NAS Graduate Program Alumni

Call for Submissions
We invite all Alumni of the Native American Studies Graduate Program to submit the following: Name, Degree(s), Current Educational Institution and/or Employment, Professional Titles, and Tribal Affiliation. Email your information to Stella Mancillasm scmancillas@ucdavis.edu.

Partial Listing of Graduate Students Alumni

* Degrees awarded in Native American Studies Graduate Program, at UC, Davis

Maria Aparicio

M.A., 2004* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
J. D. Degree, 2008, School of Law, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Current Position: Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Kevin Gibbons, Phoenix, AZ.

Jerold Blain

M.A., 2010* - Thesis: "(Post)development and food sovereignty for California Indian nation building."
Current Position: Project Coordinator, Kearns & West, San Francisco, CA.

Benjamin Burgess

Ph. D., 2009* - Dissertation: "Clan Destined Communities: The Persistence and Revitalization of Ojibwe Clan Identity in Ojibwe Literature."
M.A., 2001* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Associate Professor, Indian Studies, Bemidji State University, MN.

Catherine Cardozo

Ph.D., 2005* - Dissertation: "The California Indian Basketweavers Association: A Native Agency for Change and Cultural Continuity."
M.A., 2001* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Air Pollution Specialist, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento CA.

Cibonay Cordova

M.A., 2003* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Community Services Coordinator, Sacramento Native American Health Center, Inc., Sacramento, CA.

Susan Daniels

M.A., 2007* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Ph.D. Student, La Universidad de Ciencias Artes de Chiapas, Mexico.

Sara Dutschke

M.A., 2002* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
J. D. Degree, 2006, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.
Current Position: Attorney at Law, Kashmer & Associates, Berkeley, CA.

Dina Fachin

Ph.D., 2008* - Dissertation: "Poems From the Mirror: The Re-imagination of Indigenous Identities through Literary and Visual Narratives in Oaxaca."
Current Position: Adjunct Professor, Italian Studies, St. Louis University, MO.

Todd Gettleman

M.A., 2008* - Thesis: "iPatwin: Using Technology for Cultural Renewal and Language Revitalization on the Rumsey Indian Rancheria."
Current Position: Cultural Resources Associate, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.

Kerin Gould

Ph.D., 2007* - Dissertation: "Connecting Indigenous Worldview, Well-being, and Community Projects."
M.A., 2003* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Independent Scholar and Published Author.

Michael Grofe

Ph.D., 2007* - Dissertation: "The Serpent Series: Precession in the Maya Dresden Codex."
M.A., - 1997 - Cultural Anthropology/Ecology, California Institute of Integral Studies
Thesis: "Questioning Chocolate: A Mythological and Ecological Perspective."
Current Positions: Adjunct Professor, Anthropology Department, American River College, Sacramento, CA.
Research Associate, Maya Exploration Center, Austin, TX.

Jane Haladay

Ph.D., 2004* - Dissertation: "'Everything according to the first guidance of the spirits': Female Community in Three Salish Novels."
M.A., 2000 - American Indian Studies, University of Arizona.
Thesis: "Solemn Laughter: Humor as Subversion and Resistance in the Literature of Simon Ortiz and Carter Revard."
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of American Indians Studies, University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Ashley Hall

Ph. D., 2009* - Dissertation: "The Towaoc Bear Dance and Nuche National Identity."
Current Position: Adjunct Professor, American Multicultural Studies, Sonoma State University, CA.

Julianne Hazelwood

M.A., 2006* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Geography, University of Kentucky.

Frances Kay Holmes

M.A., 2006* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Education, UC, Davis.

Monique Ramune Jonaitis

Ph.D., 2009* - Dissertation: "The Fifth Direction: Performing the "land of uncertainty" in Native American Literature and Performance."
M.A., 2002 - Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2002.
Current Position: Independent Scholar and Lecturer.

Jason Lacy

M.A., 2004* - Thesis: "A Western Hemispheric Analysis: Pan Indigenous Movements for Human Rights, Sovereignty, Self-determination, and Self Government."

Molly McGlennen

Ph.D., 2005* - Dissertation: "It is Evidence of Faith to Create: Spirituality and Contemporary Native American Women's Poetics."
M.F.A., 1998 - Mills College, Oakland, CA.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, English Department, Vassar College.

Rodolfo Meyer

Ph.D., 2008* - Dissertation: "Performance and Identity in Popular Culture's Re/presentations of Tinku Ritual by Andean People."
Current Position: Social Worker, Gardner Family Care Corp, San Jose, CA.

Kirsten Meyer

M.A., 2004* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Director of Research and Marketing, Employment Tax Specialist, Inc.

Anneke Mundel

M.A., 2001* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).

Kumiko Noguchi

Ph.D., 2009* - Dissertation: "From Yokuts to Tule River Indians: Re-creation of the Tribal Identity on the Tule River Indian Reservation in California from Euroamerican Contact to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934."
M.A., 2003 - History, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
Thesis: "Indians and the Indian Reorganization Bill: The Analysis of the Indian Congress."
Current Position: Assistant Professor, International Institute of American Studies at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.

Marcus Peters

M.A., 2003* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).

Barbara Rigby

M.A., 2002* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).

Annie Ross

Ph.D., 2002* - Dissertation: "One Mother Earth, one doctor water: A Story about Environmental Justice in the Age of Nuclearism. A Native American View."
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University.

Bettina Schneider

Ph. D., 2009* - Dissertation: "Reclaiming Economic Sovereignty: Native Community Development Financial Institutions as a Means of Culturally Appropriate Community and Economic Development."
Current Position: Assistant Professor, School of Business & Public Administration, First Nations University of Canada.

Alicia Siu

M.A., 2010* - Thesis: "The Coloniality of Violence in the 1932 Massacre of the Pipil and Art for Healing."
Current Position: Artist and Muralist.

Janferie Stone

Ph.D., 2007* - Dissertation: "A Guatemalan Tale of Two Wives: Nawales (shapeshifters) In a Time of Genocide."
Current Position: Independent Scholar and University Lecturer.

Susan Stowell

Ph.D., 2008* - Dissertation: "The Wäda-Tika of the Former Malheur Indian Reservation."
Current Position: Independent Scholar.

Kathryn Sweet

M.A., 2008* - Thesis: "Diné bikéyah, Arizona, and Public Law 83-280."
Current Position: Ph.D. Student, History, Arizona State University.

Sheri Tatsch

M.A., 2001* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Ph.D., 2006* - Dissertation: "The Nisenan: Dialects and Districts of a Speech Community."
Current Positions: Founder and Director of Indigenous Consulting Services, Orangevale, CA. University Lecturer.

Cecilia Tolley

M.A., 2010* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).

Jesus Valle

M.A., 2003* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Current Position: Instructor, English Department, American River College, Sacramento, CA.

Fernando Villalba

M.A., 2010* - Thesis: "Protecting Traditional Resources Rights in Conservation Native Knowledge in National Parks."
Current Position: Biologist and Natural Resource Manager, National Park Service, California.

Lisa Woodward

M.A., 2002* - Comprehensive Exam (Non-Thesis).
Ph.D., 2007* - Dissertation: "The Acjachemen of San Juan Capistrano: The History, Language and Politics of an Indigenous California Community."
Current Position: Archivist, Cultural Resources Department, Pechanga Tribal Nation.