Program in Archaeology and Global Heritage Awarded Global Education Grant

A $50,000 grant has been awarded to UCLA to support the development of the Program in Archaeology and Global Heritage (PAGH), a collaboration among the Undocumented Migration Project, the Waystation Initiative of the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology (CIoA), the Interdepartmental Program in Conservation of Cultural Heritage, and the Department of Anthropology. 

PAGH is an “innovative undergraduate opportunity that expands global perspectives and highlights historically marginalized voices in archaeology and heritage studies,” explained Lyssa Stapleton, director of The Waystation Initiative and one of the leaders of PAGH. The grant funding will support Stapleton and her co-director Vanessa Muros, director of the Experimental and Archaeological Sciences Lab at the CIoA, working with CIoA director Jason De León and Perla Torres, Outreach Coordinator for the CIoA, to determine the program’s academic home, build out a curricular framework, identify sustainable funding models, create a system for program assessment and student outreach, and design a culminating capstone.

“Built on the CIoA and Department of Anthropology’s long-standing focus on international collaboration, PAGH will enhance students’ global understanding and offer critical engagement with the complex cultural, political, and ethical dimensions of heritage work across borders,” Stapleton noted.

“UCLA archaeology graduate students and faculty are drawn from departments across campus including Anthropology, Art History, Asian Languages and Cultures, Chicana/o and Central American Studies, Classics, History, Material Science and Engineering and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures,” she added. “However, currently there is no unified training infrastructure that connects undergraduate students among these departments and programs.

“The Department of Anthropology’s Lemelson Honors Program offers some support and additional scholarly opportunities,” De León noted. “But archaeologists have historically been underrepresented in that program, and because of the nature of the application process, students who transfer in their junior year or who discover a passion for archaeology in their senior year are often at a disadvantage if they wish to apply. 

“PAGH will address this with a flexible, four-quarter program that integrates fieldwork, lab analysis, heritage research, and community engagement. Each cohort will include 12-15 students from across campus who engage in classroom learning, hands-on research in local archaeological contexts, and an international field component supported by the Cotsen’s Undergraduate Research Grant,” he explained. “The courses will be offered in a non-linear sequence, allowing students to join at any point in the academic year--ensuring accessibility for transfer students and those discovering archaeology late in their undergraduate careers.”

PAGH will be a four-program course that culminates in a capstone project, the foundation of which will be laid during whichever course the student takes first:

• Fall Course: Stewardship of International Cultural Heritage
• Winter Course: Materials Analysis Lab
• Spring Course: Archaeological Field School at Paramount Ranch
• Summer Course: Global Community Engagement Practicum

Development of the program will begin in December 2025 and wrap-up in April 2026, with a plan for launching the program, ideally in the 2027-28 academic year, according to Stapleton. “The PAGH team’s goal is to build a sustainable, cross-disciplinary program that will endure beyond the initial grant period,” she added. “By combining cost-effective design, institutional embedding, and strategic partnerships, PAGH will not only thrive at UCLA, but also serve as a model for global heritage education across higher education institutions” she concluded.