Alumni Spotlights

Can you tell us a little bit about your career path and your current role?
Currently, I'm the curator at the Swedish American Museum, and I went to DePaul for my undergraduate degree. I studied anthropology, but I also got a double major in Mathematics. Then, I went to University College, London, for my master's degree, in mediterranean, archaeology.

What was the intention between the double major in both Anthropology and Math?
I always loved Math and actually loved calculus in high school and the challenge of it, so I decided to do that as my double major. It was a nice balance with the culturally based classes in Anthro and the mathematics being very different. There is also a lot of math is actually involved with hanging pieces and designing layouts of exhibits so it comes in handy sometimes.

How did anthropology program at DePaul prepare you for your career?
It definitely introduced me to what a job in museums could be like. I took a class anthropology and museums with Morag Kersel, and that was my first introduction into what you could even do with an anthropology degree related to museums. I always loved going to museums as a kid. I'm the person that will take forever in a museum and read everything to really soak it in so it was cool to take a class where I got to see how the degree I was doing could fit into a career. After that, I started volunteering at the Field Museum and their anthropology department, and then just kind of took off from there of being interested in working with museum collections. It also stems from just being interested in archaeology and interested in working with material culture in itself. So archaeology methods—I think the class is called where we you actually got to do some field work. That also kind of started my love of working doing hands-on work with items themselves.

Can you speak more to the field work that DePaul connected you with?
It was an archaeology field methods class, and we actually went out to Maywood in the suburbs every Friday and practiced field work. It was in a backyard but it was interesting, you know. You just kind of got experience in how to do archaeology in the field, what that is like, what kinds of things you find, and just the methods for it. After that class, I loved it, and I did a field school down in Belize where we got to dig at my insights. Then I went on to do another field project in Athens when I studied abroad in Greece, and then that kind of funneled me into being really interested in Greek archaeology, which is what I got my master's degree in. So that class back at DePaul, started that all of me going over to Greece and getting to do archaeology there, which is really fun.

How did your classmates and professor contribute to your experience?
Actually, it was one of my classmates who recommended me to volunteer at the Field Museum. So that was great, because hundreds of people apply to volunteer there so it was another anthropology friend who was already working there. And I said I was interested, so he got me into doing that which was really great since that was kind of my first step into the Chicago Museum community. Then from there, I made a lot of connections that helped me get to this position now. In addition, I've kept in contact with Morag Kersel after school, and just connecting with her has helped me stay connected to the museum and archaeology communities. A little bit. I actually just spoke in one of her classes last year so it's nice to keep those relationships.

If you could give any advice to current students in the anthropology program, or to recent alumni, what would it be?
It’s really having fun and doing a lot of different experiences to really get to know what you're interested in by taking any opportunity that comes your way. Even if you don't think it might be interesting, but just trying it out. You never know and I never expected to work at the Swedish American Museum. It's interesting working here and I’ve learned a lot. So, you never know, It might end up being what you were looking for in the end.

Could you tell me just a little more in depth about your curatorial responsibilities?
I am in charge of all of our exhibits here. We have two temporary exhibit galleries, and we change them out about every three or four months. I manage up to eight temporary exhibits a year, and then we also have our core exhibit which we just reopened. When I first started in 2021, we had just received a grant from the Institute of Museum and library services to completely redo the exhibit. I got to work with outside consultants, and Tamara Biggs, who was the director of exhibits at the Chicago History Museum. We just completely redid the exhibit and I got to completely research, write, design the new exhibit, and pick out what was going to be on display.

What are your thoughts on the value of a liberal arts and social sciences degree?
I think it's important because you really can, at least my experience with Anthro. it helped me to understand people who are different from me. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York in the Finger Lakes region, and coming to DePaul and Chicago was great because it’s a very diverse city. There's a lot of different people around and getting to be in a class where can learn how to understand different cultures and backgrounds, where people come from, different ideas, ideals, and views. I think that's really important just for life in itself. Not only in the career I have, where I'm researching and interpreting cultural material.