Current Faculty | Emeritus Faculty | Affiliated Faculty
The Anthropology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center draws its faculty from across the CUNY system. There are currently over 50 active, fulltime faculty members representing 10 different CUNY campuses, supported by a rich collection of emeritus professors, many of whom continue to participate substantively in student training, and a broad set of adjunct/affiliated faculty from a variety of prestigious institutions. The fulltime doctoral faculty includes members who teach only at the Graduate Center as well as others who teach at both the Graduate Center and another CUNY campus. For some of the latter the links below may take you to faculty pages on another CUNY website. Additional anthropologists in the CUNY system also participate in the doctoral program in diverse ways. For a fuller profile of faculty resources in the CUNY system, see the websites of CUNY anthropology departments. For new and recent tenure-track Assistant and Associate Professors hired at other CUNY colleges see New Faculty Appointments.
Current Faculty
Talal Asad (PhD Oxford 1968; Dist Prof) Religion and secularism, Islamic traditions, political theories; Middle East (tasad@gc.cuny.edu)
H. Arthur Bankoff (PhD Harvard 1974; Prof) European archaeology, Old World prehistory, physical anthropology, archaeological field and laboratory methods; Near East, Europe (abankoff@brooklyn.cuny.edu)
Alexander A Bauer (PhD U Penn, 2006; Asst Prof) Arch, trade & interaction, material culture, semiotics, cultural heritage, Near East, Eurasia (alexander.bauer@qc.cuny.edu)
Leigh Binford (PhD U Connecticut, 1983; Prof) Political economy, migration & development, anthropology of violence, Mexico, Central America(arthur.binford@csi.cuny.edu)
Michael Blim (PhD Temple U 1987; Prof) Political economy, globalization, inequality; Southern Europe (mblim@gc.cuny.edu)
Avram Bornstein (PhD Columbia 1998; Assoc Prof) Violence, policing, work, borders; Israel-Palestine (abornstein@jjay.cuny.edu)
Jacqueline Nassy Brown (PhD Stanford, 1995; Assoc Prof) Diaspora and transnationalism; race, place and space; Black identities: U.S. and Britain (jnbrown@hunter.cuny.edu)
Jillian R Cavanaugh (PhD, NYU, 2003; Assoc Prof) Linguistic anthropology, language ideology, language shift/social change, gender, materiality, Italy, Europe(jcavanaugh@brooklyn.cuny.edu)
Melissa Checker (PhD, NYU, 2002 ; Assoc Prof) Environmental justice, urban political ecology, social movements, US (mchecker@qc.cuny.edu)
John Collins (PhD U Michigan, 2003; Asst Prof) Nationalism, historical anthropology, semiotics, political economy, racial theory, economic anthropology; Latin America, Brazil, Andes, Cuba (john.collins@qc.cuny.edu)
Vincent Crapanzano (PhD Columbia 1970; Dist Prof, Anthropology and Comparative Literature) Symbolic and interpretive anthropology, ethno-psychology, anthropology and literature, theories of interpretation, anthropology of law, religion; North Africa, South Africa, US (vcrapanzano@earthlink.net)
Gerald W Creed (PhD CUNY 1992; Prof; EO) Agrarian political economy, rural identity, family and community, ritual; Eastern Europe (gcreed@gc.cuny.edu)
Kate Crehan (PhD U Manchester 1986; Prof) Gramsci, political economy, gender, development, public anthropology, aesthetics; Southern Africa(kate.crehan@csi.cuny.edu)
Dana-Ain Davis (PhD, CUNY, 2001; Assoc Prof) Poverty policy, feminist theory, public anthropology, urban political economy, US (dana.davis@qc.cuny.edu)
Eric Delson (PhD Columbia 1973, Prof) Paleoanthropology, primate paleontology, morphology, systematics and evolution; Old World (eric.delson@lehman.cuny.edu)
Kirk Dombrowski (PhD CUNY 1998; Assoc Prof) Culture politics, historical anthropology, research methods; Circum-North Pacific, Japan, Native N Amer (kdombrow@jjay.cuny.edu)
