2026 SHA and ACUA Elections Candidate Statements

Present Positions:  City Archaeologist, City of Alexandria, VA

Education: Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2013; M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, 2003; B.A., Department of Anthropology, College of William and Mary, 1998

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: Council of Virginia Archaeologists: Executive Board President, 2018–2022; Executive Board Vice President; Executive Board Past-President; Executive Board Secretary; Co-Chair, Collections Committee; Virginia Department of Historic Resources State Review Board, 2022–present: Chair (incoming); Society for Historical Archaeology: Membership Committee, 2008–2016; Register of Professional Archaeologists, 2003–present

Research Interests:  urban archaeology, community-driven archaeology, archaeology of the African Diaspora, material culture

Biographical Statement: Eleanor Breen is an archaeologist and public servant specializing in urban archaeology, historic preservation, and the interpretation of difficult histories. As the City Archaeologist for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, she leads archaeological investigations that illuminate the city’s layered past, from the pre-contact, colonial and Revolutionary eras through the Civil War and the experiences of African American communities. Her work emphasizes the integration of archaeology into public policy, planning, preservation, and community engagement. To her archaeological practice, Breen brings previous work experience in a variety of sectors including academia, CRM, and museums. Breen previously worked at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation where she contributed to nationally recognized archaeological research and public interpretation initiatives. Throughout her career, she has focused on connecting archaeological evidence with broader historical narratives and contemporary conversations about memory, identity, and place. A frequent speaker and collaborator, Breen has developed programs and exhibitions that make archaeology accessible to broad audiences while advancing professional conversations about stewardship, descendant community engagement, and the role of archaeology in civic life. Her work demonstrates how archaeology can deepen public understanding of the past while informing the preservation of historic landscapes for future generations. Breen is committed to the archaeological profession through membership to and service in organizations including the Society for Historical Archaeology, Register of Professional Archaeologists, Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference, Council of Virginia Archaeologists, and Department of Historic Resources State Review Board. She has been a member of SHA for about 20 years and particularly enjoyed working with then Chair Dr. Barbara Heath on the Membership Committee.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

As a municipal archaeologist working at the intersection of archaeology, preservation planning, public history, and civic engagement, I would bring a perspective grounded in both scholarship and public service. My work requires balancing research goals with the practical realities of development, stewardship, interpretation, policy, and community expectations. I believe this experience can help SHA continue to strengthen its relevance both within the profession and in the broader public sphere. Throughout my career, I have focused on making archaeology accessible and meaningful to diverse audiences while maintaining rigorous professional standards. If elected, I would contribute a collaborative and pragmatic approach to leadership drawn from work experience and from serving in leadership positions on the Council of Virginia Archaeologists. I am particularly interested in supporting initiatives that strengthen public archaeology, expand professional mentorship, and demonstrate the continued value of historical archaeology today.

For the past 10 years working in local government, I thoroughly understand that building trust in relationships—whether that is with community groups, residents, developers, city departments, students, teachers—is paramount. This often means assuming the role of mediator, ambassador, or liaison with people who have different perspectives and motivations. Success in these roles is often best achieved, I have found, when keeping the tenants of archaeology at the forefront—exposing and thereby working to right historical wrongs; respecting science, data, and fact while understanding the influence of interpretative bias; and keeping humanity of people in the past and their connections to communities today at the forefront. If elected, I look forward to bringing this perspective to the SHA Board.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

