Anthropology Alumni
On this page you can read news from Anthropology
Alumni.
Please send additions and updates to the department
secretary.
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From Theresa (Barstow) Couch (2006)
I've been working in nonprofit development since I graduated
(2006). My first position was a Development Associate, and I worked
in all aspects of fundraising, specializing in grants. I grew that
position when we had a change in leadership and became the Grants
and Donor Relations Manager. In that new role, I grew grant revenue
from $800k to over $1.1 million, accounting from approximately 50%
of revenue for that organization. I also created new policies and
procedures relating to donor relations, data management, gift
records, gift acknowledgments, etc. Plus, I was able to supervise
interns, which really helped to grow grants.
In 2009, I accepted a Development Director position, which
included creating a real vision for the development efforts of a
small and young nonprofit. I just moved to Chicago this summer, and
am now working with The
Posse Foundation as the Development Officer. Posse is a
national organization with a Chicago office, and there are two
development staff here. We work to cultivate and build diverse
revenue sources including individual donors, foundation grants,
corporate grants & sponsorships, events and individual giving.
We are specifically responsible for raising $2 million.
Added Fall 2010
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From Courtney Bilderback (2001)
Courtney Bilderback double majored at Butler, graduating in 2001
with degrees in Anthropology (high honors) and Political Science.
After working an undergraduate fellowship in Butler's Center for
Citizenship and Community from 2001-2002, she pursued and earned an
MS (with Merit) in Anthropology and Development from the London
School of Economics. Currently, Courtney works in IT Project
Management at Supervalu in Minnesota, and is on track to finish her
MBA from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in April 2011. In
addition to her work and schooling, Courtney has served on the
European Commission in Higher Education, where she wrote, "European
Higher Education Internationalization Efforts," an article that was
published in 2004 for IIE Networker Magazine. She has also worked
for the American Cancer Society. Her future plans include pursuing
a doctoral degree. She writes, "where, when and what subject…TBD."
Added Fall 2010
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From Cossette Bellegarrigue (2005)
Cossette Bellegarrigue graduated from Butler in 2005 with a BA
in Anthropology. After graduation, she moved to Montreal,
Canada to attend a French language school, and then spent time in
Florianopolis, Brazil to learn Portuguese. At that time
Cossette received a Fellowship to attend graduate school at
University of South Florida. She received a second Fellowship
in 2007 to pursue research in the Ecuadoran Amazon and learn
Kichwa. Currently Cossette teaches as an Adjunct at State
College of Florida in Sarasota, FL, specializing in Introduction to
Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology and Intercultural
Humanities. Her goal is to find a full time position in
teaching. Cossette has traveled to over 30 countries, and
uses her experiences to give students first-hand knowledge.
Cossette was a non-major dancer at Butler, and has continued her
love of dance performing with Sarasota's School of Russian
Ballet. Added Fall 2010
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From Greg Bowers (2007)
After Greg graduated from Butler in 2007 with a BA in
Anthropology he joined the police force in West Chicago, IL.
Greg is engaged to Megan Decker, from the class of 2007.
Added Fall 2010
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From Susie Bremer (2004)
My life has come together nicely since graduation. I spent a
year as an AmeriCorps Volunteer teaching English as a Second
Language to immigrants and refugees in Pittsburgh. I now have
invitations to stay all over the world with my former students. I'm
currently working for a refugee resettling program in Pittsburgh as
an Employment Specialist. I help my clients find jobs and also
assist them in acculturation as much as possible. Several of my
clients are from Uzbekistan and I'm learning a lot about their
culture. We also have some Sudanese, Meskhetian Turks, and Somali
Bantu.
My sister, Mary, graduated from Butler this year, and being back
on campus caused all sorts of nostalgia for me!
Bonnie Cate out in the field.
"Look how dirty my arms are."
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From Bonnie Cate (2002)
I am a 2002 Butler graduate with a degree in Anthropology.
During my undergraduate experience, I was most interested in
cultural anthropology and archaeology. My Junior year I had the
opportunity to participate in an archaeological dig in Cortez,
Colorado, where I spent two weeks excavating ancient Anasazi ruins.