Marc Edelman (PhD Columbia 1985; Prof) Economic and political anthropology, historical anthropology, social movements, development; Latin America (medelman@hunter.cuny.edu)
Louis Flam (PhD U Penn 1981; Assoc Prof) Archaeology, paleoecology, geoarchaeology; South Asia (louis.flam@lehman.cuny.edu)
Christopher Gilbert (PhD, Stony Brook, 2008; Asst Prof) Primate evolution, systematics, biogeography, Africa (cgilbert@hunter.cuny.edu)
Murphy Halliburton (PhD CUNY, 2000; Asst Prof) Medical anthropology, anthropology of science, cross-cultural psychiatry, ayurvedic medicine, intellectual property; South Asia (Murphy.Halliburton@qc.cuny.edu)
William Harcourt-Smith (PhD, U Coll, London, 2002; Asst Prof) Paleoanth, hum evol, hominin postcran morphol & funct anat, primate locomotion, hominoid paleoecol, geomet morphomet, skeletal var; Old World (william.harcourt-smith@lehman.cuny.edu)
David Harvey (PhD Cambridge 1962; Dist Prof) Urbanization, environment, political economy, geography and social theory; Advanced capitalist countries (dharvey@gc.cuny.edu)
Gregory A Johnson (PhD U Michigan 1972; Prof) Archaeology, complex societies, quantitative analysis; Near East (gjohnson@hunter.cuny.edu)
Louise D Lennihan (PhD Columbia 1983; Assoc Prof) Cultural anthropology, political economy of agrarian societies, development, historical anthropology; Africa (LLennihan@gc.cuny.edu)
Mandana Limbert (PhD U Michigan 2002; Asst Prof) Modernity, religion, gender, historical anthropology; Middle East & Indian Ocean (mlimbert@qc.cuny.edu)
Christopher Loperena (PhD UT Austin 2012) Race, indigeneity, anti-Blackness, ethics, land, environment and development, extractivism, tourism; Central America and the Caribbean (cloperena@gc.cuny.edu)
Setha M Low (PhD UCB 1976) Anthropology of space and place, medical anthropology, urban anthropology; Latin America, United States, cities of Western Europe (slow@gc.cuny.edu )
Miki Makihara (PhD Yale 1999; Asst Prof) Linguistic anthropology, political economy of language, ethnography of speaking, conversation analysis; Polynesia, the Pacific (miki.makihara@qc.cuny.edu)
Jeff Maskovsky (PhD Temple 2000; Assoc Prof) globalization, difference & inequality, social movements, urban political economy; US (Jmaskovsky@gc.cuny.edu)
Patricia D Mathews-Salazar (PhD Yale 1997; Asst Prof) Anthropology and human rights, women and Indian resurgence, cultural heritage, tourism and globalization; Latin America, Andean region (pmathews@bmcc.cuny.edu)
Thomas H McGovern (PhD Columbia 1979; Prof) Climatic impacts, zooarchaeology, paleoeconomy, human dimensions of global change; North Atlantic, Eastern Arctic (nabo@voicenet.com)
Cameron L McNeil (PhD CUNY 2006; Asst Prof) Arch, Maya, gender, histor ecol, archaeobotany; Mesoamerica (cameron.mcneil@lehman.cuny.edu)
James A Moore (PhD U Mass 1981; Assoc Prof) European prehistory, historical arch, gatherer-hunter studies; Eastern North America, Ireland (James.Moore@qc.cuny.edu)
Leith P Mullings (PhD Chicago 1975; Dist Prof) Globalization, urbanism, medical anthropology, gender, race, ethnicity, contemporary theory; United States, Africa (lmullings@gc.cuny.edu)
William J Parry (PhD U Michigan 1983; Prof) Archaeology, craft specialization, lithic technology; Mesoamerica, American Southwest (wparry@hunter.cuny.edu)
Ekaterina Pechenkina (PhD Missouri 2002; Asst Prof) Paleopathology, paleodietary reconstruction, health & demography, Andean prehistory; Northern China (pechenkina@yahoo.com)
Sophia Perdikaris (PhD CUNY 1998; Prof) Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, Environmental Studies, Viking Age; North Atlantic (sophiap@brooklyn.cuny.edu)
Glenn Petersen (PhD Columbia 1977; Prof) Political economy, social theory, international affairs; Oceania (Glenn_Petersen@baruch.cuny.edu)
Thomas W Plummer (PhD Yale 1992; Assoc Prof) Pliocene and Pleistocene hominid paleoecology and behavior, hominid paleontology, human osteology, paleolith arch, zooarch, prim behav ecol; East Africa (thomas.plummer@qc.cuny.edu)