I would emphasize several interconnected priorities that reflect both my experience as Alexandria’s City Archaeologist and SHA’s broader ethical and strategic commitments to stewardship, public engagement, inclusivity, and professional support. First, I would support efforts that strengthen the visibility and public value of historical archaeology. At a time when preservation and humanities programs face serious challenges, it is important that SHA continue to advocate for archaeology as a vital tool for understanding complex histories that inform issues in our communities and in our country today. Second, I would prioritize professional support and mentorship across career stages. Archaeology is increasingly interdisciplinary and professionally diverse, and SHA has an important role to play in supporting students, early-career professionals, municipal archaeologists, CRM practitioners, academics, and public and community historians alike. Expanding opportunities for mentorship, networking, and practical professional development would help strengthen the field as a whole. Third, I would support continued investment in public engagement and community collaboration. Historical archaeology is uniquely positioned to connect material culture with lived experience, and our work is strongest when descendant communities and the public are active participants in interpretation and stewardship. Finally, I would emphasize preservation advocacy. Archaeological resources are nonrenewable, and SHA should continue to be a strong voice for preservation law, responsible stewardship, and the protection of cultural resources in the face of ongoing development and environmental change.

If elected, note how you would work to build an inclusive Society for Historical Archaeology.

Building an inclusive SHA requires both intentional leadership and sustained institutional commitment. What does this mean in action? This means implementing and continually returning to the key recommendations of the SHA Diversity Audit and Survey. This means upholding Principle 5 of the SHA Ethics statement that acknowledges the inherent nature of structural racism in American society. This means ensuring that all student and practicing archaeologists first and foremost feel inspired to take a seat at the SHA table, are welcomed as members, and able to participate meaningfully in the organization and the profession. If elected, I would support efforts to broaden participation within SHA by strengthening pathways for students, early career professionals, and archaeologists from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Mentorship, financial accessibility, transparent leadership opportunities, and active outreach are all important components of building a more inclusive organization. I also believe inclusivity should be reflected in the stories we tell and the work we prioritize. Supporting collaborative research and descendant-community engagement helps ensure that archaeology is informed by multiple perspectives and experiences. Creating avenues for attendance and participation in SHA to the communities with and for whom we work is of particular interest to me. As someone whose work regularly involves public audiences, local communities, and interdisciplinary partnerships, I value respectful dialogue, collaboration, and listening. I would work to foster a professional environment within SHA that encourages constructive exchange, supports diverse approaches to archaeology, and recognizes the many ways archaeologists contribute to the field and to society.

Present Positions: Professor of Anthropology and Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lake Forest College; Chair, Museum Studies Program, Lake Forest College

Education: Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Chicago; M.A., Anthropology, University of Chicago; B..A, Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: SHA: Chair, Academic and Professional Training Committee, 2022–present; Program Chair—Terrestrial, 2026 Conference, Detroit, Michigan, 2025–2026; Judge, Jamie Chad Brandon Graduate Stu dent Paper Prize Competition, 2018–2026; Member, Nominations and Elections Committee (elected), 2022–2024; Member, Academic and Professional Training Committee, 2015–2022; Charnley-Persky House Museum: Board Member, 2025–present; Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office: Appointed Member, 2022–2024; Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference (MHAC): Steering Committee Member, 2011–present; Co-chair, MHAC Chicago conference 2018; Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) Conference, University of Chicago: Conference Planning Committee, 2013; Central States Anthropological Society: Anthropology News Column Editor, 2001–2003 

Research Interests: 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century urban sites, temporality and modernity, consumerism and waste, historic preservation, contemporary archaeology, world’s fairs and expositions; region: North America/Midwest

Biographical Statement:

I am an anthropology professor at a small liberal arts college outside Chicago, where I rely on my undergraduate students and the field schools I run for them to create the data for my research. Previously, I taught undergraduate and graduate students as a postdoctoral instructor in the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) and as a lecturer in the College (both at the University of Chicago). I was also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Industrial Archaeology and Heritage Program (Michigan Technological University). I have excavated in Israel, France, Honduras, and the Bahamas, in addition to U.S. sites on the West and Gulf Coasts and in the Midwest.  My book, Disposing of Modernity: The Archaeology of Garbage and Consumerism During Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair (2020), was based on a project focusing on the ephemeral “White City” and Midway Plaisance of the 1893 Chicago Fair and the modern disposal practices seen at the Louis Sullivan- and Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Charnley-Persky House. The book was a co-publication with the SHA after winning the Kathleen Kirk Gilmore Dissertation Award (2013). In Chicago, I have also directed excavations at the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument (2016), the Gray-Cloud House (2018), Mecca Flats (2018), Armour Mission and Armour Flats (2023), the Edith Farnsworth House (2021, 2024), and am currently working on a collaborative project on Chicago’s West Side.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