I have been working at Butler as the Global and Historical Studies
Program Coordinator since 2005, and I am currently finishing up a
Master's Degree in Museum Studies through IUPUI. I am doing some
volunteer work with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in the
Collections Department, where I am conducting conservation
treatments on some of the objects. I have also been working closely
with one of the curators to conduct visitor observations to see how
various exhibit elements are working out. I have completed two
internships in collections (one at the Eiteljorg Museum and another
at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis) over the past few years,
but have discovered that my interests lie more in museum education.
I have always had an interest in other cultures and life ways, and
I hope that my career as a museum professional will allow me to
create experiences for visitors that will encourage them to think
about cultures and ideas that are different from their own. I am
currently engaged, and will be getting married in July 2011 after I
graduate from my Master's program. Updated Fall
2010
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From April Collette (2003)
Its been a long time-approximately a year-since I have last Its
been a long time-approximately a year-since I have last written to
you. And indeed a lot has changed! This past fall, I received my
MSc (with merit) from LSE in urbanization and development studies
in the department of geography. I was actually glad to end my time
in London and would honestly say that I wouldn't recommend my
program or my department at LSE to anyone else. Probably the best
experience for me there was writing my thesis, "Governing Urban
Informality: A Case Study of Street Vending in Sao Paulo " for
which I went to Brazil for about 3 weeks to do fieldwork. That was
an incredible experience…
I returned to the states in October and got a job at an
international economic development consulting firm called
International Business Initiatives (IBI) in late November in the
Washington DC area. I was really looking for a job in either
political or social development, nevertheless, when Its been a long
time-approximately a year-since I have last written to you. And
indeed a lot has changed! This past fall, I received my MSc (with
merit) from LSE in urbanization and development studies in the
department of geography. I was actually glad to end my time in
London and would honestly say that I and the newly independent
states of the former soviet union. I'm learning all the ins and
outs of USAID and the World Bank, which is, of course, very
interesting;) Also, I'm trying to help IBI break into Latin America
, which is what I focused on at LSE. But for now, it looks like I
will be traveling to either Ukraine or Romania in the spring. It
looks like my perseverance in all those economics classes that I
took at Butler and LSE paid off and I would really recommend
anthropology students at Butler to take similar econ courses. In
fact I would welcome e-mails from any of your students who are
interested in getting into the development field or who would like
to know more about it.
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From Lisa Markus (1999)
I graduated in 1999 with majors in Anthropology and French.
From 1999 to 2007, I worked in residential treatment
programs serving children and adolescents with developmental
disabilities and mental illness diagnoses. I began as a
direct caregiver, then became a case manager and ultimately managed
a home in New York for some really amazing people as part of Easter
Seals New York. Anthropology was not an expected degree path
for the positions I held, but my studies in anthropology taught me
it was imperative to understand the kids on their terms.
Given the very unique constellations of diagnoses, needs, and
experiences of these exceptional people, it seemed each child had
developed a culture of his or her own with particular norms and
expectations. Our task was to find ways for one's particular
way of viewing and interacting with the world to work better with
that of the community around them. In 2007, I returned to
Butler to coordinate the Honors Program from which I graduated, and
indulge in the luxuries of working in an academic setting.
Here I am enjoying the challenges of working with a different group
of outstanding students. I'm taking classes in natural and
social sciences with long-term intentions to pursue graduate
studies in public and global health. Added Fall
2010
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From Maggie (Maxwell) Morales (2006)
I am currently working for Zion Township and CREW, Inc.
(Community Resources for Education and Wellness) as their Community
Development Manager in Zion, IL. I spend most of my time working
with a coalition called Partners for an Enriched Community and
establishing more social service agencies within Pearce Community
Resource Center. I'm finishing up my masters in Social Justice in
Intercultural Relations in February! Finally! Added Fall
2010
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From Sarah Napoli-Rangel(2000)
After attending Butler University, Sarah spent a year teaching
English in Japan. This peaked her interest in travel and she
has since traveled or worked in Canada, Guatemala, Australia,
Ireland, England, Italy, Hawaii and all over the USA. She
returned to school Fall of 2004 to pursue an MA in Social Justice
in Intercultural Relations. While taking classes at the School for
International Training, she worked for the SIT Youth Campus with
youth from all over the world, especially conflict regions.
