TEACHING
Courses developed and taught at Trinity College, Del Mar College, and Texas A&M University.
ANTH 201: Introduction to Anthropology
An introduction to the discipline of anthropology through the examination of its four sub-fields: archaeology, biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology and linguistics.
Assignments: 3 exams; final group fieldwork project; readings
ANTH 210: Sociocultural Anthropology
The course will provide students with an introduction to the field of sociocultural anthropology. We will examine how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects of culture vary and/or are similar across different cultures in numerous dimensions, including economics, politics, social structures, kinship, religion, language, gender, race, worldview, and more. We will also explore different schools of thought that attempt to explain how and why cultures vary the way they do along these dimensions around the world.
Assignments: 12 weekly module tasks; 6 quizzes; readings
ANTH 2302: Introduction to Archaeology
An overview of human origins and biocultural adaptations. Also introduces methods and theory in the excavation and interpretation of material remains of past cultures.
Assignments: 12 weekly module tasks; 6 quizzes; readings
HIST 278: Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
How and why do we celebrate, memorialize, and preserve/conserve the “important stuff” of history? How have our methods of conserving and preserving the past changed over time and according to place, culture, and what history is being remembered? In this course we will examine various methods and theories for conservation and preservation of cultural heritage—writ large, and including archaeology, art, and history—as practiced both nationally and abroad. This course introduces students to a wide range of classic and contemporary readings, case studies, and real-world examples of the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage around the world and in the U.S. This course is separated into two parts: the theory of conservation and preservation, and the practice of conservation and preservation in action.
Assignments: 2 exams, 2 condition reports, 2 treatment proposals, readings and participation
HIST 282: Maritime Archaeology of the Atlantic World
Throughout human history, water transport has been the main mode of long-distance trade and travel. Maritime archaeologists frequently combine historical and archaeological data to investigate sites on the coast and underwater that help us understand this important period in the human past. This course investigates the history of the interconnected Atlantic World through the discipline of maritime archaeology, with particular emphasis on technology (ship/wrecks and ship equipment), society (networks, households, ports), commodity (cargoes, trade goods), and identity (work routines, living conditions, beliefs) in maritime communities from the North and South American, African, and European Atlantic coasts between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Assignments: 3 exams, 6 site reports, readings and participation
ANTH 313: Historical Archaeology
How do historians and archaeologists investigate and interpret the past? This course introduces you to historical archaeology and uses archaeological sites and material culture to examine the history of the period from the 15th century to present. We will consider how archaeologists interpret the sites they investigate through artifacts, documents, oral history, and other sources, and how this contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of colonization and globalization, race, class, gender, and ethnic identities. While this course typically focuses on the European “discovery” and colonization of the Americas, we will also discuss the global consequences of the Atlantic World and European expansion in other regions. In addition to completing course readings and lectures on historical archaeology, students will engage in hands-on activities that give them research skills and opportunities to practice historical archaeology.
Assignments: 6 quizzes, transcription project, genealogy project, final paper, readings and participation
HIST 343: The History and Archaeology of West Africa
West Africa is a vast region that stretches from the Sahara in the north, to the Atlantic in the south and west, to the Gulf of Guinea in the east. As a result of colonization, West Africa was bordered in such a way that split apart longstanding ethnic groups and historical states. West African societies have been shaped by trade, exchange, and contact from all directions. This diversity is reflected in the complex archaeological record of the region. This seminar course investigates the history and archaeology of West Africa from the paleolithic to the present, investigating topics from the Late Stone Age to the rise of powerful kingdoms like Mali, Ghana, and Songhai, to the transatlantic trade, colonization, and the postcolonial period. Students will engage with key archaeological sites, stories, objects, and debates in West African historiography. This course highlights how archaeology reshapes our understanding of Africa’s past beyond colonial narratives and offers a dynamic lens into one of the world’s most diverse and influential regions.
Assignments: readings and participation, 2 primary source analyses, 2 site reports, final paper
HIST 3XX: Rolling in the Deep: Maritime Archaeology, Popular Cinema, and Portraying the Past
This interdisciplinary course explores how popular films and shows, both fictional and documentary—from Sahara (2005), Uncharted (2022), Titanic (1997), and Outer Banks (2020) to Shipwreck Secrets (2020) and Drain the Oceans (2018)—shape contemporary historical and cultural imagination of our global maritime past. Students will critically examine cinematic portrayals from contemporary history (1950-present) of treasure hunting and maritime historical archaeology, investigating how historical developments in scholarship shaped popular media and vice versa. Students will analyze a range of fictional and documentary media as well as corresponding historical and archaeological case studies and scholarly works, comparing and contrasting myth, memory, fact, fiction, method, theory, law, and practice in maritime archaeology.
