Kira Collins

My specialty is in applied cultural anthropology, with an emphasis on real-world application in business. For my masters, I am developing a proposal for how Purdue Anthropology can create a community of practice in the Space for Practice lab. In it, I provide recommendations on how the program can foster a community between students, practitioners, faculty, and community members through sustained interaction that provides personal and professional value to all members. Throughout the program, I have had two opportunities to work as a research consultant with the local city government and a non-profit. I have also worked full time as a training and development consultant for a medical device company, where my focus was to develop and evaluate a training model for new customer service employees. These experiences have helped me practice and refine my skillsets to provide actionable and culturally relevant insight for real problems. I enjoy thinking about and solving these human-centered problems and I strive to help my clients and partners appreciate the impact that ethnography and empathetic understanding can have on organizational goals.