Faculty & Staff - American West Center

Paisley Rekdal
Director
paisley.rekdal@utah.edu

Paisley Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction, and seven books of poetry, including Nightingale, Appropriate: A Provocation, and, most recently, West: A Translation. She is the editor and creator of the digital archive projects West, Mapping Literary Utah, and Mapping Salt Lake City. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, Pushcart Prizes, the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah poet laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah where she is a distinguished professor.

Michelle smiling at the camera with a greenery as a background

Administrative Officer
Michelle Judd
801-581-7611
michelle.judd@utah.edu

John in the mountains with a red jacket and beanie

Assistant Director
John Flynn
john.flynn@utah.edu
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Subject area: Environmental History in the American West

Affiliated Faculty

Patricia Albers

Professor of Anthropology, Emerita
Ph.D. University of Madison-WisconsinSubject area: Native American History, women in the American West

Elizabeth Archleta

Associate Chair, Ethnic Stuies
elizabeth.archuleta@utah.edu
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University
Subject area: First generaton and historically underrepresented students in high education

Maile Arvin

Associate Professor of History & Gender Studies
maile.arvin@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
Subject area: Pacific Island Studies

Matt sitting in a desk chair smiling up at the camera

Matthew L. Basso

Former AWC Director, Associate Professor, History
matt.basso@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Subject area: Gender Studies, Military History

Edward Bateman

Associate Professor, Art & Art History
edward.bateman@utah.edu
MFA University of Utah
Subject area: Digital imaging, 3D modeling in photography

Cynthia Benally

Associate Professor, Education, Culture & Society
u6014666@utah.edu
Ed.D. Arizona State University
Subject area: Edcucation policies, curriculum, and instruction of Native peoples and nations

Brett Clark

Professor, Environmental Humanities Graduate Program
brett.clark@soc.utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Oregon
Subject area: Policital economy of global environmental change

Closeup of Elizabeth smiling at the camera

Elizabeth Clement

Associate Professor, History
elizabeth.clement@utah.edu
Ph.D.
Subject area: Gender Studies, History of HIV in Utah

Danielle smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black shirt and wearing clear-framed glasses

Danielle Endres

Director, Environmental Humanities Graduate Program
danelle.endres@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Washington
Subject area: Environmental Studies, Indigenous American Rhetoric

Marie with a slight closed smile looking directly on the camera

Marie Sarita Gaytan

Associate Professor, Gender Studies & Sociology
sarita.gaytan@soc.utah.edu
Ph.D. UC Santa Cruz
Subject area: Gender, Race & Ethnic Studies, Latin American Studies

Alexandra standing in front of a white background and smiling at the camera

Alexandra Merritt Greenwald

Associate Professor, Anthropology
u6025804@utah.edu
Ph.D. UC Davis
Subject area: Museum curation, Anthropology, Ethnography

Ed standing in front of white background wearing a Cuban still shirt and hat.

Ed. A. Munoz

Associate Professor, Ethnic Studies
u0890955@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Subject area: Latinx experience in the Midwest & Inter-Rocky Mountain Regions

Andrew looking at the camera with movie posters in the background.

Andrew Nelson

Chair, Film & Media Arts Department
ap.nelson@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Exeter
Subject area: American cinema, history & culture

Darren Parry

Wanda smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black blazer and blue blouse with a blurred background inside a building

Wanda Pillow

Professor, Gender Studies
wanda.pillow@utah.edu
Ph.D. Ohio State University
Subject area: Feminist research methods, advanced feminist theory

Paul Reeve

Professor of History, Simmons Chair of Mormon Studies
paul.reeve@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Utah
Subject area: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint history

Selfie style picture of Greg in his office

Gregory E. Smoak

Former AWC Director
greg.smoak@utah.edu
Ph.D. University of Utah
Subject area: Native and environmental history of the American West, public lands policy

Katharine standing behind a large dslr camera. She is leading over the camera but looking up and smiling at photographer.

Katharine S. Walter

Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine
katharine.walter@hsc.utah.edu
Ph.D. Yale University
Subject area: How climate change affects pathogen transmission and epidemiological dynamics in the American West

Kronk wearing a black blazer and a red patterned blouse.

Kronk Warner

Jefferson B. & Rita E. Fordham Presidential Dean, Professor of Law
Office_of_the_Dean@LAW.UTAH.EDU
J.D. Law, University of Michigan Law School
Subject area: Environmental & Native American Law

Kilo wearing a white shirt and black scarf. His is smiling at the camera

Kilo Zamora

Lecturer, Gender Studies
u0048082@utah.edu
M.S. University of Utah
Subject area: Gender Studies, Policies that protect marginalized people

Danielle standing next to a tree smiling at the camera

Danielle R. Olden

Assistant Professor, History
Danielle.Olden@utah.edu
Ph.D. History, Ohio State University

Connor in a photo studio wearing a black blazer, blue shirt, and red tie smiling at the camera

Connor K. Warner

Associate Director and Associate Professor (Clinical) of the Urban Institute for Teacher Education
u6026631@utah.edu
Ph.D. Curriculum & Instruction, University of Kansas

Stephen standing outstand of an office. He is smiling at the camera with reading classes around his neck, a black t-shirt, and light blue denim shirt.

Robert Stephen Tatum

Retired, Emeritus Faculty in English
stephen.tatum@utah.edu
Ph.D. in English (American Studies track)

Current Staff

Tori Fairbanks

Oral History transcriber, Social Media Specialist
u1185183@utah.edu
M.S. American Studies, Utah State University
Subject area: National Park Service, Black History in the American West, Intermountain Indian School

Selfie style image of Megan by a mountain lake covered in snow.

Megan Weiss

Program Assistant, Utah Humanities
megan.weiss@utah.edu
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Subject area: History of the American West

Nicholas standing in front of a stone building wearing a brown plaid shirt

Nicholas Backman

Research Associate, National Park Service Trails Project
nicholas.backman@utah.edu
Ph.D. Student, Department of History
Subject area: Native American History, Environmental History

Emma smiling at the camera with a blurred park in the background

Emma Webb

Research Fellow, American West Center and Spencer S. Eccles Health Science Library
emmawwebb@gmail.com
M.A. Student, Department of History
Subject area: American West history in the 19th and 20th centuries

Kayla Kidd

American West Center Intern