SHA has profoundly shaped my career. The Jelks Graduate Student Travel Award enabled me to attend and present at my first SHA meeting, introducing me to practitioners beyond my university setting. Later, the Gilmore Dissertation Award provided crucial professional encouragement while I was contingent faculty. Through service on the Academic and Professional Training Committee, the Nominations and Elections Committee, years of judging graduate student papers, and most recently serving as Terrestrial Chair for the 2026 Annual Meeting, I have gained a broad understanding of where SHA is today and where it needs to go. My service on my state’s historic preservation board also deepened my understanding of how archaeological practice can diversify and expand ideas of historic significance and integrity. I take seriously SHA’s efforts to broaden participation across identities, career paths, and international communities, and I believe my experience across teaching, public engagement, preservation, and professional service positions me to contribute meaningfully to those goals. I teach as the sole archaeologist at a small liberal arts college where most of my students do not intend on being anthropologists or archaeologists. This feeds into my service because I must grapple with translating the goals of historical archaeology to an audience who may not ever return to it but could benefit from engaging with it. That experience shapes my service and my commitment to making our discipline accessible, collaborative, and publicly meaningful.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

When I ran for the Nominations and Elections committee in 2022, I was very hopeful for change and for our historical moment in the discipline. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the summer 2020 civil rights activism around the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, made clear the connections between spatiotemporally diverse sites and peoples, calling forth a renewed awareness of our intricate global ties and to systemic injustices that many had previously been insulated from. Writing about this in 2026 hits differently amid political polarization, attacks on higher education, environmental degradation, and growing concerns about AI. Yet these challenges reinforce my belief that archaeology is most meaningful when it is developed through partnerships and shared authority.

If elected, I would prioritize strengthening SHA’s public engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and advocacy for the relevance of historical archaeology beyond academic and professional silos. I believe our organization must remain proactive, outward-facing, and willing to rethink how we direct our energy and resources in rapidly changing social and political conditions.

If elected, note how you would work to build an inclusive Society for Historical Archaeology.

Anthropologist Ruth Benedict famously stated that the goal of anthropology was “to make the world safe for human difference.” Historical archaeology takes up that call. Inclusion is fundamental to our organization from its intellectual motivations to its collaborators to its practitioners, but we need to do more to make it tangible in the structure and practice of our organization. Every decision needs to be about this inclusivity. For instance, how do we rethink membership—what tiers could we provide, where should we advertise, what can we do differently? Once we are fortunate to gain new members, how can we orient them to the Society, mentor them, and intentionally build out paths for their incipient leadership? Where should the next conference be held (and where should they not)? What publications can we co-sponsor? What online resources? What do our awards recognize, and what recognitions might we be missing? How do we broaden membership in active SHA committees and send more voices to Washington, to UNESCO? How can we use our social media to support the Society’s mission, and where are we missing places to intervene? How do we continue to make clear the contributions our discipline can make to solving problems in the world beyond our echo chambers or that of the academy, the government sector, or the corporation?

My current collaborative work on Chicago’s West Side—with a cultural anthropologist, geoarchaeologist, landscape architect, and community gardeners—demonstrates the power of archaeology to cross disciplines, professions, generations, and claims to authority. My experience with this work indicates that we must, in the words of Barbara Little, bend archaeology toward social justice. It means, then, that our professional organization must be active rather than reactive. We must look at what we want SHA to be and intentionally work toward that future.

