Education:

Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2002

Dissertation Title: Ecotourism and Global Connections Among the Quichua in Ecuador’s Amazon

Areas of Interest: Anthropology of Tourism, Development, Globalization, Colonialism, Environment and Culture, Cultural Geography

Advisor: Frank Salomon

 

M.A.: International Development, The Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky, 1987

Major Interest Area: Latin American Development

B.A.: Political Science, University of Kentucky, 1982

Major Research Awards:

U.S. Fulbright Fellowship, fieldwork research in Ecuador, 1997-98

Inter-American Foundation Fellowship, fieldwork research in Ecuador, 1997-98

Teaching Experience:

Professor: Bellarmine University, 2016-current

Courses Taught: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Environmental Anthropology; Medical Anthropology; Human Geography; Anthropology of Religion; Theory and Methods; Anthropology of Food

 Additional: Program Director; Chair Bellarmine IRB; Coordinator IDC 301

 Assistant Professor: Spalding University, 2004-2008 (awarded tenure 2008)

 Courses Taught: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Human Origins and Archaeology; Ritual, Myth and Worldview; Environmental Anthropology; Social Change and Cultural Transformation; Community and Responsibility; Medical Anthropology; Senior Seminar for Liberal Studies Graduates; Political and Economic Power; Director, Ireland Study Abroad Program

 Visiting Assistant Professor: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Field School in Ecuador for the Study of Language, Culture, & Community Health, Summers 2003-current

 Responsibilities: Develop curriculum, plan educational strategies, organize in-country program, teach medical anthropology

 Visiting Assistant Professor: Drake University, 2001-2004

 Courses taught: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Grassroots Environmentalism and Globalization; Traveling Cultures; Ethnography and Fieldwork; Applying Cultural Anthropology; Development Anthropology

 Other Duties: Student advising; internship supervision; committee work

 Director: Summer Quichua Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Summer 2002

 Responsibilities: Organize and manage Quichua language and culture institute

Courses taught: Introduction to Quichua, Quichua Culture of the Andes and Upper Amazon

Lecturer: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Summer 2001 and Spring 1999

Courses: Anthropology 104: Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity; IRM 605: Grassroots Environmentalism in Latin America

Teaching Assistant: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fall 1999 and Spring 2000

Courses: History 260: Introduction to Latin America; Anthropology 104: Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity

 

 

Research Projects:

Field Research, Ecuador: Project analyzing cultural continuities and change in indigenous communities in northern Ecuador. Summer 2009-2017

Field Research, Ecuador. Studied cultural impacts of ecotourism on indigenous people of Ecuador’s Amazon. Primary material for dissertation project, 1997-98

Previous Employment:

Correspondent, Wisconsin State Journal.

Responsibilities: Primarily cover political and education stories, 1994-2001

City Editor, Charleston Daily Mail.

Responsibilities: Generated and assigned stories; managed reporters and assistant editors; screened and hired reporters and interns; edited copy; organized community issues forum; sat on editorial board for political endorsements, 1992-94

Reporter, Charleston Daily Mail.

Responsibilities: Covered police, general assignment and special projects beats, 1988-92

 

Other Professional Experience:

Member, Board of Directors, Kentucky-Ecuador Partners of the Americas. 2005-present, and Chair, Membership Committee 2010

Quichua Language Study, Ecuador. Language and culture seminar, Summer 1996

Project Evaluator, Costa Rica. Evaluated sustainable development project in mangrove forests on Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, Summer 1995

Member, Board of Directors, West Virginia/Espiritu Santo (Brazil) Partners of the Americas. 1993-94

Fellow, W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Involved six international conferences to discuss development issues and strengthen leadership skills. 1990-92

Volunteer, U.S. Peace Corps. Designed and obtained funding for experimental station at agricultural technical school on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast, 1983-85

Grants, Awards and Honors:

