Ph.D. Alumni

Alumni of Rice's graduate program in anthropology have gone on to publish award-winning books and to thrive as teachers and scholars at respected academic institutions in the United States and abroad. At the same time, a significant proportion of our graduates have put their theoretical and methodological training to use in government agencies, NGOs, clinical and corporate settings. The movement of anthropological knowledge within, alongside, and beyond the academy remains a central problematic for Rice anthropology today, and our graduates have become interlocutors as well as inheritors of the department's vibrant intellectual tradition.

2023

Charles Lotterman, Senior UX Researcher, Vanguard

Magnus Orn Sigurdsson, Head of Division, Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate (Iceland)

2021

Baird Campbell, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Program in Writing and Communication, Rice University

Ellie Vainker, Deputy Director, Northwest Access Fund and Affiliate, Disability Studies Program, University of Washington

Ethan Wilensky-Lanford, Senior Research Program Manager, SREO Consulting, Ltd.

2020

Svetlana Borodina, Mellon Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Anthropology, Harriman Institute, Columbia University

Drew Robert Winter, Adjunct Instructor, Lansing Community College & Departmental Analyst, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity

Helena Zeweri, Assistant Professor, Global Studies, University of Virginia

2019

Jing Wang, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Eliza Williamson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Latin American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

2018

Marcel LaFlamme, Open Research Manager, Public Library of Science

Ian Lowrie, Director of User Experience, eSimplicity

2017

Nathanael Vlachos, Senior Writer, Research Services, American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC)

2016

Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, Postdoctoral Fellow, W.E.B. DuBois Institute, Harvard University

Timothy Chryssikos, Neurosurgery Resident, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore

Brian Clark, Adjunct Instructor, Department of Anthropology, University of Houston at Clear Lake

Jessica Lockrem, Instructor, St. Edward's University and Editorial Assistant, Cultural Anthropology

Rebecca Mantel, Research & Technical Analyst, Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), Washington DC

2015

Trevor Durbin, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kansas State University

Elizabeth Rodwell, Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Houston-Downtown

2014

Ala Alazzeh, Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Birzeit University, Palestine

Casper Bendixsen, Associate Research Scientist, National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation

Nessette Falu, Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas

Stacey Pereira, Instructor, Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine

2013

Lina Dib, Lecturer, Program for Writing & Communication, Rice University

Laura Resendez, Managing Director, Rice and Beans Culture

2012

Katia Belousova, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of History and Philosophy, York College, City University of New York

Nichole Payne Carelock, User Insights Manager, PenFed Credit Union, Washington DC area

Elise McCarthy, Senior CSR Adviser, Business in the Community, Ireland

Maria Vidart, Bilingual Web Content Manager, Union of Concerned Scientists

2011

Mamadou Cisse, Archaeologist, Direction Nationale du Patrimoine Culturel (Mali)

Laura Jones, Postdoctoral Fellow, Living Links Center, Emory University

Anthony Potoczniak, Language Arts Instructor, St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish, Houston, Texas

Ayla Samli, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, High Point University

Daniel White, Assistant Professor, Department of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies, Hosei University (Japan)

2010

Michael Adair-Kriz, Contract Videoethnographer, Temple University

Othon Alexandrakis, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, York University (Canada)

Ebru Kaylaap, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication, Istanbul Sehir University (Turkey)

Valerie Olson, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

Elitza Ranova, Professional Co-active Life Coach, International Coach Federation, Houston

2009

Cecilia Balli, Freelance Journalist

Hutan Hejazi Martinez, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain)

Aimee Placas, Instructor, College Year in Athens, International Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies (Greece)

Erkan Saka, Department Chair, Department of Media, Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey)

Ana Wandless, Research Officer, University of The Incarnate Word, San Antonio

Timothy Wood, Human Factors Design Engineer, Apple Inc., Cupertino CA

2007

Nahal Naficy, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Tehran

2006

Tarra Drevet, Program Manger, Eaton EMEA (Switzerland)

Michael Powell, Cultural Anthropologist, Shook Kelley, Los Angeles

Angela Rivas, Professor of the Masters Program on CSR, Universidad Externado de Colombia

Tish Stringer, Lecturer and Film Program Manager, Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts, Rice University

2005

Ariel Espino, Founder and President, SUMA Arquitectos y Planificadores Urbanos (Panama), Adjunct Professor of the School of Urban Planning, McGill University (Canada), Co-director of the UNESCO Chair “Dialogues on Sustainability”

Andrea Frolic, Clinical and Organizational Ethicist, Hamilton Health Services (Canada)

Brian Riedel, Assistant Director, Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Rice University

2004

Alioune Deme, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Senegal)

Jennifer Hamilton, Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Anthropology, Hampshire College

Ricardo Lima Soto, Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Humanísticas, Universidad Rafael Landivar (Guatemala)

Kristin Peterson, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

Denise Youngblood Coleman, Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, CountryWatch

2003

Andrea Aureli, Lecturer, St. John's University, Rome (Italy)

Carolyn Babula, Director of Human Resources, Clyde & Co.

