Most Recent Winners
Sowparnika Balaswaminathan is an Assistant Professor in Religions and Cultures at Concordia University, Montreal
Jasmine Blanks Jones is a postdoctoral fellow with the Program in Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship at Johns Hopkins University
Cecilia Vasquez is a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, Riverside
The 2022 mentors were Jada Benn Torres, Erik Harms, and Jeff Maskovsky.
Previous Winners
Kimberley McKinson is an Assistant Professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Elisha Oliver is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma
Dawn Rutecki is an Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University
The 2021 mentors were Murray Lear, Kamela Heyward-Rotimi, and Katherine Sampeck
Suzette Chang is Founder and CEO of Thick Descriptions and Director of the Guthrie, OK Public Library. She is interested in the role of institutions such as the AAA in advancing sustainable social change.
Noha Fikry is a recent MA graduate from the American University in Cairo. As a Leadership Fellow, she wants to learn more about the behind-the-scenes work of planning the Annual Meeting.
Nolan Kline is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and co-coordinator of the global health program at Rollins College. He is interested in the Association’s support for minoritized faculty members and our work with the general public to raise awareness of the discipline.
Maurice Rafael Magaña is Assistant Professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona. He wants to participate in the AAA’s support for public anthropology and its advocacy for early-career and precariously employed anthropologists.
The 2020 mentors were Doug Henry, Corinne Kratz, Petra Kuppinger, and Gillian Richards-Greaves.
Jenny Banh is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at California State University, Fresno. She wants to advocate for first-generation college students within the AAA.
Nazia Hussain is a medical anthropologist and consultant who works on issues of early childhood studies and policy. She wants to consider how the AAA might provide a professional home to members without an academic affiliation.
Tracy Samperio is an adjunct professor affiliated with Ashford University, Colorado Technical University, Southern New Hampshire University, and West Coast University. Her goal is to expand accessibility of anthropology publications and collaboration opportunities.
The 2019 mentors were Carla Guerron Montero, Jemima Pierre, and Nathaniel Tashima.
Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein is a linguistic anthropologist and media researcher at New Knowledge Organization, Ltd. She wants to improve AAA mentoring offerings for linguists, especially those who work in practice settings.
Carla Pezzia is a medical anthropologist and faculty member at the University of Dallas Human Sciences Center. Her goal is to engage with leadership to address issues experienced by traditionally underrepresented groups in the profession ant the association.
Matthew Reilly is an archaeologist who teaches at the City College of New York. He wants the AAA to facilitate more substantive dialogue between archaeologists and cultural anthropologists with the shared goal of striving for social justice.
The 2018 mentors were Jocelyn Ahlers, Kathryn Clancy, and Mark Hauser.
Trained archaeologist Katie Kirakosian is drawn to service opportunities that allow her to have a clear and lasting impact on the future of anthropology. Kirakosian is currently an adjunct lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she completed her PhD in 2014.
Lesley Jo Weaver is a third-year faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alabama. As a medical and biocultural anthropologist who graduated with a PhD and MPH from Emory University in 2014, Weaver is particularly interested in engaging with AAA leadership who are working to bring biological and applied anthropologists into the fold.
Diana Marsh is a museum anthropologist with a PhD from the University of British Columbia who hopes to apply her four-fields training to AAA leadership opportunities.
The 2017 mentors were Cathy Costin, Pamela Stone, and Keri Brondo.
Courtney Kurlanska is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology. She was mentored by Ted Hamann.
Alisa Perkins is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. She was mentored by Mark Aldenderfer.
Julia Wignall is a qualitative data analyst at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She was mentored by Ed Liebow.
Carrie C. Heitman is an assistant professor of anthropology at University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She was mentored by Bernie Perley.
Aaron Thornburg is an assistant professor of anthropology at Eastern Oregon University. He was mentored by Ted Hamann.
Vanessa Esther Martinez-Renuncio is associate professor of anthropology at Holyoke Community College. She was mentored by Lorena Madrigal.
Samantha Gottlieb is a lecturer at California State University, East Bay, as well as visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society. She was mentored by Elizabeth Briody.
John Millhauser is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at North Carolina State University. He was mentored by Sandra Lopez Varela.
Nicole Truesdell is Senior Director of Academic Diversity and Inclusivness and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Beloit College. She was mentored by Lynn Bolles.
Santiago Guerra is assistant professor of anthropology at Colorado College. He was mentored by Rayna Rapp.
Paul Christensen is a visiting assistant professor in the anthropology department at Union College. He was mentored by Rayna Rapp.
Lauren Miller Griffith is currently an instructional designer at Central Michigan University (CMU), and co-directs a study abroad program in Belize for Central Michigan students. She was mentored by Cheryl Mwaria.
Tami Navarro is currently a presidential postdoctoral fellow in anthropology at Rutgers University. She was mentored by Sandra Lopez Varela.
Lavanya Proctor is currently a lecturer in anthropology at SUNY Buffalo State in Buffalo, NY. She was mentored by Alex Barker.
Bianca Williams is an assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was mentored by Frances Mascia-Lees.
April Beisaw is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Vassar College. She was mentored by Sandra L. Lopez Varela.
Rebecca Galemba is a Visiting Lecturer at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at University of Denver. She was mentored by David Himmelgreen.
Bertin M. Louis, Jr. is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Africana Studies in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. He was mentored by Niko Besnier.
Garrett Alexandrea McDowell is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Eastern New Mexico University. She was mentored by Florence Babb.
Maxine Oland is a Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Smith College. She was mentored by Susan Gillespie.
Heide Castañeda is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. She was mentored by Jay Schensul.
Julienne Rutherford is an assistant professor in the Department of Oral Biology and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was mentored by Lee Baker.
Tendai Chitewere is an assistant professor in the Liberal Studies program at San Francisco State University. She was mentored by Mary Gray and Florence Babb.
Ritu Khanduri is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington. She was mentored by Laura Graham.
Jennifer Burrell is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Albany – SUNY. She was mentored by Ed Liebow.
Emily Jones is a research assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. She was mentored by Nan Rothschild.
Carrie Lane is an associate professor in the Department of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton. She was mentored by Virginia Dominguez.
Gabriela Torres is an assistant professor in the Departments of Anthropology, Development Studies, Latin American Studies, Urban Studies and Women’s Studies at Wheaton College, Massachusetts. She was mentored by Alisse Waterston.
Jennifer Wies is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work at Eastern Kentucky University. She was mentored by Mary Gray.