2 Minutes With … Terrence Freeman: Exploration key to research fellowship

2 Minutes With … is a series of short features to introduce us to the passions and interests of Lawrence students on and off campus.

Planning for life after Lawrence can be daunting. Terrence Freeman ‘22 is preparing by participating in the Graduate School Exploration Fellowship (GSEF) program this summer.  

“GSEF essentially takes students from marginalized communities to conduct a research program at a graduate school,” said Freeman, an anthropology major from New York. “It is mainly used to not only draw marginalized students to the graduate school program but also to give you a feel of what the graduate school experience is like, to see if you really want to do that after graduation.”

GSEF is a fellowship program that gives undergraduate students between their junior and senior years the opportunity to conduct research at one of the Big 10 research universities. Participants are partnered with a mentor and receive career development advice along the way.   

Important guidance

Freeman is part of the Posse program at Lawrence and was encouraged to apply for a GSEF fellowship by his Posse mentor. He completed an application process that included, among other things, a personal statement essay and a research proposal.

“They said it was competitive and kind of tough to get in, so I was not putting too much hope into it; so, when I got it, I was like, this is awesome,” Freeman said. 

After being accepted, Freeman went through a week of training that detailed what to expect from the program. He was placed with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is being matched with a mentor. During the application process, Freeman presented a research proposal that was centered on his work in anthropology and archeology. The research conducted is ultimately chosen by the mentoring professor, but Freeman hopes to do research on North American archeology.  

“I knew I wanted to work with an Indigenous community or an Indigenous population,” Freeman said. “I proposed studying the Pueblos in the Southwest because they have a rich prehistoric history. The main reason is, because they are a marginalized population, their prehistory goes unrecognized, and I wanted to shed some more light on it. Prehistory is pre-written time, so the material record is one of the only things that gives a voice to these people. By uncovering the material remains of the past, you are telling their story.” 

Connecting archaeology, activism  

Freeman, who will do his GSEF research this summer, has been active at Lawrence as a student activist.  

“Me and my friend, Earl Simons, we co-founded the Students for Democratic Society (SDS) here at Lawrence,” Freeman said. “Essentially what it is is a national pan-leftist organization that tries to create change through student-led activism and student-led campaigns.” 

There are about 20 SDS chapters in the United States. Freeman was able to get a chapter started in Appleton. As a chapter leader, Freeman attends a biweekly meeting to give chapter updates and stay coordinated with other chapters. 

Freeman is passionate about activism and hopes to one day combine it with his work in anthropology and archeology. 

“If I am going to work in archeology, I am going to work in public archeology, which is essentially conducting archeological research for the community,” Freeman said. “In my public archeology class now, we are talking about how public archeologists go out to marginalized communities and go to the people there and are like, ‘There is history beneath the soil now; how do you want to see it conveyed.’ I want to incorporate my activism with archeological research.”