*2016 Bellarmine Award for Internationalization

*2015 Winner of Bellarmine College Pedagogic Development Stipend

*2014-15 Recipient of the Bellarmine University Faculty Merit Award

*Bellarmine College Pedagogic Development Stipend, 2015

*QEP Grant for travel to Peru, Spring 2013

*2013-14 Recipient of the Bellarmine University Faculty Merit Award

*EDGE Grant Association of American Geographers, 2012

*2012-13 Recipient of the Bellarmine University Faculty Merit Award

*Bellarmine University QEP International Travel Grant. Fall 2011

*Global Health Initiative Grant (secondary investigator) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Summer 2011

*Travel grant and project grant from Kentucky-Ecuador Partners of the Americas to develop Native Threads (indigenous embroidery) museum exhibit. Dec. 2009

*Spalding University Faculty Challenge Grant, 2006

*University of Wisconsin Department of Anthropology Travel Grant, 1999-2000

*Vilas Professional Development Fellowship, 1999-2000

*Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Quichua), 1996-97

*Field Seminar grant for language and culture study, Summer 1996

*Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for Summer Quichua study, 1996

*Five-time winner, Thomson Newspapers Award of Excellence

*W.Va. Press Association, one first-place, two second-place awards

*WK Kellogg Fellowship, International Development for conferences, 1990-92

*Poynter Institute Journalism Fellowship, 1988

*Partners of Americas project/travel grant to Ecuador, 1988

Language Skills:

Spanish: Fluent

Quichua, Portuguese, French: Working knowledge

Publications List:

Journals

“Intercultural Health in Ecuador: An Asymmetrical and Incomplete Project.” Anthropology and Medicine (co-author; accepted for publication)

“Brucellosis in dairy cattle and goats in Northern Ecuador.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (co-author; publication date April 2014)

"Training Culturally Competent Healthcare Professionals: Experiential Learning in a Health Sciences Field School." Academic Medicine (lead author; publication date February 2014)

“Footprints in the Forest: Ecotourism and Altered Meanings in Ecuador’s Upper Amazon.” April 2007 issue of The Journal of Latin American Anthropology (Vol. 12 No. 1)  Peer-reviewed article

 Newspapers/magazines/newsletters

“The Unpeaceful Corps,” Dec. 2011, in Anthropology News

“Peace Lessons from Ecuador,” July 30, 2009, in Louisville Courier-Journal. Op-Ed

“Sociology and Swine Flu,” May 6, 2009, in Louisville Courier-Journal. Op-Ed

Books/book chapters

Editing Eden: A Reconsideration of Identity, Politics, and Place in Amazonia. University of Nebraska Press, published April, 2010 (co-edited with Patrick Wilson.)

“NGOs and Ecotourism in Ecuador’s Amazon”. Book chapter in Here to Help: NGOs Combating Poverty in Latin America, published 2003 by M.E. Sharpe

Mountain Biking in West Virginia. Published 1995 by Quarrier Press

Publications/Research Proposals Reviewed:

Manuscript titled "Great Expectations: elements for rethinking the role of local populations in conservation." Peer reviewed for journal Human Organization. October, 2015

Book titled Romancing the Wild: Cultural Dimensions of Ecotourism, by Robert Fletcher, for American Anthropologist, published by Duke University Press

Manuscript titled "Social Capital, Ecotourism, and Empowerment in Shiripuno, Ecuador" Peer reviewed for The International Journal of Tourism Anthropology. 2014

Manuscript titled “Malagasy Swidden Agriculture: The Influence of Conservation Organizations on Indigenous Knowledge.” Peer reviewed for the Kentucky Journal of Anthropology and Sociology. November, 2011

Manuscript titled “Why Religious Leaders Are Usually Men: An Initial Speculation Based on Cross-cultural Evidence.” Peer reviewed for the Kentucky Journal of Anthropology and Sociology. March, 2011

