As Director of Programs, I manage AIA’s outreach and educational programs. The AIA includes both professional archaeologists and non-professional archaeological enthusiasts in its membership, so our programs need to address both groups’ needs and interests. As a result, my responsibilities range from organizing large public outreach events like International Archaeology Day to managing specialized grant programs for archaeological research (more on these later).

Because of the variety of our programs, one of the best things about my job is that every day is different. One day we are planning a global celebration of archaeology and the next we are organizing a roundtable discussion on the conservation of archaeological materials. I am lucky to be working with talented, creative, and passionate colleagues who are genuinely excited by the challenges and opportunities that accompany creating, presenting, and troubleshooting programs.

So, what do I do on an average day? Just like our programs, my daily activities are varied and diverse. It usually includes some combination of checking on programs in progress, planning future programs, and following up with past programs. Additionally, I work on the overall aspects of programming including budgeting and reporting; communicating and publicizing (with our communications team); and fundraising (with our development team).

An important part of my job is managing our grants programs. Since its founding in 1879, the AIA has supported archaeologists and archaeological research. We funded our first project—Adolph Bandelier’s exploration of parts of the American Southwest and Mexico—in 1880, a year after our founding. Today we offer over a dozen different grants and fellowships that support fieldwork, travel, research, analyses, publications, and more.

Managing grants starts with the creation of the grant program. The AIA works with donors—individuals, groups, foundations—interested in supporting archaeology to create funds from which we can award grants. I then work with a committee to create the guidelines for application; establish an evaluation protocol; and design a review process. After we announce and publicize the grant, I accept applications, send them to reviewers, and work with them to pick the grantees. The most enjoyable part of the process is contacting the winners. I then work directly with them on the final details—making payments and setting up reporting requirements—and regularly follow up to make sure that everything is moving along smoothly.

Through our grants we support dozens of archaeologists and a variety of projects that range from examining animal management and herding at Gabii in Italy to building a 3D model of Picture Cave, a Native American cave site in eastern Missouri that contains almost 300 pictographs. Last year was challenging as the COVID pandemic changed most people’s plans. Research projects and travel had to be postponed and we had to be as flexible as possible with our grantees to ensure that they were (or will be) able to do their work. I hope this year is different and I look forward to working with incredible scholars and supporting their research.