Kayleena Faulkner

Interview project: Part 2

Communication 1010
2/22/2016
Interview Analysis Memo
DATE: February 22, 2016
TO: Professor
FROM: Kayleena Faulkner
SUBJECT: Interview Analysis Memo, COMM 1010
I had the opportunity to interview one of professors from SLCC at the
Jordan campus facility. This is were I attend her night class twice a
week and when I found out that her degree was in a field that I wanted
to go into, I asked her if I could interview her.
During my last 3 semesters at SLCC I started continuing a path down
the anthropology road. My interest in the field was high, but I wanted a
deeper perspective into the degree itself from someone who had
obtained and used it. I found out that Dr.Potter actually got her
bachelors and PhD in two different areas of anthropology, and this
intrigued me even more. She had experience in 2 out of the 4 fields
and I felt as though that would be a great insight throughout the
interview. She had both positive and negative comments about what
she did so it made for very clear answers.
This memo summarizes the useful information obtained during the
interview as well as my analysis.
Summary of Lessons Learned
Getting started in Anthropology
Anthropology can lead to many careers in interesting fields, but it takes
an extended period of study to get there. If anthropology is field that
someone plans on majoring in, the best option is to achieve a Maters
degree or a PhD, as stated by Dr.Potter in the very beginning of our
interview. The fields of anthropology require more coursework because
a lot of the study is done hands on either in the class room, or outside
at a separate location, in order to prepare students for the current job
market. Dr.Potter explained that she was chosen for a paid internship
down at the museum of Northern Arizona in the back lab, studying and
cataloging artifacts. These positions are competitive and the market
for intern seeking companies is limited.
After speaking with Dr.Potter for only a short while, I realized that a lot
of my prior notions about the education pertaining to this particular

field were very similar to what she had to say. Graduate school is
something that I have to keep in mind and begin to plan for as my
pursuit for a BA comes to a close. Field school, internships and hands
on programs were the top things to have on an application for grad
school. This fact makes these programs very competitive and good
grades throughout your BA education is expected, something I already
was well aware of and nervously dreading.
Dr.Potter stated that she spent 14 years in all to obtain her PhD, and
the U grad school may have had something to do with that. I will take
her warning into consideration when thinking about where I would like
to attend graduate school. Spending that many years at the U would
cost me over $150,000, but that is still a relatively low number for
tuition cost. The median pay for a person with a PhD in anthropology is
$67,000, which is a factor I need to highly think about when it comes
to repaying any student loans that accumulate.
Although the job market is smaller in regards to areas such a business
and the pay is not millions each year, Dr.Potter explained that she
always dreamed of becoming an anthropologist and is very happy with
her decision. Her happy attitude towards the outlook as a whole made
me excited to enter the field.
A typical day as an Anthropologist
Teaching was something that Dr.Potter had always wanted to do and
loves that she is able to teach so many classes at SLCC on top of
having another job in an unrelated field. When asked if she thought
that she had a well-balanced life, she responded positively with the
answer yes, which made me happy as well.
She explains that when she first got into the field after college she did
work that had a little more traveling involved in it. Her BA was
originally in archeology and she pursued a few jobs related to it after
graduation. One of the projects that she worked on was the dig of the
social hall in downtown salt lake.
Artifacts lay across the sides of the walls behind protected glass for
visitors to look at, that Dr.Potter herself dug up. She said that since the
dig site was located inside the busy city, the hours during the job were
8-10 hours during normal working hours 7am-7pm. The job however
only lasted about a year, which could create problems later on down
the line.
Overall Dr.Potter said that she very much enjoyed the work the she
participated in right out of college, as well as the teaching that she
knew she would eventually do. She is very passionate about the

subject of anthropology and loves to be able to be in a position to

teach students.
Miscellaneous
I asked Dr.Potter some miscellaneous questions that I had thought of
throughout my pursuit of the field as well. One of the questions I asked
was if there were any downfalls to choosing the field of anthropology
and I was pleased with her answer. She responded that anthropology is
still very much run by men and being a woman in the field is often
frustrating and hard work. She smiled as she replied and I knew that
she enjoyed that competitiveness as much as I thought I was going to.
Bring it on boys.
Interview Analysis
This interview allowed me to connect and ask questions with someone
in my desired field.
Analysis of Anthropology as my Career Choice
This interview only solidified the fact that anthropology is the field for
me. It did make me realize that narrowing down the subfield of
anthropology that I want to go into is going to be important when
choosing a grad school. Taking a wider range of classes at the U for my
undergrad will help me achieve the goal of finding a subfield to pursue.
Dr.Potter suggested I figure it out sooner than later so I avoid spending
unnecessary money.
I am very happy that I was able to conduct this interview and am very
grateful that I found someone who majored in something very similar
to the path I would like to take. Although Dr.Potter had an end goal of
teaching, I would like to think that I would be in the field and traveling
for a longer period of time during my life. I would like to teach, but not
until I am unable to continue to work in the field.
Analysis of my interview process
I do not think of myself as to much a shy person, but I do tend to
stumble when I am put on the spot and in a position that makes me a
little nervous. I tried m best to make eye contact and slow down when
talking, and I think I did a good job of that.
I already had all of my material prepared before the interview and I
think that that helped in making the process run smoothly as well as
quickly (she was in a little bit of a time crunch). She was a little vague
and short with some of her answers but being able to interoperate her
body language helped me understand how she felt about what she was
saying. I took notes throughout the interview and had to take a few
seconds here and there to pause and quickly type out the information I
obtained.

I think that next time I could bring a tape recorder instead of having to
take so many thorough notes, and then I could focus a little more on
active listening with my interviewee.

Letter of Thanks
Kayleena Faulkner
1072 Fair Haven Cir
Murray, UT 84123
Dr.Terri Potter
SLCC Jordan Campus
Room 239
West Jordan, UT
Dear Dr.Potter,
I want to thank you so much for taking the time out to allow me to do
an interview with you. It was very helpful to have insight from someone
who is so educated and knowledgeable in the field of anthropology.
The answers you gave during the interview were very helpful and I am
going to be able to use them while planning out my path in
anthropology. I truly admire how far you have come education wise and
the simple fact that you seemed to thrive in a field that is very male
dominated. That alone makes me eager to continue on the
anthropology route.
Again, I really do appreciate you being able to make some time for me
after class for the interview; I know how busy you are. I learned a lot
from our interview and I enjoyed conducting it. I am sure it will come in
handy in my future.
Sincerely,
Kayleena Faulkner