Herman Pontzer (PhD, Harvard, 2006; Asst Prof) Hum evolution, biomechanics, energetics, primate ecomorphology, Dmanisi, Georgia (pontzer@gmail.com)
Timothy W Pugh (PhD SIUC 2001; Asst Prof) Maya, archaeology, ethnohistory, ritual, architecture, social complexity, cultural contact; Central Amer (twpugh@qc.cuny.edu)
Ryan L Raaum (PhD, NYU, 2004; Asst Prof) Physical anthropology, population genetics, human molecular variation, phylogeography, primate phylogenetics, molecular systematics; Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean rim (ryan.raaum@lehman.cuny.edu)
Angela Reyes (PhD, U Penn, 2003; Assoc Prof) Linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, race/ethnicity, youth, Asian Americans, US (arreye@hunter.cuny.edu)
Donald Robotham (PhD U Chicago 1987; Prof) Postcolonialism, multiple modernities, work; the Caribbean and West Africa (drobotham@gc.cuny.edu)
Alfred L Rosenberger (PhD CUNY 1979; Assoc Prof) Primate evolution, New World monkeys; New World, South and Central America (alfredr@brooklyn.cuny.edu)
Jessica Rothman (PhD Cornell 2006; Asst Prof) Primate ecology and behavior, nutrition, evolutionary ecology, Old World Monkeys, Apes; Africa
(jessica.rothman@hunter.cuny.edu )
Christa Salamandra (PhD, Oxford, 2001; Assoc Prof) Media, visual culture, heritage, urban studies, Middle East (christa.salamandra@lehman.cuny.edu)
Victoria Sanford (PhD Stanford, 2000; Prof) Cultural anthropology, human rights, international humanitarian law, anthropology of genocide, video ethnography, critical theory, race and gender in the Americas, displacement, child soldiers; Guatemala, Colombia, South Africa ( victoria.sanford@lehman.cuny.edu)
Jonathan Shannon (PhD CUNY 2001; Assoc Prof, Anthropology & Music) Aesthetics, ethnomusicology, modernity, food; Middle East, Mediterranean (jonathan.shannon@hunter.cuny.edu)
Julie Skurski (PhD, U Chicago, 1993; Dist Lect) Nationalism, race, gender, anthropology and history, popular religion, Latin America, Caribbean, Atlantic studies(skurski@umich.edu)
Arthur K Spears (PhD UCSD 1977; Prof) Sociolinguistics, Pidgin and Creole languages, language and ideology, African-American English, Haitian; Carribean, Latin America (arspears@earthlink.net)
Vincent H Stefan (PhD U New Mexico 2000; Assoc Prof) Physical anthropology, forensic anthropology, human evolution, human osteology, paleoanthropology, quantitative methods, Polynesian / Easter Island skeletal biology; Oceania (vincent.stefan@lehman.cuny.edu)
Michael E Steiper (PhD Harvard 2003; Asst Prof) Genetics, DNA, phylogenetics, population genetics, primates, hominoids, malaria, molecular clocks (msteiper@hunter.cuny.edu)
Karen Strassler (PhD, U Michigan, 2003; Assoc Prof) Photo/image/visual anthropology, media/technology/material culture, memory & history, Indonesia, Southeast Asia(karen.strassler@qc.cuny.edu)
Ida Susser (PhD Columbia 1981; Prof) Medical anthropology; contemporary United States studies, urban political economy, gender; Southern Africa, US (isusser@hunter.cuny.edu)
Larissa Swedell (PhD Columbia Univ 2000; Assoc Prof) Primate behavior and ecology, hamadryas baboons; East Africa (LSwedell@qc.cuny.edu)
Katherine Verdery (PhD Stanford U, 1977; Dist Prof) Socialism & postsocialist transformation, property, agrarian political economy; Eastern Europe (kverdery@gc.cuny.edu)
Diana di Zerega Wall (PhD NYU 1987; Prof) Historic and urban archaeology, ethnohistory, archaeology of gender; American culture; North America (Dwall@ccny.cuny.edu)
Gary Wilder (PhD, Chicago, 1999; Assoc Prof) French empire, colonial state, historical anthropology, soc/pol theory; W Africa, Antilles, Europe (gwilder@gc.cuny.edu)
Bianca C. Williams (PhD Duke 2009) race and gender; Black women & happiness; emotional labor & equity in higher education; and Black feminist leadership and organizing practices; US and Caribbean (bwilliams@gc.cuny.edu)
