Graduate Student Research

Current Graduate Students
Graduate Alumni

Current graduate students

 
 

Tom Allen

Tom Allen

Current MA student

tcallen@alaska.edu

BS Anthropology (2011) vlog

Thesis: Early Holocene Lithic Procurement, Technological Organization, and Mobility: Insights from XBD-167 (Little Delta #3)

Research interests: I primarily work on questions of technological adaptations during the Early Holocene especially on toolstone procurement behavior and the insight these behaviors have on understanding mobility during this ecologically dynamic time period. As an extension, my research includes the ways material quality and material availability affect technological organization and degree of tool production and intensification at procurement sites.



Lia Amundsen

Lia Amundsen

Current MA student

ladigrappa@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2013) vlog

Research interests: Archaeology, cultural anthropology, and Alaska Native studies with a focus on the important role of Alaskan Native women both in the past and present
 

Eleanor “Nell” Bishop

Eleanor “Nell” Bishop

Current MA student

ebishop9@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2016) University of Alaska Anchorage

Thesis Topic: The relationship between Inland Dena’ina place names and foodways

Research interests: Four field approach; Food anthropology; Arctic and subarctic archaeology; Traditional place names studies; Political Ecology; Human Behavioral Ecology; Decolonizing anthropology

Logan Bullard

Logan Bullard

Current MA student

lcbullard@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology/History 2018 University of South Dakota

Research Interests: Cultural Resource Management, Historical Archaeology, Indigenous Economics, Indigenous Politics, Inupiaq Culture, Canadian History, Military Arctic Presence and Exploration.

Ciji Clark

Ciji Clark

Current MA student

Cclark88@alaska.edu

BA UAF Interdisciplinary Studies 2022 with a focus in Business and Anthropology.  AA Business Colorado Technical University 2015

Research interests: My interest as a cultural anthropologist is in the social-cultural relationships surrounding food and artistic expression.  As a graduate student, I am investigating the role of Alaska Craft breweries in creating spaces for a unique multi-sensory experience.  This experience facilitates and aesthetic appreciation in culturally diversion and generationally inclusive environment. 

Courtney Clough

Courtney Clough

Current PhD student

cbclough@alaska.edu

MA (2016) Religious Studies, Georgia State University (Thesis: Moral Injury and Moral Trauma Among Combat Medics), BA (2014) Anthropology, University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Dissertation Topic: Assessing health status of a modern skeletal collection through proteomics and isotope analysis

Research interests: Medical Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Bioarchaeology

Sam Coffman

Sam Coffman

Current PhD student

sccoffman@alaska.edu

MA (2011) Anthropology, vlog (Thesis: Archaeology at Teklanika West (HEA-0 01): A n Upland Archaeological Site, Central Alaska); BA (2007) Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno

Dissertation Topic: Exploring possible changes in lithic procurement strategy and use through time in Eastern Interior Alaska.

Research interests: Lithic procurement and raw material sourcing, coastal adaptation and use during the Holocene, hunter-gatherer landscape-use and change, and GIS modeling and analysis.

Sierra Cotrona

Sierra Cotrona

Current PhD student

sscotrona@alaska.edu

BA (2016) Geological Sciences and Anthropology, University of Rochester; MS (2018) Biomedical Anthropology, Binghamton University; M.Re (2019) Bioarchaeology, Wrexham University. Master's Thesis: Skeletal Markers as Indicators of Labor in a Nineteenth Century New York Cemetery

Dissertation Topic: Dental Patterns in Understanding Origins of South Asian Populations

Research Interests: Dental morphology, forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, skeletal biology

Kathryn “Allie” Dewey

Kathryn “Allie” Dewey

Current PhD student

kdewey1@alaska.edu

Dissertation Topic: Tracing the residential mobility of the ancient Tochak McGrath individuals via via strontium and oxygen isotope analyses of their tooth enamel 

Research interests: Forces driving past human migration in Interior Alaska (subsistence, environment, culture), isotope analysis (human and faunal remains)

