Brittani R. Orona, (Hupa)

Photo of woman with gold jewelry, long brown hair and bangs, and beige top.

Position Title
Assistant Professor | Graduate Advisor

she/her/hers
2417 Hart Hall
Bio

Dr. Brittani R. Orona is a Hupa environmental/public humanities scholar and an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at University of California, Davis. Prior to joining Davis, she was an UC President's and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at UC Santa Cruz and an Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. 

Dr. Orona concentrates on environmental justice, abolition ecology and geography in California and the American West, broadly. Her current book project details river and water rights struggles in Northwestern California in the Klamath River Basin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to environmental scholarship, Dr. Orona's research centers Indigenous public humanities through museum exhibition, archival studies, visual sovereignty, and cultural resources management. 

She currently serves as a 2024-2027 Council of Leadership Member for the California Indian Studies and Scholars Association (CISSA), the University of California Systemwide Repatriation Committee as a Voting Member, and the National Council on Public History (NCPH) Advisory Committee for National Park Service Projects. She previously served as Board Secretary for Save California Salmon, Board Member at Large for the California Association of Museums (CAM), and a Board Member at Large/Board Secretary for Preservation Sacramento.

Education and Degree(s)
  • Ph.D. Native American Studies, University of California, Davis, 2022
  • M.A. Native American Studies, University of California, Davis, 2018
  • M.A. Public History, California State University, Sacramento, 2014
  • B.A. History, Cal Poly Humboldt, 2010
Honors and Awards
  • Mellon Foundation/UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program UC-HSI Humanities Initiative, 2025-2026
  • UC Davis Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Sciences (CAMPSSAH) Faculty Scholar, 2025-2026
  • UC President's and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Santa Cruz, 2023-2025
  • Switzer Environmental Fellow, 2019-2020
Research Interests & Expertise
  • California Indian Studies and History
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies
  • Environmental Humanities and Studies
  • Public Humanities
  • Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
  • History of the American West
Membership and Service
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAISA)
  • Western History Association (WHA)
  • American Studies Association (ASA)
  • California Indian Studies and Scholars Association (CISSA)
  • Native Women's Collective
  • National Council on Public History (NCPH)