Industrial Heritage and Archaeology

Overview

Funding and Research

Students in the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology program of Michigan Technological University can receive up to two years of funding via assistantships that cover the costs of tuition and provide a stipend. Students are actively involved in a wide array of research projects.

Career Pathways

Industrial archaeologists are involved in the practical preservation, mitigation, management, and interpretation of industrial remains. Because of the nature of industrial heritage sites, our master’s graduates often work within communities striving for economic and social revitalization in increasingly complex ecological settings.

We take pride in our program performance statistics, which are competitive with other master’s programs in archaeology, anthropology, history, or heritage studies. Faculty and staff continually monitor these statistics as one way to assess our efforts and identify areas for programmatic improvement. Based on an assessment of program statistics from students enrolled between 1991-2010, almost all IHA MS students (98 percent) have received funding to complete their degrees and almost all (90 percent) have completed their degrees. These students have since been hired at federal or state agencies (52 percent of graduates), been accepted in advanced degree programs (23 percent of graduates), or found careers in museums, education, nongovernmental organizations, tourism, and specialized consulting (25 percent).