The faculty is the heart of a quality undergraduate and graduate program, and the faculty in American Studies at Washington State University is truly exceptional. The members of the American Studies faculty were trained in graduate programs throughout the United States and around the world, do research in a broad range of interdisciplinary areas, and have national and international reputations. We draw some of the finest professors from the departments of Anthropology, Communication, Comparative Ethnic Studies (studying and comparing African American, Asian American, Chicano/Latina, and Native American cultures), Education, English, Digital Technology and Culture, Fine Arts, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
To find out more information on any faculty member, click on her or his name.
MARY BLOODSWORTH-LUGO
is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies.
e-mail: bloodswo@wsu.edu
JOAN BURBICK
is Professor of English. She teaches American literature and cultures of the 19th and 20th century, US/Vietnam literatures, women writers in the American West, cultural theory and theories of US nationalism.
e-mail: burbick@wsu.edu
KIM CHRISTEN
is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies whose scholarly and teaching interests center on transnational indigenous studies.This includes global issues such as sovereignty, land rights, cultural tourism, intellectual property rights and digital "remix" as they mutate and mingle with indigenous communities, and most recently she has been following the "free culture" movement.
e-mail: kachristen@wsu.edu
PATRICIA ERICSSON
is an Assistant Professor of Digital Technology and Culture and English. Her areas of expertise include critical technology studies, digital diversity, and cultural rhetorics.
e-mail: ericsson@wsu.edu
LUZ MARIA GORDILLO
is Assistant Professor of Women's Studies.
e-mail: gordillo@vancouver.wsu.edu
LISA GUERRERO
is an Assistant Professor in the department of Comparative Ethnic Studies. She teaches courses in African American history, masculinity, popular culture and literature.
e-mail: laguerre@wsu.edu
ALEXANDER HAMMOND
is an Associate Professor in English. He teaches nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature and culture.
e-mail: hammonda@wsu.edu
MICHAEL HAYES
is an Assistant Professor in Teaching and Learning. His research and teaching interests include cultural studies, Native studies, qualitative research methods, social theory, media studies, and topics in education.
e-mail: mthayes@wsu.edu
LINDA ZUÑIGA HEIDENREICH
is an Associate Professor and Chair of Women's Studies. Her research and teaching interests include Chicana/Chicano Studies and History, queer studies, history and culture of nineteenth-century west, especially California history.
e-mail: lheidenr@wsu.edu
WENDY DASLER JOHNSON
is an Associate Professor of English at WSU Vancouver. Her work in the history and theory of rhetoric provides a cultural and historical context for her research and publications on nineteenth century American women's poetry.
e-mail: johnsonw@vancouver.wsu.edu
RICHARD KING
is a Professor and the Chair of Comparative Ethnic Studies. His research concentrates on the racial politics of culture. He is particularly interested in the forms of memory, representation, identity, and sovereignty animating Native American-EuroAmerican relations in the context of expressive culture and political struggles.
e-mail: crking@wsu.edu
ALEX KUO
is Writer-in-Residence and a Professor of English. He teaches creative writing (fiction, poetry, non-fiction), Native American literature and western American culture.
e-mail: alexkuo@wsu.edu
DAVID LEONARD
is an Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies. His research includes Los Angeles and civil rights coalitions, video games, race and the NBA, and popular culture.
e-mail: djl@wsu.edu
CARMEN R. LUGO-LUGO
is an Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies. Her research includes Puerto Rican Studies; imperialism/colonialism and Empire; and race and popular culture.
e-mail: clugo@wsu.edu
LAURIE MERCIER
is an Associate Professor of History at WSU Vancouver and Program Director of the Center for Columbia River History. Her research and publications focus on workers and labor, identity, gender, region and community, especially in the US West.
e-mail: mercier@vancouver.wsu.edu
JUDY MEUTH
is a Clinical Associate Professor of Women's Studies and is interested in the social impact of science and technologies, especially with regard to gender and race, and in American Indian cultures and education.
e-mail: meuth@wsu.edu
PAVITHRA NARAYANAN
is an Assistant Professor of English and Digital Technology and Culture, WSU Vancouver. She works on film, globalization, gender and political economy, South Asian feminisms, postcolonial literature, and documentary films
e-mail: pavithra@vancouver.wsu.edu
RORY J. ONG
is an Associate Professor in Comparative Ethnic Studies and has been named interim director of the American Studies Program for the 2009-10 academic year. He teaches Asian American Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition. His interests include ethnic studies, cultural studies, and discourse theory.
e-mail: rjong@mail.wsu.edu
T. V. REED
is a Professor of English. He teaches classes on cultural theory, contemporary American fiction, digital diversity, and popular culture.
e-mail: reedtv@wsu.edu
MARIAN SCIACHITANO
is a Clinical Associate Professor of Women's Studies. Her research and teaching interests Asian American women, global feminism, feminist film theory, third world women in film.
e-mail: sciach@wsu.edu
CAROL SIEGEL
is a Professor of English at WSU Vancouver. Her research and teaching interests are feminist theory; women’s postmodernism; multiethnic contemporary US fiction, subcultures and sexuality.
e-mail: siegel@vancouver.wsu.edu
NISHANT SHAHANI
is an Assistant Professor of Women's Studies. He researches and teaches comparative feminisims, queer studies and pedagogy, and transnational film.
e-mail: nshahani3@wsu.edu
JOHN STREAMAS
is an Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies. He teaches introductory Ethnic Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies as well as Asian Pacific American literature, culture and power, theories of race and ethnicity, and Asian Pacific women.
e-mail: streamas@wsu.edu
NOËL A. STURGEON
is a Professor of Women's Studies. Her areas of scholarly and teaching expertise include feminist theory, social movements, the politics of nature discourses, and issues of environmental justice -- racism, sexism and class privilege.
e-mail: sturgeon@wsu.edu
PAMELA THOMA
is an Assistant Professor of Women's Studies. Her research
and teaching interests include Asian American women's writing, transnational cultural studies, feminist theory, transnational feminisms and labor.
e-mail: pthoma@wsu.edu
VICTOR VILLANUEVA
is a Professor of English. He teaches rhetorics of racism, cultural theory and political economy, Puerto Rican discourses, and critical pedagogy.
e-mail: victorv@wsu.edu
SUPPORT FACULTY: In addition to our Core Faculty, another 30 Support Faculty play a crucial but less extensive role in the American Studies Program.