Present Position: Executive Director, Florida Public Archaeology Network

Education: Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park; M.A., Historical Archaeology, University of West Florida; B.A., Anthropology and History, University of Mississippi

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: I have been a member of SHA since 2006. Throughout those 20 years I served on the Collections and Curations Committee and am currently serve on the PEIC and GMAC committees. For the 2021 Annual Meeting, I served as the Terrestrial Program Chair. I am also an active member of the Society for American Archaeology, where I previously served on the Committee on Museum, Collections, and Curation and Excellence in Public Education Award Committee. I am actively involved in regional and state societies including Southeastern Archaeological Conference, where I served on the 2024 Conference Planning Committee, Florida Anthropological Society, and where I served on the 2024 Conference Planning Committee, Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Society, and Council of Virginia Archaeologists.

Research Interests: public archaeology, community engaged archaeology, African-American archaeology, archaeology of enslavement, colonial archaeology

Biographical Statement: Mary Furlong Minkoff is the Executive Director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN). At FPAN, Mary oversees a network of regional centers dedicated to promoting stewardship, public appreciation, and the value of Florida’s archaeological heritage through community engagement. She returns to FPAN, where she previously worked as the first Outreach Coordinator for the Northwest Regional Office, after nearly 15 years in the Mid-Atlantic. Prior to joining FPAN, Mary worked as the Assistant Director of Archaeology and Curator of Archaeological Collections at James Madison’s Montpelier. There she oversaw Montpelier’s public archaeology programs and public archaeology laboratory. While at Montpelier, Mary collaborated with the Orange County African American Historical Society, for which she served as a board member in 2022–2023, the Montpelier Descendants Committee, and other community organizations and members of the public on numerous projects including the multi-award-winning Mere Distinction of Colour exhibition, annual Juneteenth celebration, and the LEARN Archaeology Expedition programs, Montpelier’s signature public archaeology program.

Mary earned her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park where she specialized in civically engaged archaeology, community archaeology, and African American archaeology. Her dissertation focused on working with descendants to uncover the archaeology and memories of African American communities surrounding the Civil War Defenses of Washington and in particular The Fort community in Alexandria, Virginia. Mary also worked with the National Park Service in a variety of areas including the National Capital Regional Archaeology Office and as an archaeologist for the Urban Archaeology Corps youth program. She earned her M.A. in Historical Archaeology from the University of West Florida and B.A. in Anthropology and History from the University of Mississippi.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

If elected to SHA, I would contribute a perspective centered on publicly focused, community engaged archaeology. While I have worked for and in a wide variety of organizations and locations, the public connection to archaeology remained the center of my experience. This focus on the public provides me with a broad perspective of how historical archaeology fits into modern society both philosophically and practically. Therefore, I would apply a pragmatic approach, anchored in strong archaeological ethics and social values, to any decision I made on behalf of SHA.

I have been a member of SHA for +20 years, first joining as student and staying with the organization through various stages of my career. Throughout that time SHA has been my professional home, providing an excellent network of colleagues and access to cutting edge and globally impactful research. I would like to take this opportunity to give back to an organization that has provided me so much throughout the years. Likewise, I believe that SHA can and should be the international leader in community focused archaeology and my experience could contribute to achieving this goal.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

If elected to serve SHA, I would prioritize support and accessibility for SHA members, potential members, and historical archaeology in general. The past several years have been incredibly challenging for SHA members, especially in the areas of social, political, and economic shifts that have threatened the discovery, analysis, preservation, and interpretation of archaeological sites and resources worldwide. These same factors have placed the archaeologists and heritage practitioners under a huge amount of stress both professionally and personally. I believe it is SHA’s responsibility to help support its members as they face these challenges. This includes working with members to make the annual meeting and the overall organization a supportive environment, where members can raise their concerns, work collaboratively to develop responses to these challenges, and relax with their peers. Ways to do this could include, encouraging members to organized nontraditional sessions during the annual meeting that encourage open conversation, sharing best practices and other resources for how to respond to major challenges, and creating spaces during conferences where members can decompress, nurse, or attend to other personal needs that will allow them to maximize their conference experience.

