Training Public Archaeologists: Shaping the Future of Archaeology

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Training Public Archaeologists: Shaping the Future of Archaeology," at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the closing remarks of his 2017 Presidential Address, SHA President Joe Joseph reminded us to "be public archaeologists first, historical archaeologists second." Such a proclamation reflects the growing need for archaeologists to be publicly facing with their work, whether that be through daily interactions, museums, government, cultural resource management, or community engaged scholarship. This panel seeks to examine the way we are preparing our students and colleagues to be public archaeologists. It questions whether or not there are important skills that can be learned that will benefit future archaeologists. What are the best ways to teach public archaeology? What skills are necessary to teach? What pedagogical tools are there to provide this experience? How can undergraduate and graduate programs teach their students these skills? How can museums, firms, and other institutions train their staff to build these skillsets?