When the American Anthropological Association offered its Undergraduate Research Fellows program in 2019–2020, the intent was not only to obtain ethnographic insights into the college‐workforce transition for anthropology majors, but also to provide a meaningful educational experience to the participating student‐researchers. Previously (Ginsberg and Jackson, this issue), we have situated the fellowship program with reference to ethnography of higher education and native ethnography; in this paper, by contrast, we contextualize it with scholarship on high‐impact practices in undergraduate education, including research opportunities, collaborative assignments, and community‐based learning. We then present reflections from the student‐researchers themselves regarding what they learned through participation in the fellows program. In their reflections, the fellows describe a process of becoming more central members of three overlapping communities of practice: the AAA research team, their respective home departments, and the discipline of anthropology overall. We conclude by discussing reasons why anthropology is particularly well suited to provide undergraduate research opportunities, and why doing so would strengthen the discipline as well.
This case study explores an eight-semester Peer Educator Program in the Department of Anthropology at the (school blinded) to train undergraduates in teaching practices, craft spaces of partnership, and expand learning within large General Education courses. Peer Educators self-select from any major and gain knowledge on lesson planning and facilitation, working in small groups to decide content, plan, and teach bonus sessions for introductory courses. We argue that peer-to-peer teaching reworks lines of responsibility within and around classrooms such that student agency is cultivated both for students engaged in partnership activities and those taught by student partners. Peer education thus becomes a hinge around which authority is shifted and educational agency enacted in Students as Partners programs might be extended to wider student populations. Authors include two undergraduate Peer Educators and the faculty coordinator.
This article explores the resources that are available, or should be made available, to support college‐to‐career transitions for undergraduate anthropology students. Using mixed methods, this research was conducted by undergraduate anthropology students at a small Christian college in Illinois and at a large public university in Kentucky, in conjunction with a wider project for the American Anthropological Association. Based on our two case studies, we argue that students, faculty, and career centers often do not effectively work together to provide and utilize career resources for anthropology majors. This lack of collaboration leads to students feeling underresourced and undersupported. This is partially due to student disinclination to use career center resources but also a result of the way career centers present themselves to students and faculty's inattention toward facilitating a connection between them. We end with recommendations for departments, career centers, and students to facilitate resource availability and use.
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