Hi WAPA  Members and Friends.

I'd like to introduce you to The AAA Task Force  on Anthropology in Practice Settings (TF) , established by the 2019 AAA Executive Board. The Task Force has a three-year term, from 2020-2022. We are in our second year. I'm writing this to let you know what the TF is all about and also to seek your input.

The TF's charge is “to recommend ways in which the Association can increase engagement on the part of anthropologists working in business, government, and non-profit settings”  (quote from formal charge statement.)

In summary we are to develop and pilot ways that the AAA can be more useful, relevant, and welcoming to practitioners as well as to recommend changes to current practices. We're especially concerned with those whose primary employment is outside the academy.  We're acting to better engage practitioner members with the AAA and those who are not members.

Here is the Task Force.

• Chair:    Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts(UMD  College Park)
• Staff Lead:   Daniel Ginsberg (AAA-Director, Education & Professional Practice
• Members: 
• Elizabeth K. Briody (Cultural Keys LLC)
• Nazia Hussain (Independent Consultant)
• Guillermina Núñez-Mchiri (U. of Texas  El Paso)
• Peter Kurie (Independent Consultant-Creative Industries)
• Pamela Rao (Kavali Consulting)
• Samantha Solimeo (U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
• Alayne Unterberger (Fla. Inst. of Community Studies)

We’ve organized our work within a framework for action.  This includes the following action areas, all relative to practice and practitioners: a Practitioners Study, the  AAA Website, Annual Meeting, Publications, Governance, and Membership Recruitment, Professional Development, Ethics, and Supports for Anthropology Departments to better prepare students for practice careers. We will work to educate non-academic organizations to understand anthropological practice, and to strengthen the job market for practitioners. This is clearly a busy, hard-working group.

I'll be happy to talk with you about the TF and answer any questions.  I also hope you'll give me your thoughts about the AAA, that is, what we're doing right and what the Association could do better.  I'm also interested in hearing why you are or are not a AAA member and what relationship you think WAPA should have with the AAA.

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Thanks for your interest and help!

Suzanne