Lisa Breglia, Associate Professor, Global Studies; Director of the Global Affairs Program, George Mason University

Stanford Carpenter, Chairman of the Board, Institute of Comic Studies, Chicago

Jae Chung, Professor, International Business Studies, Aalen University (Germany)

Josh Kilroy, Political Consultant, Chicago

Beverly Mitchell, Lecturer, Undergraduate Advisor, Rice University

Andrea Pound, Software Developer, Schlumberger Information Solutions

2002

Stuart Douglas, Founder, Douglas & Co. (South Africa)

Laurel George, Adjunct Professor, College of Arts and Science, New York University

Lamia Karim, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon

Christopher Pound, Web Developer. Alert Logic, Houston

Sylvia Van Ziegert, Learning Officer, Human Resources Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, World Bank

2001

Marie-Theresa Hernández, Professor, World Cultures & Literatures Program, University of Houston

Qin Zhang

2000

Nitin Deckha, Lecturer, Justice Studies Program, University of Guelph-Humber (Canada)

Deepa Reddy, Adjunct Professor, Anthropology, University of Houston-Clear Lake

1999

Alexei Elfimov, Research Scholar, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Belita Leal, Researcher, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

Mazyar Lotfalian

Mary Ann O'Donnell, Artist/Ethnographer, Shenzhen (China)

Ibrahima Thiaw, Director, Musée Theodore Monod d'Art Africain (Senegal)

1998

Tatiana Bajuk Sencar, Research Fellow, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Jamila Bargach, Director, Dar Si-Hmad (Morocco)

Mitra Emad, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota Duluth

Myanna Lahsen, Associate Researcher, Earth System Science Center, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (Brazil)

Scott Lukas, Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Lake Tahoe Community College

Jeff Tobin, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Critical Theory and Social Justice, Occidental College

Santiago Villaveces-Izquierdo, Professor, University of the Andes, Columbia

1997

Laura Helper-Ferris, Founder, Helper-Ferris Editorial Agency

David Syring, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Minnesota Duluth and Chief Editor, Anthropology and Humanism

Pamela Smart, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Art History, Department of Art History, Binghamton University

1996

Evan Davies

Judith Lentz

Elionne Walker Belden, Adjunct Professor at the University of St Thomas and Rice University Continuing Studies

1995

Roger Moore, Founder, Moore Archeological Consulting

Stella Grigorian, Instructional Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Houston

1994

*Brenda Jo Bright

Diana Hill

Jamer Hunt, Associate Professor of Transdisciplinary Design, Parsons the New School for Design

Elizabeth Tudor

1993

Terri Castaneda, Associate Professor and Museum Director, Department of Anthropology, California State University Sacramento

Melissa Cefkin, Principal Scientist and Manager, Nissan Research Center, Silicon Valley

Kim Fortun, Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Bruce Grant, Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University

Jeff Petry, Founder and Managing Director, AnthroSites Co, Ltd

*Tereba Togola

1992

Rachelle Doody, Professor of Neurology and Effie Marie Cain Chair in Alzheimer's Disease Research, Baylor College of Medicine

Ryan Bishop, Professor of Global Arts and Politics, Winchester Centre for Global Futures, University of Southampton (UK)

1990

Melissa Bowers

1989

Lenore Anderson

Patricia Bass, Fulbright Academic Exchange Specialist, Department of State

1988

Mehdi Abedi, Founder, Pride of Persia Rug Company

Priscilla Weeks, Environmental Anthropologist, Houston Advanced Research Center

1987

Vasumathi Duvvury

1986

Mindi Miller, Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

1985

Texas Anderson, Realtor, Greenwood King Properties

1983

R. Jon McGee, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Texas State University San Marcos

Dennis Supernor

1982

Deborah Harvey Delgado

* Deceased