Emeritus Faculty
Daniel Bates (PhD U Michigan 1971; Prof Emeritus) Ecological studies, economic and political anthropology; East European minority populations; Middle East(dbates@hunter.cuny.edu)
Edward Bendix (PhD Columbia 1965; Prof) Linguistics, sociolinguistics, semantics/pragmatics, languages in contact, creole languages; Africa and Caribbean, South Asia (ebendix@gc.cuny.edu )
Edgar Gregersen (PhD Yale 1962; Prof Emeritus) Linguistics, cultural anthropology, sexology; Africa (egregrsn@aol.com )
Edward Hansen (PhD Michigan 1969; Prof Emeritus) Ethnology, anth of business, social stratification; Eur, Lat Amer, US (edwardchansen@aol.com)
Maria Lagos (PhD Columbia 1988; Prof Emerita) Cultural anthropology, political economy, gender and ethnic relations; Latin America Andean region (maria.lagos@lehman.cuny.edu)
Susan H Lees (PhD U Michigan 1970; Prof Emerita) Cultural anthropology, human ecology, economic anthropology,religion; Mesoamerica, North America, Middle East (slees@hunter.cuny.edu)
Shirley Lindenbaum (MA U Sydney 1970; Prof Emerita) Ethnology, medical anthropology, symbolism; Oceania, Bangladesh (shirleylindenbaum@gmail.com)
Sally McLendon (PhD UC Berkeley 1966; Prof Emerita) Linguistics, narrative analysis, ethnohistory; material culture, redocumenting museum collections, exhibits; North American Indian peoples (smclendo@hunter.cuny.edu)
Joan Mencher (PhD Columbia 1958; Prof Emerita) Cultural anthropology, environment and sustainable agriculture, gender, development, socio-economic development; South Asia (joan.mencher@gmail.com)
June Nash (PhD Chicago 1960; Dist Prof Emerita) Social anthropology, modernization, anthropology of work; Bolivia, Mexico (junenash27@gmail.com)
John F Oates (PhD U London 1974; Prof) Primate ecology and social organization, tropical forest ecology; West Africa, India (On leave Fall 2004 and Spring 2005) (joates@hunter.cuny.edu)
Burton Pasternak (PhD Columbia 1967; Prof Emeritus) Social organization, ecology; China
Jane Schneider (PhD U Michigan 1965; Prof Emerita) Political economy, material culture, social movements; Mediterranean, Europe (jschneider@gc.cuny.edu)
Gerald Sider (PhD New Sch for Social Res 1971; Prof Emeritus) Historical anthropology of capital/class/culture in North Atlantic, production of race/state; North America (gsider2@gmail.com)
Sydel Silverman (PhD Columbia 1963; Prof Emerita) Complex societies, history of anthropology; Europe (ssilvwolf@aol.com)
Frederick Szalay (PhD Columbia 1967; Prof Emeritus) Evolutionary theory, evolutionary history and morphology of fossil and living primates, mammalian systematics
Adjunct Faculty and Anthropologists in other CUNY Doctoral Programs
Colleen E Batey (PhD Durham 1982; Lecturer, Arch, U Glasgow; Finds Research Manager, Arch Inst Iceland) Viking Age, Late Norse Scotland, material culture, environmental arch; North Atlantic (c.batey@archaeology.gla.ac.uk)
Timothy G Bromage (PhD Toronto 1986; Prof, Biomaterials & Biomimetics, NYU Coll of Dentistry) Hominid origins, biological anthropology, mineralized tissue bio; Africa (tim.bromage@nyu.edu)
Roberto Delgado (PhD Duke 2003; Asst Prof, Anth Dept, USC) Comparative behavioral ecology, sexual selection, reproductive strategies and primate vocal communication; SE Asia, C Amer (radelgad@usc.edu)
Andrew J. Dugmore (PhD U of Aberdeen, Scotland 1985; Sr. Lecturer, Geography, U of Edinburgh) Tephrochronology; geomorphology, climate, environment; North Atlantic (ajd@geo.ed.ac.uk)
Kevin J. Edwards (PhD U Aberdeen 1978; Prof, Dept of Geography and Environment and Northern Studies Center, U Aberdeen, Scotland) Environmental archaeology, palynology, hunter-gatherers and agricultural transition in Scotland; North Atlantic (kevin.edwards@abdn.ac.uk)
