Higher education


The adjunct crisis and archaeology

Depending on your sources, between 49 and 66% of all college professors are adjuncts. Full-time, untenured faculty composes 19 percent of professors, which means, at most, only a third of professors are on the tenure track. As a PhD student, I’ve been steadily encouraged to keep up hope about becoming […]

At least half of university professors are overworked adjuncts

When it comes to historic preservation writing in Tucson, play it safe

How I got my first D in graduate school 2

This weekend, the unthinkable happened. I got a 60% on an assignment in one of my historic preservation graduate seminars. I haven’t done this poorly on an assignment since 9th grade geometry. How the hell did this happen?


Bringing a Slice of the Archives to the Internet: the River Street Digital History Project

As a long-time historical archaeologist working in cultural resource management, I’ve been overjoyed to see how much archival information has been brought to the internet. I do not think there will ever be a day when a visit to the archives is no longer necessary, mainly because most archival repositories […]


Paychecks will do much to increase minorities in archaeology

How to get more minorities involved in archaeology

I’m writing this blog post from the Denver International Airport, en route back to Tucson after spending a fruitful July working on archaeological excavations in Glacier National Park. This project came close on the heels of a fruitful dissertation research trip to Boise, Idaho. Needless to say, this summer has […]


How archaeologists can enjoy the fruits of travel hacking 1

I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Boise, Idaho (Java Coffee and Café to be exact) enjoying Boise’s best coffee drink— the Bowl of Soul. This coffee didn’t come easily though. I’m coming off a 3-hour-long scanning binge that has resulted in the digitization of a huge amount of archival […]

Travel hacking for archaeology graduate students

Recap of my first year of archaeology PhD studies

Recap of My First year of an Archaeology PhD 2

“School has become the world religion of a modernized proletariat, and makes futile promises of salvation to the poor of the technological age.” Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (1971) I’ve decided to take some time to write a short summary of my PhD at the University of Arizona. Sometime in 2012, […]


Addressing the Archaeology Professor Myth: Is it Possible to Realize Tenure Track Position? 2

Sometimes you read the obvious, but it doesn’t really sink in. Sometimes the obvious sinks right in to your core. I just finished reading two blog posts this week about the travails of post-PhD life. In 2011, Roderick asked “Is your PhD Worthless?” Partially answering his own question, Roderick mentions […]

is it possible to get a tenure track archaeology professor position?

sweet hat from forestrysuppliers.com

The Power of Gratitude

A few weeks ago, I received one of the best gifts I’ve been given all year. It was a simple baseball hat that was sent to me from the kind folks at Forestry Suppliers. In case you didn’t know, Forestry Suppliers has a sweet archaeology field tools catalog (BTW: That […]


#SAA2014 Debrief, Part I: Curating and Disseminating Archaeology 2

“I don’t always go to the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) annual meetings, but when I do, I prefer them to be in a cool place with a ton of rad dive bars.” The world’s most moderately interesting archaeologist (Me). I’m currently on the flight back from #SAA2014 and happened […]

Hear about what I learned at #SAA2014

Financial independence is the key to ending the poverty mentality in archaeology

NSF Archaeology grant success and the University of Arizona

Last week, Doug Rocks-MacQueen posted an article on his blog Doug’s Archaeology titled “Top Organizations Receiving NSF Archaeology Funds.” I was surprised to see my current grad school at the top of the list by a long shot. The University of Arizona dominated the list of National Science Foundation (NSF) […]