One student recently won a Ford Foundation Minority Graduate Fellowship, and others have had a good record of getting support for graduate study. Personal Attention Faculty-student collaboration in anthropology leads naturally to a high level of individual attention for students. More than faces in a class, majors may be assistants in the field, co-authors of papers or junior professionals in the various laboratories. Some take part in regional and national meetings. The department's undergraduate research coordinator helps match a student interested in doing research with the appropriate faculty member and project.
Majors present reports on their research to the department at an annual Undergraduate Research Day.
They also have opportunities to hear successful graduates of the department talk about their careers at the annual Leaders in Anthropology Career Day. That alumni group is central to the department's efforts to provide an increased number of internship opportunities for students and an informal network for job seeking and job counseling. By putting class study into practice through actual projects, not just exercises, majors develop skills that will help them become practicing anthropologists. Those who have preceded them have been valuable contributors to fields as varied as internationally oriented businesses, schools, hospitals, foundations and government agencies. Because they are versatile and open-minded, they tolerate complex situations, they have good skills in data gathering and analysis, and they can handle cultural and linguistic differences and rapid change.