Christina Edwin

Current MA student

cmedwin@alaska.edu

Research interests: TBD

 

Miranda Ehlers

Miranda Ehlers

Current PhD student

mmehlers@alaska.edu

MA (2020) California State University, Chico (Thesis: An Evaluation of Dental Metrics: Assessing the Impact of Preservation on Ancestral Estimation); BS (2017) Michigan State University

Research interests: Dental anthropology, forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology

 

Jason Elder

Jason Elder

Current MA student

jelder3@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2019) Washington College

Research interests: Archaeology, human/environment interactions, hunter-gatherer landscape use,
human behavioral ecology, 3D modeling, public outreach

Korovin Ellis

Korovin Ellis

Current MA student

kjellis@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2016) vlog

Thesis Topic: Debitage Analysis of Northern Archaic Materials from the Hollenbeck Site

Research interests: Lithics, Zooarchaeology, Human Adaptation & Risk Management

Daniel Gonzalez

Daniel Gonzalez

dgonzalez5@alaska.edu

A.A. in Liberal Studies (2010), Montgomery County Community College; B.A. in anthropology with minor in history (2012), Pennsylvania State University

Research interests: Mixed cash and subsistence economies, anthropology of food, political anthropology, identity, and ethnographic field methods

Amelia Jansen

Amelia Jansen

Current MA student

ajansen4@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2016) University of Tennessee 

Research interests: Zooarchaeology, Foodways, Circumpolar Archaeology, Public Outreach, Field Studies

Mike J. Jennings

Mike J. Jennings

Current M.A. Student

mjjennings3@alaska.edu

B.S. Biology--2020, Brigham Young University--Idaho

Research Interests: High-Latitude Anthropology, Adaptive Change in Resource Use, Peopling of the Americas

Zhao Jian

Zhao Jian

Current PhD student

zjian@alaska.edu

MA Archaeology (2018) Zhengzhou University. Master's Thesis: Analysis of Starch Grains on Stone Tools Excavated from GouWan Site.

Dissertation Topic: Ancient Starch Grains; C and N stable isotopes; Geographic Information Systems.

Research interests: Environmental Archaeology, Archaeological Sciences; Agriculture.

Casey Jobe

Casey Jobe

Current MA student

pcjobe@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2017) vlog

Thesis Topic: Understanding technological organization of mid- to late-Holocene occupation of the Mead site through lithic analysis.

Research interests: Lithic Analysis; GIS and Spatial Patterning; Technological Organization; Hunter-Gatherers; Prehistoric Transitional Phases; Human Behavioral Ecology

Roman Kitaysky

Roman Kitaysky

Current MA student

rakitaysky@alaska.edu

BA Russian Studies, vlog (2011)

Subfield: Cultural Anthropology

Research interests: southern Alaska and Kodiak; historical Euro-aboriginal interactions

Erin Laughlin

Erin Laughlin

Current PhD student

eelaughlin@alaska.edu

Research interests: TBD

Line Lea

Line Lea

Current MA student

llea@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology & International Studies (2022) at University of North Florida

Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Human-Animal Relations, Community-Based Healthcare, Circumpolar North

Wei Liu

Wei Liu

Current Ph.D. student

wliu6@alaska.edu

MA Archaeology (2019) Graduate School of Chinese; Academy of Social Sciences; BA Archaeology (2015) Jilin University

Research interests: Lithic analysis; paleoethnobotany; archaeological theory; formation process of archaeological site; East Asian archaeology; and quantitative archaeology.

MoHagani Magnetek 

MoHagani Magnetek 

Current PhD student

mamagnetek@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2009), Graduate Certificate: Forensic Death Investigation (2011), BA English (2016), MFA Creative Writing & Literary Arts (2020)

Research interests: cultural anthropology, historical archaeology, bioarchaeology, gender studies as well as African American history and culture in Alaska. Frying fish is my favorite pastime.

Irene Maxwell

Irene Maxwell

Current MA student

imaxwell2@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology 2012 Western Washington University 

Research Interests: Geoarchaeology, Lithics/stone tools, SE Alaska, Tlingit/Haida culture, and paleoclimatology.

