 Boas's program at Columbia was the first Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program in anthropology in America.During this time Boas played a key role in organizing the American Anthropological Association (AAA) as an umbrella organization for the emerging field.Boas originally wanted the AAA to be limited to professional anthropologists, but W. J. McGee (another geologist who had joined the BAE under Powell's leadership) argued that the organization should have an open membership.