SHA’s New Professional Membership Category

by Kimberly Pyszka

Graduating and beginning your career as a professional historical archaeologist can be stressful – writing and defending your thesis or dissertation, applying for jobs, looking into student loan repayment options, and likely moving once you do find a job. Financially, this time of transition can be unstable and honestly, a bit scary. On top of everything else you realize that you no longer qualify for SHA’s discounted student membership rate. For many recent grads, including myself, the costs of renewing as a “Regular” member may seem daunting. You may even make you think twice about renewing your SHA membership at a time when membership benefits are the most valuable to you.

But don’t fear or throw out your membership renewal notice! Beginning in 2014 SHA began providing an alternative for recent grads, as well as others who are entering the profession for the first time, to help them bridge the financial gap between the Student member rate ($80 annually) and the Regular member rate ($135 annually).To quality for the “New Professional” member rate ($105 annually) you must have graduated and/or gained employment in historical archaeology within the past five years. New professionals can take advantage of this special rate for up to two years.

So if you’re a recent grad and/or joining the ranks of professional historical archaeologists, we encourage you to take advantage of this new membership category!