Katerina Harvati (PhD CUNY 2001; Professor and Head of Paleoanthropology, University of Tuebingen) Paleoanthropology, evolutionary primatology, Neanderthals, modern human origins, paleolithic arch; Europe (katerina.harvati@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de)
Jon H Ingimundarson (PhD Arizona 1995; Sr. Scientist, Stefansson Arctic Institute, Icleand) Cultural / historical anthropology; North Atlantic (jhi@svs.is)
Christian Keller (PhD Oslo 1990; Prof, Medieval Arch, IKOS, U Oslo) Nordic Archaeology, Viking & Middle Ages; North Atlantic (christian.keller@ikos.uio.no, ckeller@online.no)
Laurel Kendall (PhD Columbia 1979; Curator, Dept of Anth, American Museum of Natural History) Cultural Anthropology, religion & ritual, gender, museum anthropology, material culture, magic; East Asia (lkendall@amnh.org)
Jeffrey Laitman (PhD Yale 1977; Prof, Cell Bio/Anat, Mt Sinai School of Medicine) Paleoanthropology, human anatomy and development, evolution of speech and language; Old World (jeffrey.laitman@mssm.edu)
Ross MacPhee (PhD Alberta 1977; Curator, Dept of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History) Evolutionary primatology, comparative morphology, paleontology; Africa, Asia, Caribbean (macphee@amnh.org)
Colleen McCann (PhD CUNY 1995; Curator, Mammals Dept, Wildlife Conservation Society) Conservation biology, primate socioendocrinology, behav ecol; Africa, Central America (cmccann@wcs.org)
Karen Milek (PhD, Cambridge, 2006; Lecturer, Archaeology, Aberdeen) Settlement arch, soc arch of houses, migration, Viking & Medieval ages, 18th-19th c.; N Atlantic (k.milek@abdn.ac.uk)
A. Reg. Murphy (PhD, Calgary, 1999; Archaeologist/Director/Curator, National Parks, Antigua) Pre-Columbian societies, British military & naval arch ; Caribbean (regmurphy@hotmail.com)
Anthony J Newton (PhD, Edinburgh, 1999; Teaching/Research Fellow, GeoSciences, Edinburgh U) tephrochronol, geomorphol, internet resources; N Atlantic; Mexico(anthony.newton@ed.ac.uk)
Michael Novacek (PhD Berkeley 1978; Curator, Dept of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History) Paleontology, biogeog, evolutionary primatology; North America, East Asia (novacek@amnh.org)
Astrid Ogilvie (PhD E Anglia 1982; Fellow, INSTAAR) Climate & environmental change, soc & hum history of North Atlantic (Astrid.Ogilvie@colorado.edu)
John G Robinson (PhD UNC-Chapel Hill 1977; VP, International Progs Dept, Wildlife Conservation Society) Conservation biology, behavioral ecology (wildcons@aol.com)
F. James Rohlf (PhD U Kansas 1962; Dist Prof, Ecology & Evolution, SUNY Stony Brook) Geometric morphometrics, computer applications in systematics and ecology (rohlf@life.bio.sunysb.edu)
Ian A. Simpson (PhD U Strathclyde 1985; Professor, Dept of Environmental Sciences, Deputy Principal-Research, U Stirling, Scotland) Geoarch, environmental history, micromorphology, site formation, early arable soils, grazing & land degradation; North Atlantic, S Asia, Sahelian Africa (i.a.simpson@findhorn.stir.ac.uk)
Katherine St. John (PhD UCLA 1995; Assoc Prof, Math / Comp Sci, Lehman; PhD Prog Comp Sci) Computational biology, phylogenetic tree reconstruction algorithms, analyzing / clustering / visualizing phylogenies (katherine.stjohn@lehman.cuny.edu)
Ian Tattersall (PhD Yale 1971; Curator, Dept of Anth, American Museum of Natural History) Paleoanthropology, evolutionary primatology, primate ecology; Madagascar, Old World (iant@amnh.org)
John Van Couvering (PhD Cambridge 1971; Executive Editor, Micropaleontology Press) Biochronology, stratigraphic geology; Africa (vanc@micropress.org)
Orri Vésteinsson (PhD U London 1996; Lecturer, Arch, U Iceland) Icelandic archaeology, history; North Atlantic (orri@instarch.is)
Peter Whiteley (PhD U New Mexico 1982; Curator, Anth Dept, American Museum of Natural History) Society, history, polity, ritual & symbolism; Native North America (whiteley@amnh.org)
James Woollett (PhD CUNY 2003; Asst Prof, U Laval) Arch, zooarch; E Arctic, N Atlantic (james.woollett@hst.ulaval.ca)
