Student Stories: Dr. Maria Florencia Becerra

This post is the first in a series of posts by WAC student members about their lives as student archaeologists. Everywhere in the world, archaeological education is different, but some lessons are universal. Here your colleagues will share them!

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I am María Florencia Becerra and I am 30 years old. I have been a WAC student member since 2006, when I joined the first WAC Student Committee, during my fourth year in undergraduate school (Archaeology in the National University of Tucumán, Argentina). Now, almost 8 years later, I am the Student Representative in the WAC Executive and I have just got my PhD degree in Archaeology in the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (June, 2014). My dissertation was focused on the study of mining and metallurgy during colonial times (17th and 18th centuries) in the Jujuy High Plateau, in the extreme northwest of Argentina.

#archadvice - Advice for students from social media

Welcome

An introduction to the WACSC International Student Resources Project

The World Archaeological Congress Student Committee is creating a web-based resource for students to assist them in finding funding opportunities and to provide them with general advice for navigating student life. The International Student Resources Project is part of this committee’s overall aim to advocate for students and foster increased student opportunities through active mentoring. This will be a constantly evolving resource managed by the committee.

We would like to provide students with some realistic information on what they should expect from graduate school and some broad ‘tips’ on how to successfully navigate what is often a new and confusing world. We understand that an increasing number of students are studying internationally and we envisage that the resources included in this section will reflect multicultural perspectives and cater to a diverse audience.

In order to begin this project, we are reaching out to the wider WAC and international archaeological communities for student advising materials on the following:

Funding bodies/opportunities 

We are looking for details on funding bodies or regular funding opportunities from anywhere in the world that are accessible or targeted to archaeology students. We are open to suggestions available to students from any level of study (e.g. undergraduate, masters or graduate level) and for any reason (e.g. to fund field work, international study etc.) Generally students look within their own regional network to find these opportunities, but we would like to emphasise the global nature of archaeology and provide information across all regions —this will assist students to look beyond their immediate region for study options and will also facilitate a greater understanding of the situations facing students across the world.

Following the broader aims of WAC, the student committee intends for this project to assist students worldwide and promote the study of archaeology by fostering the development of student research. WAC is indeed a unique organisation and we are fortunate to have such a diverse community of archaeologists from which to draw information from for this project. This will be one of the first projects in the world to draw together information for students on a global scale and we hope that the WAC and international archaeological communities will support us in our endeavour.

We ask that a website or contact information be included with any submissions of information on funding bodies/opportunities.

Facts of life for students

What things do you wish someone had told you when you were a student? Feel free to submit advising materials, suggest web resources, and other explanatory and descriptive content (with appropriate attribution), but please avoid one-sentence anecdotes as these are often confusing outside their cultural or geographic context.

Examples of the kind of information we would like to include are:

• Important things to consider when choosing a school/supervisor
• Advice on how to apply for graduate school
• Advice on who you can ask for assistance
• Dos don’ts for writing important documents such as CVs and cover letters
• Guidance on managing work-life balance

If you would like to contribute materials for this project, we will ensure you get appropriate credit for your submission (or it can be posted anonymously if you prefer). Please email any submissions or questions to wacstudentcommittee@gmail.com.

And finally, if you could help us to spread the word about this project by passing the message on to anyone whom you think it may be of interest to that would be much appreciated.