Alumni

Hannah Harvey (2023)

I graduated from PLU in 2023 with bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Global Studies. I knew I wanted to work in a nonprofit in a community I cared about, so I moved back to my hometown of Juneau, Alaska and started working at an emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth ages 10-17. I started as a basic youth development leader, helping with the day-to-day operations of the shelter like cooking dinner and hanging out with kids, but quickly moved up to working as an advocate, or case manager, for the kids coming to the shelter. This involved connecting kids to mental health resources, coordinating with OCS to find placements for kids in state custody, supervising family mediations, and working with kids on the problems that brought them to shelter. Now, I am the Outreach Coordinator and Shelter Administrator. I have been working on developing advertising materials for the shelter, getting the word out in the community, meeting with school counselors and hosting lunch groups in the schools to connect with potential kids, applying for grants, starting a Safe Place program in Juneau, and much more! I’ve used my background in anthropology to learn more about how mental illness, substance use, poverty, and childhood trauma impact at-risk youth in our communities and develop better practices for addressing them. It has been incredibly rewarding to do this work in my home community and I hope to continue making Juneau a better place for our kids!

Paris M. Franklin (18) (she/her/hers)

I hold a BA in Anthropology from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming. I am currently a PhD student in the Anthropology Department at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, Canada. For my dissertation research, I am working alongside a First Nation community in British Columbia to better understand diet along the Pacific Coast prior to colonization. Before beginning my PhD program, I worked as a full-time archaeologist for the Seattle office of Willamette Cultural Resources Associates and the Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, Oregon.

I would not have become an archaeologist or pursued additional anthropology degrees if I had not attended PLU; I came in as an undeclared major, but found anthropology through an engaging general education course taught by an archaeologist. I immediately dove into other classes in the department and declared my anthropology major by the end of my first year at PLU. One of my favorite parts about studying anthropology at PLU was the opportunity to work closely with the fantastic faculty and explore my intellectual curiosities through the department’s four field approach. I am also grateful for the opportunities I had to learn how to conduct independent archaeological research and the many professionalization opportunities in the program. I genuinely realized my professional passions and met some of my favorite people because of my time in the anthropology department at PLU!

Sara Stiehl (2014)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead.

A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens that can change the world is exactly what Pacific Lutheran University has in its Anthropology Department.

Having had the pleasure to interact and take classes from each of the Anthropology faculty members from 2009 to 2014, I must acknowledge that not only does each of these faculty members specialize in their own fields and regions, but they also have their own unique sense of humor, engagement, and way of teaching.

The secret was finding out how they taught and creating a hybrid between their style and my learning style. This offered the best opportunity to get to know not only the topic being taught, but the individual standing at the front of the room. Once I took the time to get to know the professors, a world of stories, laughter, and knowledge far beyond recognition was exposed to me.

This can be seen through the excitement that Akiko Nosaka brings when she teaches East Asian Cultures as she draws Japanese characters on the board, breaking down their symbolic value, and weaving personal stories into her lectures. You’ll find Bradford Andrews, the man with two first names, placing his own unique humor into each PowerPoint in Introduction to Biological Anthropology. Laura Klein will wear a piece of jewelry that always has a tale to tell, and she’ll casually tell stories in Anth 480 about the time she interacted with some of the great names in Anthropology. Walk into David Huelsbeck’s office and you’ll find artifacts from the Makah reflecting his time on Ozette beach. Have the honor of going to Neah Bay with him and you’ll find that your professor is one of the most respected and loved people by the Makah Nation. Sit down for a discussion with Elizabeth Brusco and even if your topic of interest isn’t in her direct line of research, it is guaranteed that you will walk out with a new clarity on your ‘big question’ along with four other anthropologists to read. Taking Nation, State, and Citizen with Steven Thomson, you’ll find yourself learning more about the world around you, its structure, power, and politics through real life examples of abiding traffic laws to his travels in the Gambia, than you could ever get through years of self study.

Each professor offers a piece of themselves in their classes and taking the time to get to know them, their passions, and their teaching styles offered me more than a new found passion in Anthropology; it offered me a multitude of mentors. These mentors assisted me on my travels to Neah Bay for Tribal Journeys, Akiak, Alaska to work on a alternative education summer school program designed to incorporate local knowledge to the Yup’ik youth, and with the time I spent in rural Thailand working with subsistence communities both as a student as a graduate. Each of these professors took the time to help me process my transformative time in Thai communities through finding comfort in those that had questioned development, marginalization, resistance, and politics before me. It was department that encouraged me to extend my network of anthropological peers by attending the American Anthropological Conference in San Francisco where I presented a poster on identity creation and resistance. It was the support of the faculty of this department that, even in times of transition, helped me to succeed in my classes and to successfully apply for graduate school. To this day, I experience continual motivation while on my current journey in graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder in Cultural Anthropology.

The Anthropology program at PLU is a community, borderless and abundant. It extends far beyond place and time. Students maintain connections after graduation across the U.S and world, far beyond the reaches of the Xavier building. You grow with a cohort of peers throughout your time, solidifying your bond in Anth 480 as you dive into years of anthropological theory and continue supporting each other through your final capstone presentations in Anth 499. It is not only a community of relationships, but also of its own material culture. From the skeletons in the anthro lab decorated in their Hawaiian garb to the ‘idea’ notebooks you gain at the start of your question exploration, the department is its own community and has its own culture within PLU. The department’s complexity and uniqueness culminates at the end of the year bowling party, when I encourage those just about to graduate to stop and take a moment to just observe. Observe the new incoming majors timid and nervous to get to know their professors, the second or third years that causally talk to a professor or two before retreating to the safety of their peers, and then take a look at your own cohort. You will probably find yourself joking around with faculty about a theory paper that still needs work or a penultimate draft that is almost due. By the time you graduate, your years of hard work will have built respect and trust with your department peers, and the formalities between professor and student will have lightened. As the department continues to change and take new shapes, it will always have roots in the quirky individuals that love to learn and love to teach. I must say thank you to the Anthropology Faculty at PLU, for helping me find my niche and place within the discipline, I hope to see you all at an AAA conference in the future.