Increased accessibility is also a component for showing support for members. This includes building on past efforts to increase accessibility at the annual conference through providing accessibility guides and resources. It is also important that we continue to find ways to make the conference as affordable as possible. Membership and conference attendance present a financial barrier that many archaeologists and their collaborating partners cannot overcome. We must recognize that there are archaeologists who are not joining our organization or attending the annual meeting, because it is unaffordable. Targeting past members who have not renewed their membership or colleagues who have never joined to get feedback about ways to make SHA more accessible to them would help us develop better policies and practices in regards to accessibility and affordability.

Finally, increased accessibility for the public to historical archaeology is a priority that I embrace for both my career and SHA. Working with conference planning committees to enhance the annual public day to make it better serve local communities is one way SHA could increase its impact. In addition, I would like to renew past efforts to offer trainings for our members, such as anti-racism or anti-ablism workshops, which are essential for making archaeology more accessible as a discipline and to the public.

If elected note how you would work build an inclusive Society for Historical Archaeology.

My priorities of support and accessibility as described above are essential for making SHA more inclusive. One way to do this would be to analyze our current membership data. Look at the numbers of who is joining, staying, leaving, and never joining SHA will help us better understand who is excluded. Further research into why people are not renewing memberships or joining in the first place can help us identify exclusionary barriers. Without a full picture of both the membership we have and those who do not join, we cannot effectively address issues of exclusivity.

In addition, I believe partnerships are key to helping SHA become more inclusive, as demonstrated by the current relationships with ACUA and SBA. By partnering SHA’s annual meetings with the meetings of these organizations, archaeologists who might not otherwise join SHA have an incentive to do so and the organization is stronger as a whole. Nurturing these relationships and identifying other organizations to collaborate with can help the organization be a welcoming place for new members.

Present Positions:  Director, Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology 

Education: M.A., Cultural Resources Management, Sonoma State University, 2009; B.A., Anthropology and History, University of Oregon, 2007

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: Alta Heritage Foundation: Board of Trustees, 2025–present; Southern Oregon Historical Society: Board of Trustees, 2024–present; Vice President, 2026–2028; Society for American Archaeology: 2023 Program Committee for the 88th Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon; Oregon Parks and Recreation: Audit Committee, 2022–2026; Society for Historical Archaeology: Nominations Committee, 2020; Oregon Heritage Commission: Governor appointed commissioner, 2016–2023; Chair, 2019–2021; Oregon Historical Society: Member, Editorial Board, Oregon Historical Quarterly, 2015–2024; Association of Oregon Archaeologists (AOA): Vice President, 2010–2013

Biographical Statement: I am a research archaeologist at Southern Oregon University (SOU), where I serve as Development of the American West, with a focus on community engaged archaeology and public media collaborations. I serve as a principal investigator of the award-winning Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project (OCDP), a grass roots collaboration that leverages partnerships with state and federal agencies, museums, and historical societies with the shared goal of documenting and preserving Chinese heritage in Oregon. In additional to regular collaborations with a variety of legacy and digital media outlets, I have partnered with Jefferson Public Radio on the award-winning Underground History podcast for the last decade, and with Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Oregon Historical Society on the Unearthing Oregon digital series. These partnerships revolve around the central goal of increasing transparency, access, and platforming archaeology and heritage issues, at home and abroad. I have also partnered on the creation three digital collections, the Jim Rock Historic Can Collection, the Chinese Material Culture Collection, and the forthcoming Historic Plastics Website, which are all designed to serve as open-source resources for both practicing archaeologists and the interested public.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

If elected to the board, I would put my background in media outreach and community engaged collaboration to work for the organization. I believe there is much more we can do as individuals and as an organization to amplify and promote the discipline, build a stronger cohort of champions and supporters that will help make the legislation we hope to protect and preserve more resilient, and allow us to better coordinate efforts to push back or respond to threats to cultural resources. I have also served on a variety of boards and committees and understand the challenges and opportunities in finding creative solutions to heritage issues faced by the discipline as well as organizations ranging from large museums to small volunteer run historical societies. Much of my previous work has highlighted the ways in which archaeologists can be better allies within their community, which not only adds richness to collaborative projects, but helps to reinforce the important work archaeologists do and why the public should continue to support it.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

