Teaching

ANTH 370/599: Environment and Culture

Location: George Mason University

Semester: Fall

Offered: 2026

Students in this course will examine the relationships between the environment, culture, and human behavior. Through a synthetic approach spanning ecology and anthropology, we will explore variability in how people both adapt to and modify their environments—both social and physical. With an emphasis on non-Western contexts, we will discuss how different theoretical perspectives in ecological anthropology can be applied to understand complex socio-environmental relationships. We will investigate topics such as resource extraction, ecosystem engineering, population growth and decline, sustainability and conservation, conflict, inequality, capitalism, and globalization with the goal of deeper understanding and with an eye towards solutions to such problems in our own society today.

ANTH 121: Introduction to World Prehistory

Location: George Mason University

Semester: Spring

Offered: 2026

This course serves as an introduction to the deep history of humans from five million years ago until five hundred years ago. Students will learn about the biological, cultural, and technological evolution of the human species during a period known as the Paleolithic, followed by a consideration of developments during the end of the last Ice Age, focusing primarily on the origins of agriculture and the rise of complex societies around the globe. Students will then learn about the development of different societies and cultures on different continents.

ANTH 120: Introduction to Archaeology

Location: George Mason University

Semester: Fall

Offered: 2025-2026

Archaeology is the study of the human past through the analysis of material culture and its context. This course serves as an introduction to the discipline of archaeology. This semester, you will learn about the methods and types of objects used by archaeologists to reconstruct different aspects of human prehistory, including past environments, diet, technology, and social structures. We will also discuss the important impacts that archaeology can have on the modern world and how to critically assess claims about the past. 

ANTH 3720: Data Analysis in R

Location: University of Connecticut

Semester: Spring

Offered: 2021-2023

Students in this one-credit course will develop a basic working knowledge of basic statistical concepts and techniques useful for data analysis in archaeology and anthropology. This is an applied statistics course; therefore, all examples and methods will be tailored to the fields of archaeology and anthropology. However, the statistical analyses and programming skills taught in this course work just as well in any discipline. All laboratory work and assignments will be conducted using the R statistical computing language: a popular open-source programming language. Students will be taught to write and adapt R code to analyze real-world datasets using techniques of linear modeling. They will be instructed in the fundamentals of how to use R for data manipulation and analysis, as well as the ethical reasons that scientists should do so.

All course materials can be found on GitHub and recorded lecture and tutorial videos can be found on YouTube.

ANT 100: Interpreting Cultures

Location: Southern Connecticut State University

Semester: Fall

Offered: 2021

This course will introduce students to the study of culture and human societies around the world. Students will examine the modes of economic production, social arrangements, political systems, and beliefs of diverse human groups around the world. This course will also present the research methods and critical thinking skills used by anthropologists in their research and analysis of culture, emphasizing how anthropologists gather evidence, analyze that evidence, and synthesize conclusions. We will also discuss the ethical obligations faced by anthropologists as they conduct this research. Students will be exposed to the four-field approach of the anthropological discipline and as such will learn to use biological, linguistic, and archaeological principles in conjunction with cultural anthropology to better grasp the holistic nature of human culture. By developing an understanding of societies and cultures other than our own, students will acquire conceptual tools for understanding national and global problems, social and cultural change, and current events.

ANTH 1000W: Peoples and Cultures of the World

Location: University of Connecticut

Semester: Spring

Offered: 2018

Students will examine the diverse subsistence strategies, social arrangements, political systems, and religious beliefs of diverse human groups around the world. This course presents the research methods used by cultural anthropologists and the ethical obligations they face. Students will be exposed to the four-field approach of the anthropological discipline and as such will learn to use biological, linguistic, and archaeological principles in conjunction with cultural anthropology to better grasp the holistic nature of human culture. By comparing different societies and cultures with our own, students will acquire conceptual tools for understanding national and global problems, social and cultural change, and current events. This course emphasizes the connections between social and economic institutions, cultural ideas, and historical events.