Undergraduate Alum Spotlight
Cedar Turner, Class of 2024
What was your graduation year and degrees from NU?
BA in Cultural Anthropology with a Minor in German and BM in Oboe Performance.
What are you up to now?
Working as a program assistant at Northwestern Alumni Relations and Development on the Weinberg College team. Outside of work, I am writing a collection of short stories and spend much of my time playing tabletop roleplaying games with my friends in Chicago.
What is something you learned in Northwestern Anthropology that helps you today?
Anthropology taught me how different systems and institutions interact and influence our daily lives, which is incredibly helpful when working in higher education and philanthropy. The ethnography skills I developed in the Anthro department have been immensely helpful in my work when interacting with faculty, staff, and alumni.
What is a favorite memory or story from your time in Northwestern Anthropology?
I got to do a presentation on the meme "Be Gay Do Crime" in a class on Queer Criminality and Political Transgression. It was so much fun doing a deep dive into internet culture and researching how a quote from over two decades ago became a cultural touchpoint.
Were there any people or classes that were particularly useful for you?
Anthropology of Education with Professor Warriner! I had never previously been interested in pedagogy, but this class really opened my eyes to how different methods of teaching can fundamentally shape our experience. The research paper I wrote at the end of the quarter on table-top roleplaying games and their pedagogical impacts was one of my favorite papers I ever wrote.
What advice would you give to current Northwestern Anthropology students or recent grads?
Follow your passions! Take the classes that sound interesting, do research projects on topics even if they seem silly on the surface, and never be afraid to ask for help.