AAPA Meeting Career Development Committee News

The AAPA Career Development Committee is presenting a session at the 2008 Columbus meeting entitled "Open Forum: Q&A with the Committee." The session is on Wednesday, April 8 from 6:30-7:45 pm in the Knox Room. Anyone who is, or will eventually be looking for an academic or other job related to physical anthropology is invited to attend. We want your input at this session about how we can better help and prepare you for getting a job in your chosen field. We will then incorporate your suggestions into future, more specific sessions (e.g., how to make a CV; how to interview, etc.). The Committee consists of a range of physical anthropologists, including: a Ph.D. student, individuals in traditional university teaching positions, and clinical- and medical-oriented professionals.The individuals on Career Development Committee are:

Committee Chair:
Dr. Joel D. Irish
Professor and Chair
Curator of Biological Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
310 Eielson Building
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7720
(907) 474-6755
ffjdi@uaf.edu

Committee Members:
Dr. D. Troy Case
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Dept of Sociology & Anthropology
Box 8107
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-9024
dtcase@server.sasw.ncsu.edu

Dr. Marquisa LaVelle
Professor of Anthropology
Dept of Sociology/Anthropology
505 Chafee Hall
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02892
(401) 874-4077
mlavelle@uri.edu

Marilyn R. London
Lecturer
Department of Anthropology
1111Woods Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 933-1973
mlondon@hers.com

Dr. Linda M. Gerber
Director, Biostatistics and Research Methodology Core
Professor of Public Health and Medicine
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
411 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 746-2153
lig2002@med.cornell.edu

Dr. Elizabeth Miller
Associate Professor
California State University, LA
Dept of Anthropology
5151 State University Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90032
(323) 343-2442
emiller@calstatela.edu

Kent Johnson
Department of Anthropology
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
(480) 965-6213
kent.m.johnson@asu.edu

Dr. Alan S. Ryan
Executive Director of Clinical Research
Martek Biosciences Corp
6480 Dobbin Road
Columbia, MD 21045
(443) 542-2591
alryan@martekbio.com

Frequently Asked Questions about Careers in Physical Anthropology

As part of an expansion of the Careers in Physical Anthropology portion of the AAPA website, the Career Development Committee has created this page on which frequently asked questions from students, or new Ph.D.’s, can be answered by the Committee.  In the interest of helping as many people as possible, the Committee would like to encourage people to send questions to the Chair of the Committee, Dr. Joel Irish at ffjdi@uaf.edu.  Questions can cover anything related to preparing for a career in physical anthropology (e.g., coursework, CV, job talks, interviewing, meeting talks, etc.).  They will then be forwarded to the Committee for input, and those deemed most generally applicable will be posted here with a response from the Committee. 

A recent Ph.D. graduate writes in with the following comments:

"Dear Career Development Committee:

I have discovered an inconvenient surprise at the end of my doctoral training. Other graduate students might find this information helpful on the 'Careers in Physical Anthropology FAQ' page... My intention was to defend my dissertation and use the time between the defense and the start of a post-doc to publish my dissertation research. To my surprise, many journals consider re-using data first published in a dissertation self plagiarism. Moreover, my university has encouraged all students to publish their dissertations in an open access online database. While open access is a promising idea, many publishers refuse to publish data that has previously been published in such a database.

Best,

Name Withheld"

Career Development Committee response:

Thanks for the input; however, we do not believe the problem you mention is as serious as you maintain. It is common practice to publish journal articles out of your dissertation OR to actually publish your diss in book format through an actual publisher. Many people we know have done this to some extent. Your dissertation is not technically published, in the sense of going through an actual publisher; it is instead publish-on-demand. Your university making you publish your diss on line is becoming more common. But again, as far as we know, it should not prohibit you from using the data to write articles, a published book, etc. However, any greater insight from publishers or other individuals with knowledge on this matter would be greatly appreciated. We will post your information on this page. Thanks you. The Career Development Committee.

For an initial couple of questions, the committee created the following:.

Question: "I've heard that putting together a 'five-year plan' is a good idea
for job interviews.  Is that true, and what information should I include?"

Answer: Anything that will show you're seriously prepared for a career in academia will help.  So a list of what you hope to accomplish within five years of your Ph.D. (i.e., articles, research, teaching, etc.), can be invaluable.  Interviewers will always ask candidates about their future plans.  If you haven't really thought about them, and you just fumble through some vague answers, that won't look good.  If you have something concrete on paper/disk, along with copies of your CV, reprints, syllabi, etc., it can only help you (as long as your CV isn't a visual aberration, and you've actually put some thought into those syllabi - topics for future FAQ's?).


Question: "How important is it to dress-up when at a job interview?" 

Answer:  Most people make some sort of fashion statement in how they dress - even if the statement is "I'm a free spirit - I don't care what you think about my clothes!"  But there are certain situations where appropriate dress is important.  A job interview is a very important event for all parties involved.  If you show-up without a thought to your appearance, there's a very real chance you'll send one of two messages to the interviewers: (1) "I'm not that serious about this job," or (2) "I'm so self-absorbed that I can't be bothered to change my appearance for anything." The plain fact is, unless you already know everyone there, you can't anticipate what to expect.  So, until you know better, dress for respect.  The point is not to pretend to be something you aren't (e.g., a power suit).  The point is to simply show respect for those around you.