Alumni Profiles
Astra Haldeman '07
Study abroad, internships, and double majors are just a few of the opportunities available at Washington College, and Astra Haldeman '07 took advantage of all of them.
A double major in art history and anthropology, Astra spent a semester at University College Cork in Ireland, participated in a summer field study in Peru funded by the Society of Junior Fellows, and studied museums and artisan communities in India. Closer to home, she interned at museums in nearby Rock Hall, Md. and also participated in WC's summer field school in archaeology.
"The field school was one of the things that helped me decide I wanted to major in anthropology as well as art," she said.
This spring, Astra will continue to explore both interests when she begins a postgraduate program in Museums and Cultural Heritage in New Zealand, funded by the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship, awarded to 16 students each year to foster understanding across cultures.
"I picked the program because I was looking for something that nicely combined art history, anthropology, and archaeology," she said. "It's an interdisciplinary program so it lets you build the program the way you want it."
In that way, it mirrors Astra's undergraduate experience. "Washington College really lets you pursue your own interests," she said.
"Attending a small school was really, really fantastic. You give up a little in course selection, but the opportunities to get to know your professors and learn from them are amazing," she said.
After earning her Diploma of Arts from the yearlong program in New Zealand, Astra will return to give presentations to the Rotary Clubs that awarded her scholarship. After that, her future is wide open. She could return to New Zealand for a master's degree, begin a career in museum work, or even find another way to continue to incorporate art and anthropology into her life.
"I don't necessarily need to be curating," she said. "I really love the behind-the-scenes background research, following an object from when it's found or created to how it's displayed from a culturally sensitive viewpoint."
Teresa Fewlass '02
Teresa finished her second major Anthropology in December 2002 with honors. She reconstructed a Native American Townsend Pot from Kent County for her thesis, and is currently writing up a report on the pot's conservation for the Rock Hall Museum.
She excavated at the site of Tiwanaku with Alexei Vranich (U. Penn) in the summer of 2000 where she found an inca burial near a wall of Puma Punku. She published her report in the Washington College Review 9:70-85 in 2001.
Abby Moss '97
Abby studied at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She did fieldwork at the Salgueiro Samba School in Rio de Janeiro and wrote her senior thesis on the Brazilian samba.
Mark Richard Stenger '90
M.A. University of New Mexico, PH.D. candidate; epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health.
Research projects: Zuni language and culture, AIDS related health problems
Sample publication: An Ethnographic Survey of Needle Sharing Behaviors, Attitudes and AIDS Knowledge Among Injection Drug Users in Bernalillo County, New Mexico , prepared for the New Mexico Department of Health, Public Health Division, HIV/AIDS/STD Prevention and Services Bureau AIDS Prevention Program, by M. Richard Stenger in association with S. Buffington & J. Gordon Albuquerque Family Health Clinics, Familiar de Salud Clinic, 23 April 1993
Jennifer Gray Reddish-Hill '95
Jennifer Reddish-Hill works as an editor/writer for The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Research projects: Nanticoke Indian identity, Accohannock Indian ethnohistory and genealogy
"Nanticoke Identity Survival via Cultural Chiasm" (senior thesis, Washington College, 1995)