The newest Troy University alumni chapter has a clear-cut mission in mind – networking.
The Anthropology Alumni Chapter recently became the Troy University Alumni Association’s 67th chartered chapter during the Alumni Leadership Conference held on the Troy Campus.
The chapter’s President Dr. Stephen Carmody, who is Chair of TROY’s Department of Anthropology, hopes the new chapter will enable current students to make connections with alumni.
“The main goal of the chapter is to connect graduating students with former students who may be able to help them find jobs in the discipline,” Dr. Carmody said. “It’s all about networking. So many current students ask me what they can do with a degree in anthropology. Hopefully, this will allow them to network with professional anthropologists. Current students need to see former students working with their anthropology degree.”
According to Dr. Carmody, the chapter currently has approximately 25 members.
“The original members are all students who have graduated since I arrived in 2017,” he said. “I reached out to them personally and asked them about joining, and there has been a lot of interest.”
Dr. Carmody said much of that interest is the result of how the chapter dues will be used.
“We will use the dues to give current students fieldwork scholarships,” he said. “If you cannot do fieldwork as an undergraduate student, getting into graduate school or finding jobs is tough. The dues will help our students deal with the rising costs of travel that come with fieldwork. Many of the students I have spoken with benefited from doing undergraduate fieldwork and are glad to be able to help our current students begin their careers.”
Dr. Carmody said the chapter doesn’t have any planned events yet, but he hopes that will soon change.
“I hope we can organize our first annual tailgate this fall and have an event at a baseball game next spring. This will allow our alumni to return to campus and meet our current students,” he said.
Faith Byrd, the University’s Director of Alumni Affairs, said the new chapter provides a great example of how chapters can take on different missions.
“The Anthropology Alumni Chapter is the perfect example that our chapters come from all different areas which can span different purposes,” Byrd said. “The common denominator is building relationships – connecting our alumni with one another and connecting our alumni to their alma mater – because, as our TROY Fight Song says, ‘We are Trojans, One and All.’ We were pleased to be able to charter the Anthropology Chapter as our 67th alumni chapter, and we look forward to its growth and how it will benefit our alumni and current students, alike.”
