Where are they now?
The anthropology department is called home by many successful Anthropology undergraduates and graduate students.
Bridget Hansen Quote Heading link
The summer after graduation, I worked at the Field Museum as a research intern for an ethnographic project “Cultivating Well-being: the Social and Ecological Effects of Urban Gardening” directed by Molly Doane and Alaka Wali. For the 2016-2017 school year I completed a Fulbright grant in Bahrain, working part time as an English teacher and as a researcher. Currently, I am enrolled as a Ph.D student in cultural and medical anthropology at Emory University, where I received a five-year fellowship to do research on mental illness and globalization in Arabian Gulf countries, i.e. Oman and Bahrain. I also received the NSF-GRFP in 2017 to support graduate work.
| Nasrin Mahani Award Winner
Kara Zamora Heading link
In 2013 I was accepted as a graduate student at California State University-East Bay…I was hired by Dr. Knight part time as her Research Assistant, and remained at UCSF in that role until I came to the San Francisco VA in 2015. As a Qualitative Researcher in the VA with a Master’s in Applied Anthropology, I work in an interdisciplinary team that works on regional and national research projects focused on issues related to access to mental health care among rural veterans, on integrative chronic pain management, and on patient and provider chronic pain education. If I had to give any advice to undergraduate students in the Anthropology Department at UIC, I would say–keep showing up. Professional development in this discipline takes time (it’s a long game), so take the time and make the effort to cultivate every relationship and to explore every opportunity.Lastly, remember that there are many opportunities for anthropologists beyond the academy. So, keep at it!
William McSurley (BA, 2009) Heading link
I graduated from UIC’s Honor’s College in 2009, earning my bachelor’s degree in Anthropology summa cum laude and with Highest Honors from the Anthropology Department…Following graduation from UIC I enrolled in law school, where I pursued a passion for legal advocacy engendered by the sociocultural anthropology classes I took while an undergraduate. I subsequently earned my Juris Doctorate magna cum laude, in 2012. Today, I am well-established and respected in my career practicing law full time in Chicago. Still, anthropology remains critically important to me personally and professionally—an anthropological perspective grounds my view both of the world and my cases. Further, as an attorney I rely every day upon modes of thought and methods of analysis acquired through the varied and challenging coursework of UIC’s Anthropology Department. Ultimately, I credit UIC’s Anthropology Department with giving me the foundation of intellectual rigor that I needed to succeed through law school and into my career as an attorney.