Assignments: 3 response papers, 2 public-facing article reviews, final paper, reading and participation
ANTH 415: Anthropological Writing
Reading and discussion of the classic genres of anthropological literature; instruction in writing styles and techniques appropriate to each genre, followed by guided writing assignments.
Assignments: final paper, in-class journals, AI writing analysis, application packet and CV, peer review
FYEX 101: First Year Experience
Development of self-efficacy, self-awareness and a sense of purpose; active engagement in the learning environment inside and outside of the classroom; social integration within the university community. Must be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Assignments: Goal map, attendance, library resources exercise, course degree plan, peer mentor 1-on-1 meeting, instructor 1-on-1 meeting
ANTH 402: Archaeological Artifact Conservation*
This course introduces students to the techniques of stabilizing and preserving deteriorated or corroded artifacts from archaeological sites. Proper conservation techniques are introduced in seminar/laboratory sessions designed to familiarize students with the chemicals, equipment, and procedures used in the treatments. Practical experience will be gained in treating organic and siliceous materials and the various metals commonly found in prehistoric and historic sites. The emphasis will be on the basic conservation processes successfully used on the most commonly encountered artifacts recovered from archaeological sites.
Assignments: 3 cumulative laboratory reports, ceramic pottery reconstruction, 2 exams
*Teaching/Lab Assistant (with grading responsibilities)
ANTH 605: Conservation of Archaeological Materials I*
This course introduces students to the techniques of stabilizing and preserving deteriorated or corroded artifacts from archaeological sites. Proper conservation techniques are introduced in seminar/laboratory sessions designed to familiarize students with the chemicals, equipment, and procedures used in the treatments. Practical experience will be gained in treating organic and siliceous materials, and the various metals commonly found in prehistoric and historic sites. The emphasis will be on the basic conservation processes successfully used on the most commonly encountered artifacts recovered from archaeological sites.
Assignments: 2 exams, Organic Material Conservation Report, Metal Conservation Report, Ceramic Restoration
*Teaching/Lab Assistant (without grading responsibilities)
An introduction to the discipline of anthropology through the examination of its four sub-fields: archaeology, biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology and linguistics.
Assignments: 3 exams; final group fieldwork project; readings
ANTH 210: Sociocultural Anthropology
The course will provide students with an introduction to the field of sociocultural anthropology. We will examine how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects of culture vary and/or are similar across different cultures in numerous dimensions, including economics, politics, social structures, kinship, religion, language, gender, race, worldview, and more. We will also explore different schools of thought that attempt to explain how and why cultures vary the way they do along these dimensions around the world.
Assignments: 12 weekly module tasks; 6 quizzes; readings
ANTH 2302: Introduction to Archaeology
An overview of human origins and biocultural adaptations. Also introduces methods and theory in the excavation and interpretation of material remains of past cultures.
Assignments: 12 weekly module tasks; 6 quizzes; readings
HIST 278: Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
How and why do we celebrate, memorialize, and preserve/conserve the “important stuff” of history? How have our methods of conserving and preserving the past changed over time and according to place, culture, and what history is being remembered? In this course we will examine various methods and theories for conservation and preservation of cultural heritage—writ large, and including archaeology, art, and history—as practiced both nationally and abroad. This course introduces students to a wide range of classic and contemporary readings, case studies, and real-world examples of the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage around the world and in the U.S. This course is separated into two parts: the theory of conservation and preservation, and the practice of conservation and preservation in action.
Assignments: 2 exams, 2 condition reports, 2 treatment proposals, readings and participation
HIST 282: Maritime Archaeology of the Atlantic World
Throughout human history, water transport has been the main mode of long-distance trade and travel. Maritime archaeologists frequently combine historical and archaeological data to investigate sites on the coast and underwater that help us understand this important period in the human past. This course investigates the history of the interconnected Atlantic World through the discipline of maritime archaeology, with particular emphasis on technology (ship/wrecks and ship equipment), society (networks, households, ports), commodity (cargoes, trade goods), and identity (work routines, living conditions, beliefs) in maritime communities from the North and South American, African, and European Atlantic coasts between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Assignments: 3 exams, 6 site reports, readings and participation
ANTH 313: Historical Archaeology
How do historians and archaeologists investigate and interpret the past? This course introduces you to historical archaeology and uses archaeological sites and material culture to examine the history of the period from the 15th century to present. We will consider how archaeologists interpret the sites they investigate through artifacts, documents, oral history, and other sources, and how this contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of colonization and globalization, race, class, gender, and ethnic identities. While this course typically focuses on the European “discovery” and colonization of the Americas, we will also discuss the global consequences of the Atlantic World and European expansion in other regions. In addition to completing course readings and lectures on historical archaeology, students will engage in hands-on activities that give them research skills and opportunities to practice historical archaeology.