Haley McCaig

Haley McCaig

Current MA Student

hkmccaig@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2007) State University of New York at Geneseo

Research interests: Archaeology of the Arctic and Subarctic; Bone Tool Technology of the Aleutian Archipelago; Ethnobotany; Decolonizing Academia

Lucy Miller

Lucy Miller

Current PhD student Linguistic Anthropology

lucy.miller@alaska.edu

MA Linguistics (2019) University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; BA Romance Languages, minors: Korean Language, Urdu Language (2014) New York University.  

Research Interests: ethnobiology; ethnotaxonomy; traditional ecological knowledge; language reclamation and revitalization; morphology; Dene languages; Niger-Congo languages (Ngemba); community-based practice; decolonizing research; indigenous knowledge and climate change.

Rachel Neubuhr Torres

Rachel Neubuhr Torres

Current PhD student

rlneubuhrtorres@alaska.edu

MA Religious Studies 2023 Arizona State University; BA Arts and Letters & University Honors 2021 Portland State University.

Research Interests: My research spans diverse areas of interest, grounded in ontoepistemological insights that explore the nature of objectivity and spiritual tacit knowledge. My primary focus lies in anthrozoology within the Circumpolar North, delving into affective human-animal kinships, moose farming, caribou/reindeer, muskoxen, and sled dogs. I am also interested in environmental anthropology and the relationship between folklore and romanticism to policy-making and identity, as well as the socioeconomics of subsistence hunting/trapping/gathering. I am guided by a multidisciplinary approach including cultural anthropology, critical geography, multispecies & visual ethnography, and ethnographic film.

Gabriela Olmos

Gabriela Olmos

Current, PhD student

gaolmosrosas@alaska.edu

Master in Critical Theory, 17 Instituto de Estudios Críticos

Thesis Topic: Mexicans in Anchorage and their corn culture

Research Interests: Hispanics in the United States, Diaspora, Food, Ritual, Immigration, Globalization, Art

Tara Palmer

Tara Palmer

tmsmith@alaska.edu

M.Ed. Adult Education, University of Alaska Anchorage; BA French Language & Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language, Portland State University

Dissertation Topic: Adult ESL Teachers' Language Ideologies, Policies, & Practices

Research interests: Language ideologies, language policies, language & identity

Fiona Papile

Fiona Papile

Current MA student

frpapile@alaska.edu

Archaeology; 2021, BS Anthropology and Geography, California Polytechnic State University SLO

Research Interests: Alaskan Archaeology, Southeast Alaska paleoshoreline predictive modeling, lithic analysis, human migration, Late Pleistocene circumpolar adaptation, and behavioral ecology. 

Wyatt J. Rowe

Wyatt J. Rowe

Current PhD student

wjrowe@alaska.edu

MA Archaeology 2018 Newcastle University; BA Anthropology 2016 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Research interests: Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Stable Isotope Analysis, Proteomics, Geophysical Survey

Erica Selly

Erica Selly

Current MA student, Bioarchaeology, forensic archaeology, Middle Age and Medieval History

eselly@alaska.edu

Research interests: Bioarchaeology, forensic archaeology, Middle Age and Medieval History 

Micki LeClair Sievers

Micki LeClair Sievers

Current MA student

mlsievers@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2023) University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Peace Studies Certificate (2023) University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

Research interests: Cultural Anthropology, Foodways, Cultural Heritage Tourism, Folklore, Religion, Linguistics, Latin American Studies with a focus on Mayan/Aztec/Moche, and Tlingit and Haida Studies.