Manuscript titled “From Passive to Active Voice: Using Photography as a Catalyst for Social Action.” Peer reviewed for the Kentucky Journal of Anthropology and Sociology. December, 2010

Manuscript titled “Intimate Citizenship, Cultural Change, and Conservative Self-Help Texts in Contemporary Mexico.” Peer reviewed for the Kentucky Journal of Anthropology and Sociology. September, 2010

Manuscript titled "Essential Commitments: Identity and the Politics of Cofán Conservation." Peer reviewed for the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. Spring 2007

Reviewer for textbook Evolution and Prehistory: The Human Challenge, by William Haviland (7^th Edition). 2005

Manuscript titled “Disturbance Pharmacopoeias: Medicine and Myth from the Torrid Zone”. Peer reviewed for the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 2004

Cultural consultant for research proposal titled “Markets, Roads, and Rural Livelihoods: A Comparative Study of Changing Socioeconomic Networks in Guamote, Ecuador,” for the Nonmedical Institutional Review Board at the University of Kentucky. 2005

Professional Presentations:

“Cultural and Structural Influences on Health: Case Studies from Ecuador.” Invited lecture for the Annual Midwest Global Health Conference. Nov. 5, 2016

“Intersections at Zero Degrees: ExPats in Ecuador” Paper delivered at the annual conference of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, CA. Apr. 1, 2016

“Advancing Integrative ‘One-Health’ Approaches to Global Health through Multi-Disciplinary, Faculty-led Global health Field Courses.” Presenters Olsen C., Conway J., with authors DiPrete Brown L., Hutchins F., Poulsen K., Solheim K., Kraus C., Gaus D., Siliwan T.    The Lancet Global Health, CUGH 6th Annual Conference, March 2015

“Childbearing and Place in Indigenous Ecuador.” Peer reviewed paper delivered at the annual conference of the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C. Dec. 4, 2014

“Indio to Socio: Buen Vivir and Land Reform in Ecuador.” Presented at the annual conference of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco Nov. 18, 2012

“Exchanging Blows and Bowls: Multiple Claims on Space During the Inti Raymi Festival in Northern Ecuador.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in New York City Feb. 27, 2012

“Boundaries of the Pluri-Nation: Indigenous Justice and Public Outrage in Ecuador.” Paper presented at the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky annual meeting, Lindsey Wilson College. Oct. 2, 2010

“Biopower and Birthplace: Managing Maternity in Ecuador.” Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. Apr. 15, 2010

“Cultural Competence or Cultural Displacement: Service Learning Experiences in a Medical Anthropology Field School.” Paper presented at the joint conference of The Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA) and the Society for Applied Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 17-21, 2009 

“La Pelea: Ritual Fighting and the Inti Raymi Festival in Cotocachi, Ecuador.” Paper presented at the 36^th Annual Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory. Madison, WI. Feb. 24, 2008

“Violence as Cultural Performance”. Presentation as panelist for Deconstructing Violence and Building Peace. Conference at Spalding University, Oct. 12, 2007

“Bloodshed as Cultural Production: Ritual Fighting in Andean Ecuador.” Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University. Sept. 22, 2007

“Ecotourism and Identity in Ecuador’s Upper Amazon”. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mar. 19, 2006

“Tourism and Identity in the Amazon of Ecuador”. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky, Bowling Green, KY. Oct. 1, 2005

 “Ecotourism in Amazonian Ecuador”. Presentation at University of Louisville panel presentation/discussion titled Critical Perspectives on Tourism. Sept. 21, 2005

“The Global Villagers: Tourism and Its Influence on Indigenous Identity in the Andes and Amazon”. The Baseheart Lecture at Spalding University. Apr. 7, 2005

“The Shaman Is In: Efforts to Combine Indigenous and Western Medicine in Ecuador”. Presentation at the First Unitarian Church, Des Moines, IA. Apr, 4, 2004

“Anthropologists Are Not Tourists”. Paper presentation at the 100^th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. Nov. 28-Dec. 2, 2001

