Career Opportunities
With a degree in Archaeology our alumni have successfully gotten jobs in the following areas:
- Archives
- Art Galleries
- Arts Management
- College & University Academics
- College Admissions
- College Student Life
- Conservation
- Cultural Resource Management
- Department of Natural Resources
- Department of Transportation
- Educational Media
- E-Resources
- Foreign Service
- GIS Data Analysis
- Historic Preservation
- Law
- Libraries
- Museum Collections
- Museum Outreach Programs
- National Guard Collections Management
- National Park Service
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Peace Corps
- Public Education
- Publishing
- State Historic Sites
- US Intelligence Services
Alumni Journeys to Success – What will yours be?
Brianna Jackson ('17): National Park Service Museum Curator
- While at UE, completed 4 internships for Court Street Productions, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science, and the Harlaxton Society, gaining experience in curation, archival research, collections management, museum education and visitor services
- Worked with the FBI Crime Team to repatriate cultural objects to China, Haiti, and numerous American Indian tribes
- Earned a MA degree from Indiana University in Museum Studies in 2020
- Accepted a position as Museum Curator at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
- Currently working to pack and move 60,000 objects to the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska
Kaman (Law) Hillenburg (’12): Collections Manager
- While at UE interned at the Children’s Museum of Evansville, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science
- While at UE held several part-time paid positions at the Evansville Museum
- Graduated from UE with a BA in Archaeology and Art History and a Business Certificate in 2012
- Hired full-time at the Evansville Museum working closely with the curatorial department assisting with care of the collections along with exhibit preparation and installation
- Founded a regional professional development organization called Southwestern Indiana Collections Connection Association (SICCA) in 2013
- For two years also worked as a contract Curator and Registrar for the Freedom Heritage Museum (currently known as Evansville Wartime Museum)
- Named the Evansville Museum’s first Collections Manager in 2016
- Currently is leading an IMLS grant-funded inventory project of over 20,000 of the museum’s historical collection and serves on the board of the Society of Indiana Archivists
Lisa Dretske (’08): Museum Manager and Staff Archaeologist
- Graduated from UE with a BA in Archaeology in 2008
- Earned a Master of Arts in Historical Archaeology from Illinois State University in 2013.
- Held assistantship positions in the archaeology lab for 2 years
- Worked on archaeological excavations during the summers - Cahokia Mounds, a site in Tennessee, and a job in Alaska
- Applied for many archaeology and museum jobs with little luck
- Continued to work retail at The North Face in Chicago and Milwaukee
- Offered a post-grad unpaid internship at The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
- After 6 months was offered her first museum position at Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee as Assistant Manager of Visitor Services (part-time)
- Then offered a consultant position at the Kenosha Public Museum as their Planned Giving Coordinator and the Weekend Manager position at the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee (part-time)
- Not long after, quit Betty Brinn since it was not in line with her future goals and continued part-time at The North Face
- Started volunteering at the Milwaukee County Historical Society on a big photography cataloging project
- This led to being offered a part-time Museum Assistant position
- Worked 4 part-time jobs, 3 in different museums for over a year
- Finally offered a full-time position as the Executive Director at the Kemper Center, Inc., a cultural center in Kenosha, WI
- Continued to take college certification courses in Fund Development and Non-profit Management
- After a year she was offered the position as Development Manager and on-staff archaeologist at the Kenosha Public Museums
Christopher Parr (’05): National Guard Archaeologist and Collections Manager
- While at UE participated in Washington University archaeological field school at Cahokia Mounds
- This led to a job as a Research Assistant for Dr. John Kelly and the Central Mississippi Valley Archaeological Research Institute
- Graduated from UE with a BA in Archaeology and History in 2005
- Married his wife Micki Blue Parr (UE Class of 2006, History)
- Earned a Master of Arts in Classics (Archaeology) from the University of Arizona in 2008
- Moved to Columbus, Georgia, and worked as a Cultural Resources Site Monitor at Fort Benning, Georgia, through a contract with Panamerican Consultants, Inc. for three years
- Designed and managed an inspection program for the Installation’s archaeological sites to ensure the military did not impact them during construction or training activities
- Participated in government-to-government consultations with federally-recognized tribes with a traditional claim to the Fort Benning area
- Along the way, was assigned responsibility for the Fort Benning Archaeology Collection.
- Moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 2011 to assume his current position: the Archaeologist and Collections Manager for the Virginia Army National Guard
- Currently administers the Virginia National Guard Curation Facility at Fort Pickett, which houses two separate collections, and coordinates government-to-government consultation efforts with state- and federally-recognized tribes
- Recently his program was recognized by National Guard Bureau and the US Department of the Army as the Top Cultural Resources Program in the “Small Installations” category
