Many of us often take our professional associations for granted. We recognize they are there and offer certain membership benefits, but if asked, we are hard pressed to name them. We also do not typically voice our appreciation to staff or board members when those associations engage in innovative and supportive activities. In this blogpost, I want to draw your attention to the good that professional associations do—particularly when they partner to invest in the future. But first, some background. (And no, this blogpost is not about monetary donations.)

Are you familiar with the Anthropology Career Readiness Network (ACRN)? If not, it is a network of more than 950 practitioners, students, and instructors with the mission to improve career preparation for anthropology students.

One of the services ACRN offers is the Departmental Advisory Initiative (DAI). In this program, experienced DAI facilitators work intensively with anthropology departments/programs to develop and implement a career readiness implementation plan, customized for them and their local context. Instructors, students, university staff, and administrators meet with two ACRN facilitators during a two-to-three-day campus visit. They review the results of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, develop an in-depth understanding of their surrounding ecosystem, brainstorm career readiness goals and objectives, and identify strategies for integrating career readiness into their curriculum and departmental programming. Once the career readiness plan is finalized, ACRN meets with the DAI departments quarterly for 12 months while they are implementing their plan.

Since DAI began in 2023, interest in it has continued to rise. Departments learn effective strategies for reconnecting with alumni, establishing relationships with Campus Career Services, building local community connections and pipelines (internship and job), and boosting anthropology enrollments. Instructors discover that their existing syllabi can be “tweaked” (not tossed) and that their courses are perceived as more useful, creative, and relevant. Undergraduate and graduate students appreciate discovering what they can do with a degree in anthropology, identifying their own anthropological skills, and learning to explain anthropology to people in their life—including to hiring managers. A recent testimonial underscores the change one professor noted: “Our undergraduate students are exhibiting greater confidence since we developed “roadmaps” for our major, minors, and concentrations, initiated career preparedness skills, and insisted students plan for internships as underclassmen.” (Jennifer Trivedi, Department of Anthropology, University of Delaware)

ACRN has been fortunate to partner with both the Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology (COPAA) which is now part of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) and the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Cognizant of the risk of departmental mergers and closures, these associations understand that career readiness is a critical part of the solution to many of the problems facing higher education today. The two associations have stepped up to support DAI by helping to defray travel costs for DAI campus visits (and there are no other costs that departments incur since ACRN is a voluntary group).

To be clear: it is not necessary to be a DAI Award recipient to participate in DAI. Facilitators can work with any department/program with an interest in career readiness. If department budgets are tight, ACRN facilitators are willing to do a public/university lecture while on campus, an offer which typically opens up funding options through the Dean’s office.

Where do you come in? Because we are living in such volatile times and because all institutions (including your alma mater) are under threat, ACRN would appreciate your help in these ways:

1. Give a “shout out” to SfAA and AAA on LinkedIn or BlueSky for supporting career readiness in such a tangible and impactful way. This task takes just a minute or two and will resonate across anthropology’s landscape.
2. Consider bringing DAI to your campus if you are an instructor.  Please contact one of the Co-Chairs directly for answers your questions and concerns:  Elizabeth.Briody@gmail.com, RWNolan@purdue.edu, JenniferGStudebaker@gmail.com
3. Ask professors you know if they are familiar with DAI. Engage them in a conversation about career readiness. You can share this ACRN tool about DAI with them, or this website link, which also includes a downloadable application form.
4. Mention the value of DAI in online or campus social media.

By working within and across networks, associations, organizations, and institutions, anthropology’s influence in higher education and the world can grow exponentially. Thanks for your help!

The post In This Season of Giving, How Might You Give Thanks? appeared first on The Anthropology Career Readiness Network.