Undergraduate Work:
After high school, I decided to join the Air Force, because I believed at the time it was my only option other than flipping burger (nothing wrong with that, just was not for me). At the time college was financially not an option, besides, I allowed comments from others to convinced me that I was not college material (ultimately, this lack of self-awareness and my choice was up to me, not the "others" Blaming others for your failure to achieve, or to reach your potenial is silly).
After receiving my honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1990, I enrolled at the University of North Dakota, majoring in History with the intentions of teaching high school initially. Because of the large population of Native groups in North Dakota, the teaching certification required a student to take Introduction to Indian Studies. Once enrolled, I fell in love with the topic and decided to double major. Of course, no Indian Studies program is complete without a required class in Anthropology. When I started my first class on this subject (Introduction to Anthropology), I knew my career path: archaeology, so I decided to triple major. During my time and the University of North Dakota(UND), I worked as an archaeological assistant--both in the field and in a laboratory. My professors, and the quality of education I received at UND were of the highest quality. I am very fortunate to have had several mentors who possess the level of teach skills that I hope to posses still to this day. I still use much of what has been passed on me to this very day.
Archaeology Field Work and Graduate School at OSU:
In May of 1994, I graduated with a Bachelor of Art in History, Indian Studies, and Anthropology. I took an archaeological field position as an archaeological technician (an individual must earn an advanced degree to be considered a professional archaeologist: a goal I set for myself at the beginning of my new career.
I worked at several sites in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and parts of Canada during my undergraduate work, and a few months after graduating. During the winter of 1994, I accepted a job with an archaeological firm operating operating out of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. This new location was a welcome change from the cold conditions in the North, but I relaced the chill for snakes, bugs, and intense heat.
During my stay near white sands, and clear greenish-blue waters of Fort Walton, Destin, and San Destin, I was accepted to the graduate program in Anthropology at The Ohio State University where I specialized in “New World†Archaeology (North American).
After graduating with an M.A. in anthropology in 1997, I moved to West Virginia, where I started a cultural resource management firm called Archaeological Resource Consultants (A.R.C.) People started calling me ARC and it stuck as a nickname. I truly love working in archaeology, but being a field archaeologist comes with a number of challenges. One of which that that one lives a very transient life style, moving from northern areas in the summer months to southern climates in the winter months. Because I did not wish to move again for some time, I approached the Dean of the local colleges to determine if the school would be interested in offering classes in Anthropology and Indian Studies, but the Dean did not show any interest at all; however, they offered me a adjunct position to teach a couple of computer classes, so I took them. Nevertheless, this did not pay the bills, so I needed to make a decision-a decision that was one of the hardest I made decisions to-date.
Again, not wishing to move, I stopped working in the field fulltime and I took a position at a local Window manufacturer (a sad state of affaires when an archaeologist has to “ride a desk†all day).
New Direction in Anthropology:
I left full-time archaeology the latter part of 1999 and began working for Simonton Windows full-time. A positive note to this change in life is the fact that I was able to work as an archaeologist on the weekends (seasonally). At Simonton, I worked as a Project Administrator, which was a position, that allowed me to use my anthropological background in design and market research. I took part in product design for the purpose of developing and deploying innovative new products. I coordinated activities involved with concept generation through product introduction. My main focus was working with marketing, and other department--often a Project Lead within the company to further define requirements for enhancement and changes to the current, and for developing new products. By serving as a liaison between marketing and product development, I helped to ensure external and internal commitments and expectations against the product were met. I employed consumer insights from a cultural perspective; by doing so, we were able to deliver better market research and ultimately a better product.
Returning back to my roots:
After completing my second Masters (M.Ed.)in 2004, I moved to Western New York and began to work in the field of anthropology again. Recently, I completed a number of interesting archaeological projects at various site in and around New York State including working at West Point, and I am currently teaching at Finger Lakes Community College and at the University of Phoenix Online.Picture of my sons