She graduated in 2007 with her MA. After a short stint as a
social justice educator at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
she now works as the Director of Service Learning at a small
community college, Inver Hills outside of St Paul, MN. She
recently got married in 2010 to a local twin cities Hip Hop artist,
SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE. Sarah has presented at several regional
and National conferences, including NCORE in 2008 with her session
on theatre of the oppressed. In her free time she enjoys
working with the Civic Engagement Project in Chicago and
volunteering in the twin cities. One of her favorite agencies
to work with are Paul Newman's camps for seriously ill children and
teens, Hole in the Wall camps. Google Barretstown in
Ireland! Added Fall 2010
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From Abby Pickens (2003)
I have just finished the first year in Indiana
University-Bloomington's Ph.D. program in Anthropology. My focuses
within social-cultural anthropology are gender, social movements
and resistance, and I plan to conduct fieldwork in Poland. I am
hoping to pursue a career as a research anthropologist and an
anthropology professor at a small liberal-arts college. I am now
undertaking summer language classes in Krakow.
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From David Thielemeier (2001)
I am sure you are wondering what I have been up to. I will start
you off with after the wedding. Toby and I had a great Honeymoon in
Tuscany. Right now I am sitting at my desk with a beautiful picture
of her sitting on the ledge of our Villa in Tuscany with vineyards
and cypress trees in the background. It was a really great
experience other than the weather. For some reason May decided to
be as cold as an Italian December (according to the locals). As you
probably can tell, we had a wonderful time...just really great
time...
Then we came back to St. Louis and pounded the pavement looking
for new jobs. Both of our jobs had grown stale...Toby's especially.
Well after a summer of frustration and doors closing in our face
and talks of moving to a different city, Toby finally got great
news. She received an offer for a great engineering firm in St.
Louis. About two weeks later, I was called in for an interview with
an up and coming St. Louis based insurance company. Needless to
say, I received an offer too. Both of us started new jobs at the
end of October and we are both really happy.
So basically now I work for company called Centene Corporation
that manages Medicaid insurance across the county. I deal with
claim investigation to see why providers are not being paid. All in
all I am really happy with the job and the opportunity. I see a lot
of potential with Centene in the future too. Last fall I also
started taking pre-rec courses for pursuing an MBA. I am taking
Microeconomics this semester and took Accounting last semester at
the local Community College...It sure is strange being back in the
class room and not having my anthropology buddies around. As far as
the MBA goes...I don't know. There is really good tuition
reimbursement where I am working so I think that I could go to Wash
U and get a MBA from a top 25 program and have most of it paid
for...seems like a no brainer, right! Well, I am planning on taking
the GMAT sometime in the next three or four months and then I will
see what is out there.
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From Alicia Viani (2003)
I'm living in Eugene Oregon now. I've returned from teaching in
Prague and am working at an outdoor high school here for "at risk"
youth. It's one of the most difficult jobs I've ever tackled,
though I can't remember loving any work I've done more. The kids
are all a little hung up on emotional baggage, but they're
wonderful people. We spend every other week outside, doing
conservation and restoration work in the woods around Oregon,
building hiking trail, or teaching ecology.
When I'm in the classroom, I teach an anthropology class every
day! It's SUCH a great thing in my life right now! You understand
me completely when I say that you look at the students faces and
see their minds working in ways that they never have before, and
challenging their sense of reality, and it makes you feel so good.
I'm doing an introductory class, and we basically have heaps of
class discussions rather than accomplish any sort of classroom
work, but that's what these guys need now. I could go on and on
about things I've heard them say and the racism that drips from
their words-they definitely need eye-opening conversation.
So as the job is temporary, I'm looking for work for next year,
and am applying for a couple graduate degrees as well, such as the
Intercultural Youth and Family Development Program at the
University of Montana. I know for certain that I want to be
involved in counseling and youth outreach (I love working with high
school aged kids) and having the cultural stimulation would keep me
happy, too.