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Faculty and Staff
Jump to: Anthropology | Global Religions

Dr. Jordan Karsten, Chair
Associate Professor
Office: Swart 317A
Phone: 920-424-7307
Email: karstenj@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: or by appt.
Education:
Ph.D., and M.A., State University of New York, Albany
Dr. Karsten is a biological anthropologist with a focus on human osteology. His research interests include areas of bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology, and he is actively involved in excavations focused on Neolithic Ukraine. Dr. Karsten teaches classes on human skeletal anatomy, forensic anthropology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and archaeology.

Gina M. Schiavone
Administrative Assistant II
Office: Swart 317
Phone: 920-424-4406
Email: schiavog@uwosh.edu
Interests: Traveling, reading biographies, spending time outdoors.
Anthropology

Dr. Adrienne Frie
Associate Professor
Office: Harrington 303B
Phone: (920) 424-1365
Email: friea@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: Tuesdays 1:00PM-3:00PM or by appointment
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
M.A., University of Chicago
B.A., University of California San Diego
Adrienne Frie is an anthropological archaeologist whose research specialties include prehistoric Europe, human-animal relations, and prehistoric art. Dr. Frie’s ongoing research is focused on Iron Age Slovenia, where she investigates how animal depictions and faunal remains provide insight into prehistoric interactions with and ideas about animals. This research is multidisciplinary, and in addition to archaeological evidence takes into account animal behavior, local environments, and the socioeconomic structures surrounding animal husbandry and other human-animal interactions.

Dr. Kevin Garstki
Teaching Assistant Professor
Office: Swart 312
Phone: (920) 424-4416
Email: garstkik@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: or by appt.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
M.A., University of Chicago
B.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kevin Garstki is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on the impact of digital technology on modern archaeology, as well as the effect of emerging technology on prehistoric societies. He is a prehistoric European archaeologist who has worked in Cyprus, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and North America. His doctoral research centered on the organization of early iron production in Iron Age Ireland. Dr. Garstki’s current research focuses on the critical use and reuse of digital archaeological data, specifically using 3D visualization technologies to enhance the documentation, research, and archiving of material heritage and its use in public outreach. He has worked for the last eight years as director of digital imaging for the Athienou Archaeological Project in Cyprus and is the co-director of the Wolves and the Caesars (WAC) archaeological field school in Knežak.
For more information on Kevin’s research: http://kevin-garstki.com/archaeology/

Dr. Brett Hoffman
Lecturer
Office: Fox Cities Campus 1505
Phone: (920) 832-2698
Email: hoffmanbc@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: or by appt.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin- Madison
M.S., University of Wisconsin- Madison
B.A., Beloit College
Brett Hoffman is an anthropological archaeologist whose research interests include Bronze Age Eurasia, ancient metallurgy, past technologies, early states, city-states, and the use of archaeological chemistry to understand ancient interaction networks. His current research is focused on understanding the role that copper and bronze metallurgy played in the economy of the Indus Civilization using chemical and isotopic analyses on artifacts, slags, and ores. In addition to these research activities, Brett works in Wisconsin doing Cultural Resource Management archaeological surveys and excavations. He has recently joined the University of Wisconsin Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project (UW MIA RIP) as a senior member of the team. The project’s goal is to recover, identify, and repatriate U.S. service members from past global conflicts. Brett teaches courses in archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and human skeletal anatomy.

Oksana Katsanivska
Lecturer
Office: Swart 308
Phone: (920) 424-7383
Email: katsanivskao@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: Tuesdays 10AM-12:00PM or by appointment.
Education:
M.A. in Philology/ Linguistics, Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine
Oksana Katsanivska is a certified linguist, specializing in English-Ukrainian translation. She has worked as a translator of non-fiction literature (including Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy, Onward by Howard Schultz, The IKEA Story by Bertil Torekull, Born to Run by Christopher McDougal, and Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley) and as an interpreter for Dr. Jordan Karsten during his archeological excavations in Ukraine. She has also conducted private lessons of English language for adults and teenagers.
Oksana Katsanivska teaches classes on comparative linguistics, food anthropology, contemporary Ukrainian literature and Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

Kayla Kubehl
Lecturer
Office: Swart 314
Phone: 920-424-4423
Email: kubehlk@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: WEDNESDAY 10:00AM-11:30AM & THURSDAY, VIRTUALLY, 10:00AM-11:30AM, or by appointment.
Education:
M.A., George Mason University
B.S., University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh
Kayla Francis is a biological anthropologist with interests in dental health, life histories, and systemic illness. She has also completed work in public health focusing on trauma, school health, behavioral health, and workforce development. Kayla teaches courses on human skeletal anatomy, forensic anthropology, and biological anthropology.