Elizabeth Kurtenbach (2012)

When I graduated from PLU in 2012 with my anthropology degree, my parents told me: “you’ll never find a job.”  Challenge accepted.

Fast forward almost two years, now I work for Bank of New York Mellon – Analytics and Product Services Department in project management support.  At the beginning of my senior year I was convinced I would go to graduate school in Applied anthropology, specifically Medical Anthropology.  PLU provided the avenue for me to find one of my passions and I wanted to pursue it.  Then my personal reality hit: I added up my student loan debt.  It definitely wasn’t a number that made me happy about acquiring more debt in graduate school.  So, pushing senior year dream aside, I made myself a new dream.  Stay in Tacoma, get a “real job”, and don’t move in with my parent’s after graduation.

As anthropology majors you have many skills employers are looking for.  It is all about how you spin it.  Most companies are global, seeking employees who are adaptable and seeking employees who are culturally aware.  My best interviews were when I focused on anthropology and shared how it could help their global business.  Specifically how an anthropology major aids in cross-site communication.  My office works with other offices in the UK and India on a daily basis.  Honestly, when I created my new dream to stay in Tacoma and get a “real job” I thought I was putting my dream of practicing anthropology on the back burner.  Boy was I wrong.  I use my anthropology degree on a daily basis.  From creating PowerPoints on cities to educate my co-workers on where our visiting associates are coming from, to using it to determine how the individual culture of a team works, to countless other daily tasks.  Your anthropology degree can be used anywhere.  You just have to think outside the box.

Good luck!

Megan Garbett (2010)

I graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2010 with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. During my senior year, I began working at the PLU Archives and Special Collections and discovered my love for working with rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts. I went on to earn my M.A. in History-Archives and Records Management at Western Washington University. After graduation, I spent a year as a temporary processing archivist for the National Park Service in Tucson, Arizona.  During my time there, I was processing records for Mesa Verde National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Grand Teton National Park. My studies in archaeology came in handy here, as many of the records were archaeological reports and studies. I was recently hired as Archivist at the Point No Point Treaty Council in Poulsbo, which provides natural resource management and treaty rights preservation services to its member tribes. I have always felt that my love of anthropology led me down this career path. I use many of the skills I gained at PLU every day in attempting to understand the who, what, why, where, when, and how of the records I am working to preserve, and to understand the human element behind the paper.

Erin McLaughlin (2005)

I graduated in Spring 2005 and immediately traveled back to Ireland to work and live. I worked at their National Coaching and Training Centre (University of Limerick) as an Event Coordinator, working with the Beijing Olympic Planning Committee on an International High-Performance Coaching Forum. I then moved to Dublin, Ireland to work with GTI Publishers on the Irish national graduate career website, GradIreland as an assistant event coordinator and sales representative. During my time in Ireland, my work with high-performance athletes stirred up my interest in psychology and mental health. I came back to the U.S. to begin a Masters program in Mental Health Counseling at the University of Northern Iowa. I am currently in my second year of coursework, and in May 2008, will be moving to Anchorage, Alaska to begin my internship with Hope Community Resources. My tentative plans are to begin research in psychological anthropology on the need for nature in holistic wellness. I was an AmeriCorps Naturalist with Hartman Reserve Nature Center this last year, nor that my emphasis in my masters program is in adventure therapy and nature therapy, If that could be added, it’d be great!

Life here is busy (if it weren’t, how boring it would be!) and very good. I am currently lining up my internship for this counseling program. I am going to be supervising an undergrad class on a May Term trip to Alaska for social work with Hope Community Resources. In gaining experience with that organization during the trip, it is pretty likely I will stay up there for my internship credit as a full-time therapist. Have you ever heard the saying “go and find where the world’s greatest need meets your greatest passion?” I feel like that is what is happening right now. Alaska is an amazing natural location, filled with adventure opportunities, and the cultural diversity is always of interest to me, as well as being able to provide support to the people. As I feel out the situation there, I am really hoping to consider a PhD track in psychological anthropology. However, at this point, my eyes are feeling a bit cross-eyed from all of my research and studying! 😉 I am the Graduate Assistant for my program. It’s fun (sometimes I question myself for enjoying being in the middle of the stacks at the library…).

Heidi Richardson-Topete (1998)

Since graduation in 1998 (has it already been nearly 10 years??!!) I have worked hard at being spontaneous and following my heart. As a result, I worked in international marketing for a couple of years and then decided to go to school for Interior Design. I started working for IKEA at the time as a means to pay for school. However, 8 years later, I’m still there and still loving it! Not only is IKEA an international company with a philosophy and vision I can support, it also allows me the opportunity to be paid to travel and satisfies my competitive side. I was married in 2001 to my husband, Gustavo, who is from Mexico. We currently have two beautiful girls, Alejandrina (3) and Sofia (1). Motherhood is unbelievable in every way. What a joy. What else can I say, life is good!

Derek Beery (1995)

Derek makes the news!  Read the article here.