Moriah James graduated in 2018 with BA in socio-cultural anthropology and a concentration on heritage. She is currently a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her experience outside of the classroom began during her sophomore year as a volunteer in Dr. Mark Leone’s archaeology lab under the guidance of Tracy Jenkins. It was here where she gained experience with cleaning and cataloging artifacts. As a volunteer for Maryland Day 2016, she had the opportunity to explain to visitors how archaeologists interpret artifacts of the past and what they can tell us today. Getting this face-to-face experience made her realize why the department’s focus on practicing applied anthropology is so critical.

In the Fall of 2016, Moriah worked as an undergraduate researcher with the Deal Island Peninsula Project (DIPP) under Michael Paolisso, Katherine “Jo” Johnson, and Liz Van Dolah. She created a research paper on the histories and heritages of African Americans and Native Americans living on the Deal Island Peninsula the Eastern Shore. She found that it was important to write this paper in a way that was accessible to communities outside of academia and for other DIPP stakeholders. Moriah also served as a member of the Student Affairs Diversity Advisory Council (SADAC), a recent addition to the department’s Diversity Committee, and the Secretary of the Anthropology Student Association (ASA).

As a CIVICUS graduate, her first two years of college consisted of volunteering around the local community and in the greater D.C. metro area. Whether it was volunteering as a language partner with international graduate students or tutoring Latina Elementary schoolers, volunteering in multicultural communities has always been incredibly important to Moriah and has influenced her future career goals. Some of her other interests include African American studies, museum studies, and cultural and heritage tourism. She hopes one day to use the skills that she has learned at the University of Maryland to help in ways that ultimately benefit others.