Kelsey Sisk

Kelsey Sisk

Current MA student; BA Linguistics and Classics, Minors: Anthropology and Greek Studies (2019) University of Florida

kasisk@alaska.edu

Research interests: Linguistic Anthropology; Discourse Analysis; Ethnomethodology; Sociolinguistics; Gender, Language, and Identity 

Connor Staponski

Connor Staponski

Current MA student

cmstaponski@alaska.edu

BS in Social Studies Education (2018) University of Central Missouri

Research interests: Gender, family structures, political structures, and equity in education

Daniel Strong

Daniel Strong

Current MA student

dstronggaston@alaska.edu

BS in Marine Biology (2007) University of Alaska Southeast

Research interests: Southeast Alaska and Tlingit ethnohistory, relational well-being, Indigenous connections with place.

Lynn Walker

Lynn Walker

lawalker5@alaska.edu

BA Anthropology (2013) Alma College; MRes Social Anthropology (2014) University of Aberdeen; Museum Studies Certificate (2016) Tufts University; PhD student

Research Interests: museum anthropology; material culture; colonialism; Alutiiq/Sugpiaq weaving/basketry; museum discourse and experience

Roslyn White

Roslyn White

Current PhD Student Anthropology

rewhite3@alaska.edu

MA Social Anthropology University of Manchester UK, BA Anthropology UAA, BA English and Languages (double major) UAA

Research Interests: Information and misinformation in social media and traditional media, political anthropology, confirmation bias in online spaces are some examples of what I'm interested in.

Jonah Yakunin

Jonah Yakunin

Current MA student

jnyakunin2@alaska.edu

BA Fisheries (2018) vlog

Thesis Topic: The changes in the culture of the Russian Old Believers in Alaska from involvement with Alaska's commercial fisheries. How a culture whose primary purpose of escape to Alaska was to avoid assimilation but became entrenched in the fishing industry and thriving because of it. At the present, the Russian Old Believer community in the Kenai Peninsula has become synonymous with fishing.

Research interests: Ethnohistory; fisheries; folklore; history; Russian culture; and theology

 

 

 

Graduate alumni

 
 

 

