Alicia Collumbell '13: A Global Citizen

by Cecil Harris

When most people visit a city, they can’t wait to sample the local cuisine. When Alicia Collumbell visits a city, she can’t wait to check out the museums.

“People of my generation seem to think museums are outdated,” she said. “But that’s because they usually don’t know enough about museums.”

Ms. Collumbell knows museums. While attending Adelphi University, she spent summers backpacking through Europe, visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris and the British Museum in London, among others. She has also visited numerous halls of history in New York.

Adelphi proved to be a nurturing environment for Ms. Collumbell, who graduated in May as a double major in history and anthropology. Interestingly, the Central Islip, New York, native was set to attend Cornell University, but then her father became ill and she needed to stay in the Long Island area.

“I came to Adelphi as a biology major, but then I realized it didn’t suit my interests,” she said. “Someone told me I should take an anthropology course because I’ve always been interested in cultures.”

Anna Konstantatos, an adjunct professor of physical anthropology and museum studies, took Ms. Collumbell under her wing. Ms. Collumbell worked as a collections intern at the Heritage Museum of Epirus in Astoria, New York, where Ms. Konstantatos is the curator.

“It was a pleasure to work with her because she was passionate and committed,” Ms. Konstantatos said. “She was also able to draw from the breadth of her studies to ask questions and help problem solve.”

That internship gave Ms. Collumbell the experience she needed to land her current position as a paid intern at the Long Island Maritime Museum in Sayville, New York. In 2014, she plans to begin a dual degree program to earn a law degree and a master’s in museum studies. She’s considering Georgetown University, Duke University and Vanderbilt University.

“I would like to be a curator, or work in the legal department of a museum,” said Ms. Collumbell, who also hopes to live abroad.

“She will most definitely achieve her dreams, both in academia and her career,” said Anagnostis Agelarakis, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of anthropology and sociology. “I can also foresee her as an Adelphi ambassador—a good and productive global citizen, able to adapt with relative ease to the rapidly evolving challenges facing the 21st century, domestically and overseas.”

Ms. Collumbell is smart, energetic and enthusiastic, as evidenced by her many activities at Adelphi: honors student; vice president of Delta Delta Delta; editorial board member of the Future Teachers Association; admissions tour guide; orientation leader for freshmen; and member of Circle K International—the world’s largest nonprofit collegiate organization—which led to volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and Ronald McDonald House.

However, few things captivate her as much as a visit to a museum. Her favorite? The Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan.

“It’s sort of out of the way and different,” she said. “I’ve been to a lot of different museums, but I like the smaller, out-of-the-way ones the best.”