The Early Career Liaison to the Executive Committee (formerly Early Career Mentee) is an opportunity for recent PhD AAPA members to become involved with the governances of the AAPA and to bring to the Executive Committee issues of interest and concern to members in their early careers. DEADLINE to apply is October 16, 2017! Here are statements from recent Early Career Liaisons

Nikki Burt (left in photo), ECL 2016-1017 I applied to be the Early Career Mentee because I wanted to learn more about what the Executive Committee was doing to support early career members, in particular, those in non-traditional roles like postdocs and adjuncts. By attending the committee meetings, I had the chance to see how much work goes into keeping an organization like AAPA running. I don’t think the average member has a good idea of the amount of work that really goes into making the organization and meetings run smoothly and effectively. I learned how I could be a better member and how I can hopefully help my colleagues better utilize the organization's resources. I hope during my tenure, I worked in a small way to help with bringing attention to concerns of non-traditional members and helped improve overall communication.

Felicia Gómez (right in photo), ECL 2017-2018 As the 2017 – 2018 Early Career Liaison I am looking forward to being a representative on the AAPA executive committee who speaks to the specific needs of early career AAPA members. ‘Early Career’ is a funny stage in academic life. You are no longer a student, but you may not be faculty, you may not have tenure, or you may be trying to figure out where your career is headed. This transitional stage is often hard and requires a different sort of mentorship than is appropriate for graduate students or mid-career faculty. As the Early Career Mentee I hope to advocate for programs, funding mechanisms, and events that support the transitions early members are navigating. Additionally, as a woman of color I am also hoping to be a voice for diversity and inclusion within the executive committee. In the last couple of years the AAPA Diversity Committee has provided a number of excellent opportunities for those of us who are underrepresented in Physical Anthropology. I hope to continue this pattern of excellent work and push for more programing and support that pays attention to the experiences of all AAPA scholars.