Given the economy and clear, existential threats to higher education, I believe we must connect with the public and other stakeholders now more than ever. Both as a means to sustain our discipline for future generations, but also as a means to contribute our unique skill set to contemporary issues. Whether it be adding nuance and new perspectives to historical events and eras, advocacy towards efforts to recognize and combat Climate Change, or a greater involvement in humanitarian efforts or disaster recovery, archaeologists are uniquely situated to meet the current moment and help build more self-reflective, engaged, and resilient communities by promoting place-based connections and stewardship of our shared heritage.

If elected, note how you would work to build an inclusive Society for Historical Archaeology.

I believe that SHA lags behind other organizations in terms of accessibility and inclusivity, and I think we can look elsewhere for ideas on how to make attending the conference more appealing and more affordable to folks who might otherwise be unable to attend or may not see the value in their participation. This could include adding perks or discounts for students or first-time attendees, creating more of an incentive to consider carefully the types of sessions or scholarship represented and platformed by our organization, and reducing barriers to stakeholder involvement or attendance in session they have collaborated or contributed to.

Present Position: Project Manager for the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS, www.daacs.org), Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc./Monticello

Education: Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Virginia, 2012; M.A., Anthropology, University of Virginia, 2007

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: SAA: Member, Nominating Committee, 2020–2021; Member, Public Education Committee, 2014–2017; Chair, Taskforce For the Public Webpages, 2014–2017; Member, Student Affairs Committee, 2009–2010; Museum Computer Network (mcn.edu) Board of Directors: President, 2018–2019; Vice President, 2017–2018; Member, 2015–2019; Member, Nominating Committee Member, 2015, 2018, 2019; SHA Curation and Collections Committee: Chair, 2022–2026

Research Interests: social networks and communities of practice, Late Woodland and historic period Southeastern United States, production and consumption of tobacco pipes and colonoware, comparative and collections-based research, archaeological data management and stewardship

Biographical Statement: With over 15 years of experience managing, curating, and researching archaeological collections across five museum and university settings, I have built a career at the intersection of collections-based research and digital archive development. As part of research teams analyzing field records and assemblages from 50+ Woodland and Historic period sites across the Southwestern, Southeastern, and Northwestern United States, I developed a foundational understanding of how archaeological data is created, organized, and made accessible for long-term use. That work now informs my role as Project Manager for the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS), where I oversee the digitization and integration of new sites into the archive, coordinate with institutional collaborators, and direct ongoing development of the archive’s website and documentation. My research examines how Indigenous, enslaved African, and European communities navigated the shifting natural, social, and economic pressures of the Colonial Period in the Southeastern United States. Using locally produced ceramics and smoking pipes, I investigate the persistence and change of production learning traditions and exchange networks, and how communities used local materials to negotiate and adapt to changing circumstances.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

If elected to SHA’s Nominating Committee, I will draw on practical experience navigating the mechanics and politics of nomination processes in two different organizational contexts. As a member of MCN’s Nominating Committee, I worked with the organization’s Executive Director and Board toward making the nomination process more efficient and transparent and began documenting the challenges of increasing diversity in our candidate pool. As a member of SAA’s Nominating Committee, I worked with fellow committee members to increase representation from historically marginalized communities, reevaluate the criteria used for selecting candidates, and advocate for a shift to Ranked Choice Voting as a more equitable mechanism for reflecting membership preferences. Though that effort was not ultimately adopted, the experience of pushing for structural reform within an established governance process is one I would bring directly to SHA. I would also draw on my connections across a broad range of institutional contexts—Academia, Federal and State agencies, Museums and Repositories, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and CRM—and geographic regions to ensure the candidate pool reflects the full diversity of archaeological practice that characterizes SHA’s membership.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

If elected, I would prioritize continuing this work, including a willingness to evaluate whether SHA’s current nomination and voting structures best serve its large and diverse membership.

