American and Native American Studies
Multidisciplinary Program

www.vassar.edu/american-and-native-american-studies

American and Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary field defined both by its objects of study - the processes, places, and people that comprise the United States - and by a mode of inquiry that moves beyond the scope of a single disciplinary approach or critical methodology. American and Native American Studies majors develop a rich understanding of the complex histories that have resulted from the conflict and confluence of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian cultures throughout the Western Hemisphere, and explore U.S. nation-formation in relation to global flows of American cultural, economic and military power. An individually designed course of study, which is the hallmark of the program, allows students to forge multidisciplinary approaches to the particular issues that interest them.

Professor of English on the Jean Webster Chair and Director of American and Native American Studies

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Associate Professor and Chair of Italian

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Giovanna Borradori

Professor of Philosophy

Assistant Professor of American and Native American Studies and Asian Studies

Colleen Ballerino Cohen

Professor of Anthropology

Colleen Ballerino Cohen with short brown hair and glasses wearing a dark blazer over a white collared shirt, looking to the side against a plain white background.

Lisa Gail Collins

Professor of Art on the Sarah Gibson Blanding Chair

Lisa Gail Collins with dark, pulled-back hair, wearing a black shirt, standing in front of a bookshelf.

Leora Gansworth

Assistant Professor of American and Native American Studies

Leora Gansworth with long dark wavy hair, wearing a dark V-neck top and smiling gently against a light neutral wall.

Assistant Professor of Art

Professor of Sociology on the Jane Baker Nord '42 Chair and Director of Media Studies

William Hoynes wearing a black collared shirt with a gray background.

Tamyka Jordon-Conlin

Assistant Professor of Music

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Jonathon S. Kahn

Professor of Religion

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Professor of English on the Helen D. Lockwood Chair

Alden Sajor Marte-Wood

Assistant Professor of English

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Candy Esther Martinez

Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latinx Studies

Professor of Education

Erin McCloskey, with shoulder-length gray hair and glasses, smiling in front of bookshelves in a library.

Molly S. McGlennen

Professor of English on the Ethel and Alexander Klemin Chair in English

Molly McGlennen has long dark hair and blue eyes, smiling slightly wearing a purple shirt outdoors in a wooded setting.

Rachel C. Morrison

Blegen Fellow in Greek and Roman Studies

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Associate Professor and Chair of Music

Justin Patch smiling, wearing a light blue pinstripe shirt and patterned tie, holding an electric guitar, with a music staff on a board behind him.

Hiram Pérez-Piña

Associate Professor of English

Blevin Shelnutt

Assistant Professor of English

Assistant Professor of History

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Tyrone R. Simpson

Associate Professor of English

Tyrone Simpson, II

Noel Edward Smyth

Assistant Professor of History

Professor of Anthropology

David Eduardo Tavarez wearing a light patterned shirt and black jacket in front of an archway.

Christie VanHorne

Adjunct Instructor in Science, Technology, and Society

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Mallory Whiteduck

Assistant Professor of Political Science on the Class of 1951 Chair

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Kimberly Williams Brown

Associate Professor of Education

Kimberly Williams Brown wearing glasses and a navy blue pinstriped top smiles while standing indoors, with blurred bookshelves in the background.