Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres," at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In recent years, the discipline of historical archaeology has made concerted efforts to break down both perceived and real boundaries that have been built between academic, cultural resource/heritage management, non-profit, and museum spheres. Yet, professionals from each of these archaeologically-based careers often feel siloed as they are encouraged by employers to focus their portfolios on increasingly specialized research, policy, teaching, and community engagements. Newly minted and established professionals are equally influenced by this institutional gatekeeping, as they make choices to either stay on a given trajectory or forge new pathways. This session seeks to highlight and offer guidance to historical archaeologists attempting to weave collaborative fluidity, methodological ingenuity, and interdisciplinary practices into the tapestry of their careers. The diverse and creative set of individuals presenting will unpack the complementary yet alternative steps they have taken to center the relevancy and purpose of archaeology in the 21st century.

Other Keywords
collaboration • Careers • Academia • professional development • Preservation • Mitigation • Education • Historical Archaeology • Archaeology • Planning

Geographic Keywords
North America • Southeast • United States • Boston, Massachusetts, United States • National

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)

  • Documents (12)
Documents
  • Across the Great Divide: The Relationship Between CRM and Academia In The Modern World (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Wagner. Ryan Campbell. Chris Stantis. Matthew Greer.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Authors: Mark Wagner, Ryan Campbell, Matthew Greer, Chris Stantis Cultural Resource Management (CRM) developed as a field of practice within Anthropology in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, “applied” archaeology has become a major field of...

  • Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology Benchmarking Survey Project, 2024 (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Amy M. Mitchell-Cook. Jennifer McKinnon.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2014, ACUA created the first Job Market and Benchmarking Survey project to discern perceived and real deficiencies in professional qualifications of maritime archaeology students. The project provided valuable data concerning what...

  • Alternative Careers in Archaeology: Do They Exist? An Examination of Federal Curation and Museum Careers with an Archaeological Background (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Laylah Roberts.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Archaeology has always lent itself to be a diverse field of study, and many archaeologists have earned their degrees and flourished in alternative careers. As an archaeologist in a federal curation/museum position, I have been placed in a...

  • Bridging Past and Present: Applying Archaeological Skills to Urban Planning (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lindsay Randall.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Urban planning may seem an unlikely career for an archaeologist, yet archaeology's insights into human behavior, cultural evolution, and historical legacies help address modern social, economic, and political issues. This relevance is...

  • Choose Your Own Adventure: Navigating Archaeological Career Trajectories in Different Employment Sectors (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kimberly Kasper. Zuzana Chovanec.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In the last two decades, the career trajectories in archaeology and related fields have greatly diversified in light of changing social, political, and economic landscapes. However, many institutions of higher education have been slow to...

  • The City of Boston Archaeology Program: Community Empowerment at the Confluence of Urban Planning and Preservation (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only E. Nadia Kline.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Founded in 1983 in response to the significant archaeological discoveries unearthed during the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the Big Dig), the City of Boston Archaeology Program initially focused on facilitating data recovery and curating...

  • Economic, Social, And Political Landscapes In Transition: Collaborating Across Matrices To Sustain Anthropological Archaeology For The Future (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Helen C. Blouet.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. How do we as archaeologists, with a number of different roles and responsibilities, bring organizations together to support and sustain archaeology in present and future generations within our communities? This paper provides a space in...

  • Floors That Need Swept: Unexpected Opportunities and Unlikely Paths in Archaeology (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Timothy A Parsons.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. While university programs struggle to prepare early career archaeologists for opportunities beyond the academy and while we are often trained as specialists within our field, many of us find success beyond our silos by accepting unexpected...

  • From The Known To The Unknown: The Case For Mentorship In Advancing Archaeology Careers (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Suanna Crowley.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Mentoring relationships act as engines of opportunity for launching or sustaining careers, but are relatively rare in archaeology circles. Mentors serve as resource libraries, professional confidants, and entry points into broader...

  • Research, Education, and Mitigation: Sometimes Successful Bedfellows (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tracy H. Jenkins. Kandace D. Hollenbach. William A. Joseph.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In advance of construction of a new dormitory on the University of Tennessee campus in 2024, UT and Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., worked together to document a Civil-War rifle trench and postbellum house lots. A finely-tuned...

  • Stretching the Envelope of Archaeology, from Museum Work to Women’s Studies (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexander Konieczny. Suzanne Spencer-Wood.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Defining archaeology as the science of material culture makes it relevant to most professions and academic disciplines because material culture is integral to all aspects of culture. Historical archaeology is an interdisciplinary field...

  • There and Back Again: When the Archaeological Career Path Turns into a Journey (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katharine R. Reinhart. M. Claire Norton.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Breaking Free from the (Institutional) Matrix: Archaeological Career Pathways In and Between Academia, CRM, Non-Profit, and Museum Spheres", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The rate at which historical archaeology is expanding in today’s world pushes many archaeologists to feel rushed into finding and filling niches after graduation. As a result, real world work experience quickly reveals that careers in...