AAGS Historical Summary

Adapted from the AAGS by-laws.

Paper files for the UO Association of Anthropology Graduate Students (AAGS) go back to 1980. However, according to faculty members, the group was founded in the mid-1970s. From the time that the group was created, membership has fluctuated from year to year according to the number of students enrolled in the UO Anthropology Graduate Program. The colloquia speaker series that we coordinate has been a staple of UO Anthropology Department since the 1960s.

AAGS has a solid track record of sponsoring engaging and innovative events that are attended in high numbers by a diverse community of students.  Each term, approximately 200 people total attend our colloquia series, which consists of five to eight events (per term) and provides professional development opportunities for students throughout campus.  For more than twenty years, AAGS has coordinated one high-profile speaker from off-campus in the winter or spring of each year.  In previous years AAGS has successfully collaborated with other academic departments to raise funds to sponsor these speakers, including: History, Ethnic Studies, Comparative Literature, Women and Gender Studies, Biology, Geography, Sociology, International Studies, Folklore, Linguistics, the Institute for Cognitive and Decision Sciences, and the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.   Finally, our graduate school panel for junior and senior students has provided countless students with key information and guidance on how to apply for graduate school and professional careers in anthropology, cultural resource management, and foreign-service work.