“Making Indians in Ecuador’s Amazon: Ecotourism and the Production of an Acceptable Native”. Paper presentation at the 29^th Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, Ann Arbor, MI. Feb. 24-25, 2001

“Mediating in the Middle: Contact Points Between Indigenous Communities, Tourists and Non-Governmental Organizations in the Ecuadorian Amazon”. Paper presentation at the 99^th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, CA. Nov. 15-19, 2000

“Ecotourism and the Price of Authenticity”. Paper presentation at Latin American Studies Association XXII International Congress, Miami FL. March 16-18, 2000

“The Commodification of Culture and Nature Through Tourism”. Paper presentation at the 28^th Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, Ft. Wayne, IN. Feb. 25-26, 2000

“Ecotourism in the Amazon: Traveling in Imagined Space”. Paper presentation at Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Austin, TX. January 6-8, 2000

“Tourism and the Power of Place”. Presentation at University of Wisconsin-Madison Anthropology Circle, Dec. 8, 1999

“Ecotourism as Sustainable Development in Ecuador’s Upper Amazon”. Paper given at North Central Council of Latin Americanists, St. Olaf College, MN. Oct. 8-9, 1999

Guest Lectures:

“Culture, Body and Health.” Invited lecture for University of Kentucky health sciences students and faculty. Feb. 23, 2015

"Equatorial Encounters: A Thirty-year Love Affair." Invited lecture with honorarium, Western Kentucky University, Glasgow Campus. Oct. 14, 2014

"Life and Death in Andean Ecuador: Chronicling the Ties That Bind." Invited lecture with honorarium, Western Kentucky University. Oct. 14, 2014

“Deep Hanging Out: Enhancing the International Experience Through Partnership and Engagement.” Invited lecture with honorarium, Indiana State University. Mar. 7, 2013

“Snake Bites and Stomach Bugs: Reflections on Managing Risk in Study Abroad.” Invited lecture with honorarium, Indiana State University. Mar. 6, 2013

“Culture, Body, and Health in Ecuador.” University of Kentucky School of Pharmacy. Mar. 4, 2013

“Common Grounds for Partnership: Developing a Sense of Place in Cross-cultural Relationships.” Keynote speech at Kentucky-Ecuador Partners of the Americas annual meeting. Jan. 30, 2010

“The Role of Culture in Medicine”. Presentation to the annual meeting of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin. Apr. 29, 2005

“Globalization and Tourism: An Amazonian Case Study”. Guest lecture at Eastern Washington University, Mar. 1, 2004

“Immigrants, Refugees and Globalization”. Guest lecture at Drake University, Apr. 11, 2001

“Encounters in the Amazon: Ecotourists, Shamans, and the Search for Paradise”. Guest Lecture with honorarium at St. Olaf College, Nov. 7, 2000

“Globalization and Tourism Development”. Guest lecture with honorarium at St. Olaf College, Nov. 7, 2000

Poster Presentations:

“UW-Madison Global Health Institute’s Field School for the Study of Language, Culture and Community Health in Ecuador: An Assessment of Impact on Global Engagement,” at Consortium of Universities for Global Health Annual Conference, in Washington, DC. Mar. 14, 2013

Panel Discussions:

Chair, panel titled “Andean Frontiers, Temporal Borders, Anthropological Peripheries: Thinking in the Margins with Frank Salomon.” American Anthropological Association annual meeting, San Francisco. Nov. 17, 2012

Co-organizer of panel titled “De-essentializing Amazonian Social and Political Space.” San Juan, Puerto Rico. March 19, 2006

“Indigenous Peoples of the Americas”. Panel discussion at St. Olaf College, Nov. 7, 2000

Affiliations:

American Anthropological Association

Association of American Geographers

Kentucky-Ecuador Partners of the Americas (Board member)

Louisville-Quito Sister City Committee

Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky