palmer returned to Bates, graduated in anthropology, and worked for several years editing a magazine in Chicago. During the Summer of 1994 she worked as an archeologist with the U.S. Forestry Service at Gila National Park in New Mexico, before enrolling in the Public Policy School at the University of Michigan.

1986

Jonathan Green is currently working with special needs children at a preschool. He is also studying for his Ph.D. in Anthropology at Arizona State University. Jonathan is focusing on the educational issues facing the Navajo and hopes eventually to do research on the treatment of mentally-retarded Native Americans.

Janice Henderson has found her anthropology courses at Bates and her Master's in urban planning and public health particularly helpful in her present job working for an architectural firm in Seattle, Washington. She works with people from other cultures and needs to maintain a degree of sensitivity toward the different backgrounds they come from.

In keeping with his interests in gardening and the outdoors, Nicholas Lindholm holds several jobs in the fields of agriculture and horticulture. He works as the Horticultural Manager and Trial Gardens Manager at Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester, Maine. He also is a Farm Inspector for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardens Association and the founder of the Maine Seed Savers Network, an organization devoted to saving rare, threatened, and interesting seeds in order to promote the preservation of genetic diversity. Nicolas writes "I always find my anthropological training useful and insightful, and I find it to be an ever present part of my worldview."

Joanna Skiliogianis is working toward her Ph.D. in medical anthropology at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. She has just received a Fulbright Award to return to Greece (where she spent her junior year abroad) to study women's health issues.

Robin Waterman is doing adult literacy development work in El Salvador. She travels to rural communities to train literacy teachers. She also develops supplementary materials for the literacy programs on a national level. Robin received an M.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1992-3. Her work in anthropology at Bates and at Harvard helps her accomplish the goals of her program in the most effective and ethical way.

Julia Wiellette says that anthropology has contributed to her overall understanding of human development as she works with people and tfieir life crises as an attorney. Having always been interested in the relationship between society and law, Julia went on to law school after Bates and then to her present position in a small firm in Manchester, Connecticut, where she deals with residential real estate, personal bankruptcy, municipal litigation, and employment discrimination .

As the ship's attorney on the U.S.S. Nimitz, Andrew Williams' job is like that of a lawyer for a small town. Within his community he deals with criminals, law enforcement representatives, and foreign police, among others. "Mastering anthropology taught me how to think. I also learned to write. These are skills that are respected and needed everywhere."

1985

Michael Diehl worked as a computer programmer for three years after graduation. Then he enrolled as a graduate student in archaeology at SUNY at Buffalo. After he finished his ph.D., he took a job as Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky.

Steve Hughes is finishing up his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. He recently completed his fieldwork in south India and is now writing his dissertation. At Bates Steve spent his junior year in Sri Lanka on the ISLE program.

Richard Larson graduated from Bates and began touring east and west Africa until he settled in Kenya. His work involved helping to resolve land-use conflicts between wildlife and people, as well as serving as a mentor for high school and college students. After several years in Kenya he returned to the United States to obtain his Master's in Counseling Psychology at Tufts University. He now works in Saco, Maine as a children's counselor dealing with the issues of AIDS, divorce, death and grief. He also runs a summer day camp.

1984

After returning to Germany, Jole Daelen-Buddenbrook found her background in anthropology particularly helpful in transforming a young child into an adult member of society. As a mother and housekeeper, Jole has also been training to be a professional singer of classical music for the past three years.

With majors in both biology and anthropology, Yain Lu completed graduate studies in archaeology at the City University of New York. Her graduate studies continued innovative work on identifying tool functions by blood traces which she began at Bates. Shis presently employed as the senior pharmacist at a hospital and rehabilitation center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1983

After taking some time off after Bates, Krista Anderson returned to cooking school in 1985. She is presently working in Portland, Oregon as a chef where she concentrates heavily on the history of food styles, the rituals which surround food consumption, and the social and cultural significance of food. "As a manager I have found it most helpful to have had anthropology in my background. It gives me a more subtle insight into what makes people tick."

1982

Amy Hausman attended The Culinary Institute of America in order to pursue her love for diverse cultural cuisine and travel. Her education has provided her with the opportunity to travel to much of the United States and to Europe as well. She lives in Colorado, where she owns her own retail gourmet shop, that draws customers from all over the world who come to ski in Aspen.

As Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Franklin Pierce Law Center, Tim Kane worked to further institutional stability and growth. Tim found his way to this job after completing an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Columbia University. Tim is now back at Bates doing development work, serving in the Major Gifts program.

1981

Patricia Kehn Baumhoff feels that her theoretical background in anthropology "has been responsible for growing a more open mind, and for being open to different points of view other than the status quo". This plus the ability to analyze a behavior in order to understand it better and the research skills she learned at Bates have helped in her present job as a computer typesetter in a srall graphic arts company in Norway, Maine. She also finds time to work part-time for community non-profit and social change groups.

Mary-Ellen Biggs is learning a new language and culture as a student in a Sign Language Interpreter Program. Becoming an interpreter will provide her with the skills to understand first-hand what people think and why they do the things they do. Mary-Ellen now lives in Audubon, New Jersey.

After he graduated Tom Blackford worked as a guide and resource person at Norlands, a 19th century Maine "living farm museum" near Livermore Falls. Then he and his wife, Deborah (Bates 1981), worked as Peace Corps volunteers in Belize. After that they bought an inn on the Maine coast.

Jolene Vaillancourt spent her junior year abroad in Columbia. After she left Bates she worked with Spanish-speaking Americans in southern New Hampshire.

Diane Georgeson majored in biology at Bates, but did extensive work in anthropology because of her interest in the cultural context and social implications of medical practices. She graduated from the University of Vermont medical school. 1980

Andrea Eschen is currently working in the reproductive health program at the Population Council in New York City where she deals with issues of family planning, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, and postpartum and infant care needs. She has travelled to many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America where she is responsible for developing and managing interregional programs and providing support to field staff and collaborating agencies in developing countries. Fundamental background for her job was her short term to China and her thesis on family planning in India, as well as her masters degree in public health, all of which led her to the Population Council where she has been for almost eight years.

1978

Having majored in French at Bates, Jane Goodman is completing her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Brandeis University. Soon she will be combining her two interests to write a catalogue of Harvard University Berber materials. Her dissertation will examine the construction of modernity by the Kabyle Berbers through music and theater, based on fieldwork she carried out in Algeria and Paris between 1992 and 1 994.

Ann Sargent has held a number of jobs since she left Bates. She has taught at a special education school in Maine, done freelance photography, and held a position in a law firm. She is presently in school obtaining a degree in Occupational Therapy with the intention of doing fieldwork in physical disabilities when she finishes her coursework in May. Ann has found that anthropology has always been relevant to whatever work she was doing because of its focus on human cultures and societies. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.

1977

Robert Smith feels that his education at Bates was helpful in preparing him for graduate school. The understanding of the theoretical origins of SoCial work and psychotherapy which he gained from his sociology and anthropology classes proved essential to the two jobs he presently holds Robert works in the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health doing assessments, referrals, and consultations at area homeless shelters where he attempts to make sure that people get appropriate services. He also does psychotherapy with mentally ill adults on an outreach basis.

1976

Stuart Eldridge began graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania immediately after Bates. He received his M.A. in Anthropology in 1980 and his Ph.D. in 1990. He teaches Introductory Anthropology to seniors and post-graduates at Northfield-Mt. Hermon School, a four year boarding school in Northfield, Massachusetts. Stuart continues to conduct archaeological surveys and excavations on Monhegan Island in addition to running an archaeology program in Spain for NMHS summer students.

For the past six years Paul Wason has been working at Bates as the person responsible for proposals and other contact with foundations, corporations and government agencies. "On the side I have been keeping up in archaeology, and I recently completed some research and writing on the archaeology of social inequality. I am looking forward to participating in an NEH Summer Seminar led by William Denver of the University of Arizo^na on the study of religion and the development of ancient Israel. I will be using the time to design a research project on method and theory in the archaeology study of religion." Paul's book on the archaeology of rank was recently published by Cambridge University Press.

1975

Grace Goldberg moved into social work as a child protective agent and later worked with children in state custody. In 1984 she left the field to manage a health food store and has since returned to school to become a massage therapist. She lives in Damariscotta, Maine.

Kenneth Paterson is presently working as a senior consultant and market research director for a financial services consulting company in Castro Valley, California. Before he began this job, Kenneth worked in human services for United Way. Critical to both his jobs are the writing skills he learned at Bates, as well as his background in cultural anthropology, which help him deal with business on the international level

1970

Richard Morton completed his MA at the University of Connecticut in 1971 and is presently working in Vermont at the Brattleboro Savings and Loan Association and as Pastor of North Hinsdale Community Church. The latter job requires use of his anthropology background as he is interested in the Bible and in the Creation/Evolution debate.