Involve Me and I Learn: Archaeology, Experiential Education, and Collaborative Research with SUU Undergrads

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

By partnering with federal land agencies, local landowners and developers, regional non-profit organizations, state museums, and county libraries, Southern Utah University (SUU) archaeology students gain access to valuable experiential learning opportunities, build their professional resumes, practice service learning, and help educate the public about the importance of preserving the past. This presentation focuses on SUU’s forays into community archaeology and public-private partnerships in the Colorado Plateau region, specifically discussing our past archaeological field schools in Kanab and New Harmony, Utah, and our ongoing collaborative work with the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance in the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon. In addition to conducting fieldwork, our undergraduate students help design and serve as docents for local exhibits on archaeology and anthropology. Beyond contributing to our understanding of the ancient inhabitants of the region and providing professional development opportunities for our students, we find that these projects help foster friendly cooperation between ‘the public’ and academic and government researchers in a region where local distrust of ‘government' is all too common.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26098