Department Chair and Staff

Dr. Nicholas Recker Headshot

Dr. Nicholas Recker

Chair, Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Community Development, Organizational Structure, Social Capital, the Creative Class, Health, Crime

nrecker@msudenver.edu 303-615-1043
Vonda Knox

Vonda Knox

Program Coordinator

Central Classroom 106

knoxv@msudenver.edu 303-615-0702
Headshot of Jill Scott

Jill Scott, M.A.

Laboratory Coordinator & Anthropology Adjunct Faculty

Specialty Areas: Biological Anthropology, Paleoanthropology, Human Biological Variation, Neandertals, Early Modern Humans, Homo naledi, Craniomandibular Anatomy

jscot108@msudenver.edu 303-605-5806

Anthropology Faculty

Dr. Joseph Feldman headshot

Dr. Joseph Feldman

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Specialty Areas: Political Anthropology, Museums, Transitional Justice, Applied Anthropology, Peru, Latin America

jofeldman@msudenver.edu 303-615-0914
Rebecca Forgash, PhD

Dr. Rebecca Forgash

Professor of Anthropology

Director, Ethnography Laboratory; Specialty Areas: Linguistic Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Transnational Intimacy and Marriage, US Military and Militarization, Globalization, Language and Identity, East Asia, Japan, Okinawa, Guatemala

rforgash@msudenver.edu 303-615-0425
Michael Kolb, PhD

Dr. Michael Kolb

Professor of Anthropology

Director, Archaeology Laboratory; Specialty Areas: Archaeology, Complex Societies, Monumental Architecture, Archaeology of Power and Ritual, Europe, Oceania

mkolb5@msudenver.edu 303-615-0708
Dr. Jade Luiz Headshot

Dr. Jade Luiz

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Specialty Areas: Historical Archaeology, Museum Studies, Brothel Archaeology, 19th-Century Urbanism, Feminist Theory, Gender and Sexuality, Identity

jluiz@msudenver.edu 303-615-0925
Sanaa Riaz, PhD

Dr. Sanaa Riaz

Professor of Anthropology

Specialty Areas: Cultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Educational Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, Historical Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Middle East and Islamic World, South Asia, Pakistan

sriaz1@msudenver.edu 303-615-1694
Rich Sandoval, PhD

Dr. Rich Sandoval

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Specialty Areas: Linguistic and Semiotic Anthropology, Interaction and Multimodality, Language Documentation/Revitalization, Indigenous American Signed Languages, Classic Mayan Writing/Art, Ch’orti’ (Mayan) Language, Arapaho Language, Spanish-English Contact in the Southwest

rsando24@msudenver.edu 303-615-1697
Michala Stock, PhD

Dr. Michala Stock, D-ABFA

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Director, Human Identification Laboratory; Diplomate - American Board of Forensic Anthropology; Specialty Areas: Biological Anthropology, Forensic Anthropology, Skeletal Growth and Development, Intraspecific Variation, Sexual Dimorphism, Quantitative Methods

mstock3@msudenver.edu 303-605-7433
Todd Yokley, PhD

Dr. Todd Yokley

Associate Chair, Professor of Anthropology

Director, Biological Anthropology Laboratory; Specialty Areas: Biological Anthropology, Paleoanthropology, Human Biological Variation, Neandertals, Nasofacial Anatomy, Mammalian Paleontology

tyokley@msudenver.edu 303-615-1339

Sociology Faculty

Karam Adibifar, PhD

Dr. Karam Adibifar

Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Family Studies, Drugs and Society, Social Theory and Social Psychology, Middle Eastern Culture

kadibifa@msudenver.edu 303-615-1693
Desire Anastasia, PhD

Dr. Desiré Anastasia

Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Body Modification, Yoga and Symbolic Interactionism, Intimate Partner Violence, Feminist Theory, Criminology, Deviance and Social Control

danastas@msudenver.edu 303-615-0120
Ting Jiang, PhD

Dr. Ting Jiang

Associate Dean for Curriculum, Accreditation, and Program Review & Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Globalization, Welfare States, Social Inequality, Social Movements and Collective Behavior, Chinese Society, China's One Belt, One Road Initiative, Quantitative Methods, Spatial Analysis, Survey Research

tjiang@msudenver.edu 303-615-0638
Melissa Monson, PhD

Dr. Melissa Monson

Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Gender, Ethnicity, Mass Media, Video Games

monson@msudenver.edu 303-615-0882
Gesemia Nelson, PhD

Dr. Gesemia Nelson

Professor of Sociology

Director, Sociology Computer Laboratory; Specialty Areas: Inequality, Globalization, Methods, Survey

gnelso16@msudenver.edu 303-615-0924
Brian O'Hara, PhD

Dr. Brian O'Hara

Associate Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Sports, Recreation, Leisure, Tourism, Qualitative Methods, Community and Urban Studies, Culture

bohara2@msudenver.edu 303-605-7233
David Piacenti, PhD

Dr. David Piacenti

Associate Professor of Sociology

Specialty Areas: Globalization, Immigration and Migration, Sociological Theory, Anthropological Theory, Theory of Science and Knowledge, Qualitative Methods, Racial and Ethnic Prejudice and Discrimination, Environmental Sociology

dpiacent@msudenver.edu 303-615-0997

Adjunct Faculty

Anthropology Adjunct Faculty

The best way to contact adjunct faculty is via e-mail.

Mr. Josef Garrett
Ms. Katrina Geist
Dr. Su Il Kim
Dr. Hilary Morland
Dr. Gordon Tucker
Dr. Heather Williams 
Ms. Georgia Wright

Emeritus Faculty

Tadini Bacigalupi, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Kenneth M. Keller, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Anthropology

Jonathan Kent, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Anthropology

Aileen F. Lucero, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Linda Marangia, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Bernard Rosen, Associate Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Rae Shevalier, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Martha L. Shwayder, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Sheldon Steinhauser, B.S., Associate Professor Emeritus–Sociology

Roger C. Wade, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus–Sociology 

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Campus Location:
Central Classroom (CN) 106

Mailing Address:
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Campus Box 28, P.O. Box 173362
Denver, Colorado 80217-3362

Phone:
303-615-1400

E-mail (Program Coordinator, Vonda Knox):
knoxv@msudenver.edu

Fax:
303-556-5360