Spare time isn't something that 28-year-old Theresa Barket is used to having. Barket is a third-year graduate student at CSUB and is currently working on her master's thesis. "I am working on completing my thesis, so that is pretty much what I do all the time," she said.
Barket hails from the Midwest United States and graduated with her bachelor's from Minnesota State University Moorhead. After finishing her undergraduate degree Barket worked for a few years in cultural resource management as an archaeological field technician. "I enjoyed this work, but I did not want to stay in the same lower level positions for the rest of my career and I craved the academic environment," she said. "So I began to look into graduate programs. I wanted to focus in lithic analysis and found a professor, Dr. Robert Yohe, here that included this as one of his specializations."
Barket came to CSUB with the intent of preparing for her doctorate. "The anthropology program at California State University, Bakersfield, is a great program; it is challenging and has provided me with opportunities that I do not think I would have been able to get, had I gone elsewhere," she said.
Barket was recently accepted as a doctorate student at the University of California, Riverside and after graduating would like to teach and conduct research at the university level. She was recently awarded the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship Award scholarship to help in this endeavor. "This scholarship is offered to graduate students on the basis of their previous academic work, and on the evidence that they are able to conduct and follow through with research and creative endeavors," Barket said. "In my case it will pay for the bulk of my schooling costs for the first two years, provided I maintain a certain GPA, take a full load of classes, and advance through the program at an acceptable pace."
When she happens to have free time, Barket enjoys traveling, exploring the surrounding areas and getting to know California better. She also enjoys reading, hiking, camping, and just being outdoors in general.