  • 2022 Allison Cruz - Sled dogs as gifts: An Ethnography of Dog Exchanges among Kennels in Alaska
  • 2021 Bethan Carter – The Visual Language of Turkish Romani Dance
  • 2019 Odin Miller 
  • 2015 Monika Frey Once upon a time: an anthropological exploration of two Gwich'in stories (Man in the Moon; The Old Woman and the Brushman)
  • 2014 Cecilie Ebsen Maintaining balance through dancing: perceptions and practices of health among young adult Yup’ik women
  • 2013 Oxana Yashchenko. Why are Lorino and Sireniki so different? Exploring communities through festivals, language use and subsistence practices in contemporary Chukotka.
  • 2012 Cori Bender. Contemporary Inuit Political  Identity and Transnational  Processes
  • 2010   Beth Mikow.   Negotiating Change: An Overview of Relocations in Alaska with Detailed Consideration of Kaktovik
  • 2009   Vanek, Susan.   The Government of Hunting: the Language of Regulation and its Effect on Hunters
  • 2009   Degai, Tatiana.   Places of Significance in Itelmen Country
  • 2009   Geml, Johanna.   "Krigsbarn" of Norway: A Transnational Ethnography of Human Rights Implications of Children as Product of War Sex
  • 2008   Antohin, Alexandra S.     Challenges of being Orthodox in Russia: Education as Missionization in Magaden
  • 2008   Neighbors, Andrea K.  Rethinking Oliver Twist – Imagination and Contemporary Russian and American Adoption Practices
  • 2008   Gill-Horton, Amy E.  An Examination of the Chinese Community and Changing Social Spaces in South Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • 2007   Klistoff, Alysa. Weapon, Tool, or Art? The Eskimo Yo-Yo as a Commodified Arctic Bola and Marker of Cultural Identity
  • 2007   Loring, Philip.   Managers are from Mars, activists are from Venus: examining the gap between institutional and grass roots sustainability initiatives
  • 2007   Salganek, Maya.   Honoring the Gift: Celebration, Ceremony, and Community in Tikigaq , Alaska
  • 2005   Antohin, Esther. Sellassie   Imagining Ityoppia: Ethiopians in the diaspora and Rastafarianism
  • 2004   Ikuta, Hiroko.   "We Dance Because We are Iñupiat" -- Iñupiaq Dance in Barrow: Performance and Identity
  • 2004   Sakurai, Takashi. Kuuvaum Kaŋiani: Where the River Begins (film)
  • 2002   Biddison, Dawn Drake.   Representation and marginalization: a case study from contemporary Alaska Native art
  • 2001   Longan, Tiffany J.   Eating Yup'ik: food trends in Southwestern Alaska
  • 2001   Raymond-Yakoubien, Julie Margaret.   They left their teacups full and their zeniths in the house: Innoko River population movements and migrations
  • 2000   Raymond-Yakoubian, Brenden.   Lived ethnicity: identity, consciousness, and discursive practice in Grayling, Alaska
  • 2000   Davis, Brian Leroy.   Geographic patterns of seal hunting in southeast Alaska , 1992-94
  • 1999   Austin, Kenneth Frank.   The changing vista of the northern Northwest Coast Indian Deer Ritual
  • 1999   Brakel, Judith T.   A maritime sense of place: southeast Alaska fishermen and mainstream   nature ideologies
  • 1999   Linn, Angela.   Not Just a Pretty Face: Dolls and Human Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures
  • 1999   McIntosh, Stacie J.   Nausiaq = plant?: Ethnobotanical classification in Shismaref , Alaska
  • 1999   Tozzi, Louis M.   Semester in the Arctic: in search of organizational identity
  • 1998   Brewster, Karen N.   An Umialik's life: conversations with Harry Brower Sr
  • 1998   Dubinina, Irina Y.   Forms, functions, meanings and uses of code-switching among bilingual Russian students in Anchorage, Alaska
  • 1998   Krutak, Lars.   One Stitch at a Time: Ivalu and Sivuqaq Tattoo
  • 1997   Chancey, Ann M.   Lebidev-Lastochkin Co. Activity in Alaska
  • 1997   Martin, Cydny Brynn.   Mediated Identity and Negotiated Tradition: Inupiaq Atigiit, 1850-2000
  • 1997   O'Brien, Thomas A.   Athabaskan implements from the skin house days as related by Reverend David Salmon
  • 1996   Carr, Teresa K.   The Integration of Governmental and Industrial Policy for the Environment on Alaska's North Slope
  • 1996   Faulkner, Susan Hartwell.   Noatak: Seasonality of Birth in an Inupiaq Village in Northwest Alaska
  • 1996   Mason, Arthur Lawrence.   In a strange turn of events: how Alutiiq cultural pride became a commodity
  • 1995   Peirce, John Carl, Jr.   Reconstruction of Neets'aii Gwich'in land use: a methodological study
  • 1995   Rahm, Jacqueline Marie.   Indigenous psychologies of Nepal and the use of traditional healing systems
