Fellowship with the IUPUI Cultural Heritage Research Center
During my first year with the Museum Studies department, I worked with Dr. Liz Kryder-Reid to support the development of the IUPUI Cultural Heritage Research Center. My work involved writing and editing copy, research, and general organizational support for the Center as it continued to grow. I was also a research assistant on a project funded by a New Frontiers grant, which focused on investigating stakeholder-defined values at two contested parks sites that both have Native American mound structures, Mounds State Park and Strawtown Koteewi Park.
Organizational support and project management
Much of my work with the Cultural Heritage Research Center involved organizational support skills: I kept track of documents and changes, and wrote and edited public-facing text for the Center’s website. Later, during my work with the research project, I was also responsible for keeping track of large amounts of information, including managing focus group respondents, and connecting with stakeholders.
Community conversations
As a part of the grant, we conducted a series of focus groups at both Mounds State Park and Strawtown Koteewi Park with a wide variety of stakeholders that included volunteers, employees, educators, Native American groups, and archaeologists. The conversations and themes that emerged from these sessions offered a lot of fascinating insights into how various stakeholders view, use, and share these sites. We got excellent data for our specific research topic, but I also enjoyed hearing the different perspectives firsthand, and I feel that these open conversations with stakeholders are critical to creating meaningful experiences while acknowledging the multiple needs and uses of these sites.​