Dr. Stephanie May de Montigny
Associate Professor
Office: Swart 320
Phone: (920) 424-7495
Email: may@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023:
Education:
Ph.D., University of Texas Austin
Stephanie May de Montigny is a cultural anthropologist. Her courses and research interests include Native American studies, kinship, gender and sexuality, ethnohistory, vernacular architecture, and visual art and dance. She also teaches classes on ethnographic methods, American ethnography, and expressive culture.

Dr. Heidi Nicholls
Assistant Professor
Office: Swart 322
Phone: (920) 424-7138
Email: nichollsh@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: This semester, my office hours will be held virtually or in person. Tues. between 11:30am-2:30pm will be my greatest availability, but ALL meetings are by appointment and flexible to fit your schedule.
Education:
Ph.D., University at Albany, SUNY
M.A., Cleveland State University
Dr. Heidi J Nicholls is a cultural anthropologist with a specialization on economics and power dynamics. More specifically Dr. Nicholls looks at the social construction of race, intercultural dynamics, student success, tourism and equity, diversity, and inclusion. She has had the opportunity to work on the Dine Reservation, in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Anguilla, New York and here on the UWO campus (Inclusivity at a PWI). Dr. Nicholls teaches classes on Diversity, Tourism, Indigenization, Political Resistance and more, counting for programs such as Anthropology (of course), Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies and Economics. Ask her today how to earn these majors, minors, and certificates!

Dr. Stephanie Spehar
Associate Professor
Office: Swart 313
Phone: (920) 424-7073
Email: spehars@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023:
Education:
Ph.D., New York University
M.A., New York University
B.A., California State University Los Angeles
Stephanie Spehar is a physical anthropologist whose area of specialization is primate socioecology, or how ecology and the environment have shaped primate social systems and behavior. Within this framework, her research focuses on primate mating systems, group dynamics and social behavior, and communication. A second major research interest is primate conservation, especially the effect of habitat alteration, fragmentation, and hunting on primate communities.

Dr. Mai See Thao
Assistant Professor
Office: Swart 323
Phone: (920) 424-7070
Email: thaom@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023:
Education:
Postdoctoral, Medical College of Wisconsin
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Mai See Thao is a medical anthropologist with research interests in historical trauma, displacement, the refugee body, biopolitics, and care (long-term care and chronic disease management). She completed her dissertation at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Anthropology, examining Hmong American experiences of type II diabetes and the implications of chronic care for a displaced community. Situating chronic disease management within a Hmong and U.S. historical and racial context, Dr. Thao examined how politics of belonging are central in caring for health and wellbeing. She infuses community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) with her anthropological training. With a macro-to-micro perspective, she teaches CBPAR and social science theories to community members as a form of social justice in achieving health equity. She is currently leading a community-based traveling exhibit that centers Hmong experiences of historical trauma and hope. She, along with her community partners in Milwaukee, are engaged in CBPAR on social determinants of health for Hmong with type II diabetes. As the Director of Hmong Studies, Dr. Thao is excited to lead the Hmong Studies Certificate and teach critical Hmong Studies courses in Anthropology that examines the topics of race, gender, the refugee, displacement, and globalization.
Chong Moua
Lecturer
Email:
Office Hours/Spring 2023: No office hours this semester.
Chong Moua is a lecturer for Anthropology 103: Introduction to Hmong/American Studies. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at UW Madison working on her dissertation entitled “Refugee Cosmopolitanism: Hmong Refugees and a Critical Stateless Perspective.” Her research interests center around the question of how immigration, race, gender, citizenship, and U.S. empire produce discourses of cultural and national belonging in 20th century U.S. history.

Dr. Jeffrey Behm
Professor Emeritus
Email: behm@uwosh.edu
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dissertation title: Identification and Analysis of Stylistic Variation in Hardin Barbed Points
M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Global Religions

Dr. Michael Baltutis
Associate Professor
Office: Swart 309
Phone: (920) 424-7071
Email: baltutim@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: 12:40pm-1:40pm or by appointment.
Education:
Ph.D.,University of Iowa 2008, Religious Studies
B.A.,University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Philosophy
Dr. Michael Baltutis is an Associate Professor of Global Religions at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He teaches Religious Ritual, Hinduism and Religion in South Asia.

Andrea Jakobs
Lecturer
Office: Swart 310
Phone: (920) 424-4407
Email: jakobsa@uwosh.edu
Office Hours/Spring 2023: Monday & Wednesday 10:00AM-11:00AM in SAGE 3634 or by virtual appt. or in-person appt.
Education:
M.A. from Central European University, ABD-Brandeis University
Andrea Jakobs is an academic staff member for Global Religions. She teaches Quest and non-Quest sections of Global Religions 102- World Religions and Global Religions 215- Judaism.

Dr. Kathleen Corley
Professor Emeritus
Email: corley@uwosh.edu
Education:
Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA
Dr. Kathleen Corley is a Professor of Global Religions at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She teaches New Testament, Christianity, Gnosticism and Women in Religion.