  • 1995   Wright, Miranda Hildebrand.   The last great Indian war (Nulato 1851)
  • 1994   Cook, Elizabeth Ann.   The Photographer's Lens and the Elders' Recollections: Reconstructing Women's Lives in Barrow,  1921-1936, through Photographs and Interviews
  • 1994   Jacka, Jerry.   Ethnohistory of the Commercial Fishing Industry in the Eastern Aleutians
  • 1994   Kaburagi, Yoko . Avrilingyuamiut women's commercial carving: continuity of Inuit gender roles in Pelly Bay, NWT, Canada
  • 1994   Kirsis, Lise Klein.   Katherine Peter is interviewed by Lise Klein Kirsis on October 3, 1994 [sound recording] 
  • 1994   Speranza, Rose.   Folk Classification of Mammals Among the Koyukon on the Yukon River
  • 1994   Taksami, Natalia.   Ethnohistory of Aleut Settlement of Western Alaska Peninsula: Belkofski 1832 to Present
  • 1994   McGowan, Sarah J.   Commercial Whaling in Akutan , Alaska
  • 1994   Petrivelli, Patricia J.   Aleut Kinship and Social Organization in the 19th Century
  • 1993   Daniello, Denise Lynn.   Villagers to townsmen: a comparative study of Eskimo migrant adjustment patterns in vlog, Alaska
  • 1993   Deng, Meini.   Naming Practices of Northwest Alaska Inupiat
  • 1993   Scott, Carol Patricia.   Continuity and change in the Wiseman area of Alaska: a look at land and renewable resource use over time
  • 1993   Williams, Ann Elizabeth.   Father Herman : syncretic symbol of divine legitimation
  • 1992   Engelhard, Michael.   Koyukon Athabaskan Occupancy and Land Use on the Upper Kobuk and Koyukuk Rivers
  • 1992   Kreher, Ronald E.   The Composition of Subsistence Herring Fishing Crews: Toksook Bay, Alaska , 1987
  • 1992   Kerttula, Anna Marie.   The Chukchi Reindeer Herders of Sireniki
  • 1991   Asbury, Margaret Ann Magee.   Gender and Ethnic-Based Interactions in Math and Science Classes at the vlog
  • 1991   Corbett, Debra Garland.   Aleut settlement patterns in the western Aleutian Islands, Alaska
  • 1991   Sturnick, Karen Griffin.   Yupik Women in Transition: A Study in Change and Continuity in the Roles of Yupik Women
  • 1990   Ganley, Matthew Lenox.   Paradigms and Piilaaqtut: Applicability of Accepted Interpretations of Inupiat Ethnography and History
  • 1990   Mathews, V.T.   A Case Study of a Homeland and a Wilderness: Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Nunamiut Eskimos
  • 1989   Hensel, Chase   Title N/A
  • 1988   Dudley-Rowley, Marilyn R.   Debunking Alaska: the metamorphosis of the Alaska literary myth through its relationship with Alaska's socioeconomic image
  • 1988   McCollough, Martha.   Yup'ik responses to Russian Orthodox and Moravian missionaries in the lower Kuskokwim region of southwestern Alaska
  • 1988   Taber, Rachel Kathryn.   Czech/Slovak Immigration into the Yukon Territory: 1914-1953
  • 1986   Wheeler, Polly Carvill.   Kaltag, Alaska and vlog: Changing Patterns of Subsistence Salmon Fishing on the Yukon River
  • 1984   Walsh, Steven J . Polity of St. Lawrence Island
  • 1983   Wyatt, Mary Pat.   Problems in conservation of Alaskan ethnographic material
  • 1983   Case, Martha Frances.   Modern Foragers: Wild Resource Use in Nenana Village , Alaska
  • 1982   Regan, Susan Lee.   Interpretation through oral history in the Susitna River Basin
  • 1981   Slaby, Daniel Louis.   Demography of an Athabaskan Village: Minto , Alaska
  • 1981   White,   Gay Ann.   Eskimo village: an ethnic enclave in vlog, Alaska
  • 1978   deBurlo, Charles Russell.   A Study of performance in Kutchin oral narrative
  • 1975   Andrews, Elizabeth Frances.   Salcha: an Athapaskan band of the Tanana River and its culture
  • 1973   Dykema, Gisela M.   Between yesterday and tomorrow: Allendorf Germany
  • 1973   Keim, Frank J.   Some trends in non-native adaptation in villages along the Kobuk and Koyukuk Rivers in northwest Alaska
  • 1972   Breiby, John C . A biographical study of acculturation on Nushagak Bay
  • 1972   Pitts, Roger Steven.   The changing settlement patterns and housing types of the Upper Tanana Indians
  • 1971   Vitt, Ramon B.   Hunting practices of the Upper Tanana Athapaskans
  • 1971   Wallen, Lynn Ager.   The Eskimo storyknife complex of Southwestern Alaska
  • 1970   Billman, Esther Lisle.   A study of the elements of the supernatural among the Tlingit of Sitka and Yakutat.
  • 1970   Jacobs, Neville Abbott.   The anthropologist and the public; some problems of public communication in anthropology
  • 1968   Olson, Wallace M.   Minto, Alaska: cultural and historical influences on group identity