Alumni Profile: James Mayer ’11

Digging for connections

While at Macalester, James double-majored in history and classics and wrote an honors thesis about the intersections of myth, history, and identity. James spent three summers excavating the Roman temple at the Classics Department’s archaeological project in Omrit, Israel, where he honed his trowel-wielding skills. He also helped pioneer the Middle Eastern conflict resolution programming that Macalester and Tel Hai College (Qiryat Shemonah, Israel) have been working on since 2010. James took advantage of Macalester’s international focus to study abroad in Istanbul during his junior year and he traveled with the Classics department to Rome for January his sophomore year.

After graduation, James was back on the road and halfway across the world, back in Turkey as a Fulbright fellow. Awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grant for the 2011-12 academic year, James taught English and English Literature classes at Turkey’s largest university, located in Konya. While most of his time was occupied with teaching, bringing American culture to Turkish students, and navigating the bureaucracy of Selcuk University, James continued to pursue his academic interests in the importance of the connections between history, museums, and identity. These interests finally led to an internship and later job at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

James is currently Public Affairs Specialist at Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.