If elected, note how you would work to build an inclusive Society for Historical Archaeology. 

In my role at DAACS, I have helped implement programs that translate commitments to inclusion into concrete action. Recognizing that structural barriers—including under-resourced programs, limited fieldwork funding, and underrepresentation in the discipline—have excluded many scholars, particularly researchers of color and those from under-resourced institutions, DAACS reserves fellowships and internships in each Certification training cycle specifically for advanced graduate students and early-career scholars who have faced these barriers. If elected to SHA’s Nominating Committee, I would bring this same approach—identifying structural obstacles and building mechanisms to address them—to the work of ensuring SHA’s candidate pool reflects the full breadth and interests of those doing historical archaeology today.

Present Position: Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Grinnell College

Education: Ph.D., Anthropology, Stanford University; M.A., Historical Archaeology, UMass Boston; B.A., Anthropology (minor in Ethnic Studies), UC San Diego

Professional Service to SHA and Other Societies: American Anthropological Association: Member, Archaeology Division, Nominations Committee, 2025; Archaeology Division: Student Representative, 2018–2020

Research Interests: Chinese diaspora archaeology, transnationalism, race and racism, landscape archaeology

Biographical Statement: I believe that archaeological sites serve as powerful mnemonics for marginalized communities and play an important role in the reclamation of silenced histories. My research is on the late 19th to early 20th archaeology of racism and transnationalism at Chinese diaspora sites. Since 2023, I have co-directed the Wyoming Chinatowns Archaeology Project with Dr. Dudley Gardner, which centers on archaeological research on the Rock Springs and Evanston Chinatowns in Wyoming. We work closely with the descendant community and undergraduate students at Grinnell College to understand the materiality of racial violence and transpacific linkages between diasporic sites and home villages. In addition, I investigate Chinese immigrant landscapes of labor—from truck farms in Southern California to railroad worker camps in West Texas. Research is shared with the public through the Buried Chinatowns blog: https://buriedchinatowns.sites.grinnell.edu/.

Given the qualifications and experience outlined in your biographical statement, what do you believe you can contribute to SHA if elected?

I am excited about joining the Nominations and Elections Committee because it will allow me to play a direct role in shaping the future of the SHA. I recently served as a member of the Nominations Committee for the Archaeology Division of the AAA and enjoyed the process of creating lists of dedicated archaeologists who I thought would excel in a variety of leadership roles. In addition, I look forward to tapping into the historical archaeology networks that I have developed across the U.S. and the globe through my graduate education and research projects in order to recruit a diverse group of nominees for SHA positions.

If elected to serve SHA, what priorities would you emphasize?

Recruiting and mentoring junior faculty and early career professionals into leadership positions, making the SHAs more accessible to attend for outstanding undergraduate students, and challenging the status quo in archaeology such as costprohibitive field schools.

Please include a statement on your commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Mattering (DEIB&M).

Throughout my academic career, I have strived to create an inclusive environment for anthropology students and scholars from diverse backgrounds. As a first-generation college graduate and the daughter of working-class Chinese immigrants, I am committed to mentoring the next generation of historical archaeologists. In 2019, I co-organized an archaeology student mentoring session at the American Anthropological Association conference that connected students with professionals in the field, and regularly share advice with prospective archaeology graduate students on applying to M.A. and Ph.D. programs. In 2023, I co-organized a well-attended forum at the Society for American Archaeology conference titled “Building Antiracist Archaeologies.” The forum was based on an Annual Review of Anthropology article that I co-authored with Kelly Fong, Jocelyn Lee, Veronica Peterson, and Barbara Voss, titled, “Race and Racism in the Archaeologies of Chinese American Communities.” Overall, I will bring my dedication to making archaeology accessible to those facing one or more structural barriers.