Assignments: 6 quizzes, transcription project, genealogy project, final paper, readings and participation
HIST 343: The History and Archaeology of West Africa
West Africa is a vast region that stretches from the Sahara in the north, to the Atlantic in the south and west, to the Gulf of Guinea in the east. As a result of colonization, West Africa was bordered in such a way that split apart longstanding ethnic groups and historical states. West African societies have been shaped by trade, exchange, and contact from all directions. This diversity is reflected in the complex archaeological record of the region. This seminar course investigates the history and archaeology of West Africa from the paleolithic to the present, investigating topics from the Late Stone Age to the rise of powerful kingdoms like Mali, Ghana, and Songhai, to the transatlantic trade, colonization, and the postcolonial period. Students will engage with key archaeological sites, stories, objects, and debates in West African historiography. This course highlights how archaeology reshapes our understanding of Africa’s past beyond colonial narratives and offers a dynamic lens into one of the world’s most diverse and influential regions.
Assignments: readings and participation, 2 primary source analyses, 2 site reports, final paper
HIST 3XX: Rolling in the Deep: Maritime Archaeology, Popular Cinema, and Portraying the Past
This interdisciplinary course explores how popular films and shows, both fictional and documentary—from Sahara (2005), Uncharted (2022), Titanic (1997), and Outer Banks (2020) to Shipwreck Secrets (2020) and Drain the Oceans (2018)—shape contemporary historical and cultural imagination of our global maritime past. Students will critically examine cinematic portrayals from contemporary history (1950-present) of treasure hunting and maritime historical archaeology, investigating how historical developments in scholarship shaped popular media and vice versa. Students will analyze a range of fictional and documentary media as well as corresponding historical and archaeological case studies and scholarly works, comparing and contrasting myth, memory, fact, fiction, method, theory, law, and practice in maritime archaeology.
Assignments: 3 response papers, 2 public-facing article reviews, final paper, reading and participation
ANTH 415: Anthropological Writing
Reading and discussion of the classic genres of anthropological literature; instruction in writing styles and techniques appropriate to each genre, followed by guided writing assignments.
Assignments: final paper, in-class journals, AI writing analysis, application packet and CV, peer review
FYEX 101: First Year Experience
Development of self-efficacy, self-awareness and a sense of purpose; active engagement in the learning environment inside and outside of the classroom; social integration within the university community. Must be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Assignments: Goal map, attendance, library resources exercise, course degree plan, peer mentor 1-on-1 meeting, instructor 1-on-1 meeting
ANTH 402: Archaeological Artifact Conservation*
This course introduces students to the techniques of stabilizing and preserving deteriorated or corroded artifacts from archaeological sites. Proper conservation techniques are introduced in seminar/laboratory sessions designed to familiarize students with the chemicals, equipment, and procedures used in the treatments. Practical experience will be gained in treating organic and siliceous materials and the various metals commonly found in prehistoric and historic sites. The emphasis will be on the basic conservation processes successfully used on the most commonly encountered artifacts recovered from archaeological sites.
Assignments: 3 cumulative laboratory reports, ceramic pottery reconstruction, 2 exams
*Teaching/Lab Assistant (with grading responsibilities)
ANTH 605: Conservation of Archaeological Materials I*
This course introduces students to the techniques of stabilizing and preserving deteriorated or corroded artifacts from archaeological sites. Proper conservation techniques are introduced in seminar/laboratory sessions designed to familiarize students with the chemicals, equipment, and procedures used in the treatments. Practical experience will be gained in treating organic and siliceous materials, and the various metals commonly found in prehistoric and historic sites. The emphasis will be on the basic conservation processes successfully used on the most commonly encountered artifacts recovered from archaeological sites.
Assignments: 2 exams, Organic Material Conservation Report, Metal Conservation Report, Ceramic Restoration
*Teaching/Lab Assistant (without grading responsibilities)