(Photo Credit: Andrea Wenglowskyj)
Rhianna C. Rogers Ph.D., RPA
Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies (Anthropology and History),
Coordinator, Global Indigenous Knowledge Certificate Program
SUNY Empire State College – WNY/Buffalo campus
Email: Rhianna.Rogers@esc.edu
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
State University of New York -Empire State College (SUNY-ESC): (2010-present)
- Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies (Anthropology and History): August 2017-present
- Provost/Associate Dean Innovation Reassignment (Buffalo Project 3.0): AY 2020-2021
State University of New York/Open SUNY Fellow (2014-present)
- Open SUNY Fellow in Innovation and Research (Open Educational Resources -OERs): January 2014-present
Teaching Appointments:
SUNY Empire State College (SUNY-ESC)
- Center for International Education (Middle East and Latin America): Spring 2015-present
- School for Graduate Studies (Saratoga Springs, NY): Fall 2012-present
- School of Arts & Humanities and School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Saratoga Springs, NY): Fall 2010-present
- WNY/Buffalo Regional Campus (Buffalo, NY): Fall 2010-present
South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary (SFBC&TS)
- Visiting Professor (Honorarium): August 2010-present
BACKGROUND
Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers is an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies (History and Anthropology) and coordinator of the Global Indigenous Knowledge (GIK) program at SUNY Empire State College. She teaches in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the School of Arts & Humanities, the School for Graduate Studies, and the Center for International Education. Rogers has won awards for her innovative approach to teaching and learning, including the 2020-2021 & 2019-2020 SUNY Empire Provost Innovation Award, the 2018-2019 Explorations in Diversity & Academic Excellence Award (EDAE), and the 2017-2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Rogers is co-founder of SPEC/Buffalo Project, an award-winning, comprehensive, action-based diversity program focused on upskilling populations to inform solution-making efforts in college and community environments (2010-present). Based on the success of this program, Rogers was invited to speak at the 7th Annual United Nations (UN) – Geneva Forum in the International Conference on Inclusive Education and Project Based Learning for Peace and Development (Dec. 2020).
She received a certificate in Ethnic Studies, a B.A. in Social Sciences (Anthropology Major and History Minor), an M.A. in History, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies (Anthropology, History, and Linguistics Concentrations) from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.
Rogers is an Open SUNY Fellow in academic innovation (2014-present) where she won the inaugural 2015 Open SUNY COTE Online Effective Practice Award and was a finalist for the 2018 award. She also offers collegial support as a SUNY Tools of Engagement Project (TOEP) Fellow in OER academic innovation where she won the 2015-2016 SUNY TOEP Best Peer Mentoring and Support Award.
She was the inaugural Rockefeller Institute of Government-Ernest Boyer Presidential Fellow and the Spring 2020 Center for Law and Policy Studies Internship director (2019-2020) as well as the inaugural coordinator of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies for the college (2017-2019) and the convener for Interdisciplinary Studies (2014-2017).
Rogers is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) with over a decade of field and museum experience. She has worked in both academic and tribal archaeology as well as in historic preservation and museum studies. Rogers has conducted research and taught in the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cyprus, Lebanon, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, and Puerto Rico.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Cultural Studies/Participatory Action Research, Cultural Anthropology, Native American Studies, Latin American History, Mesoamerican History and Archaeology, Social Science Research and Methods, Museums Studies, Tribal History and Archaeology, Artifact Analysis, Digital Anthropology, Gender Studies, and Emerging Technologies in Teaching (OERs)
RECENT AWARDS/APPOINTMENTS/PUBLICATIONS
2021 Forthcoming Book:
¡El Yunque se levanta! Interdisciplinarity and activism at the La Mina petroglyph site by Rhianna C. Rogers, James Schuetz, and Rex Cauldwell (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports)
AY 2020-2021 & 2019-2020 Provost/Associate Dean Innovation Reassignment: Recipient for the Buffalo Project
This program award is designed to build on SUNY Empire’s long history of innovation and foster an innovative environment that leads to student success. Rogers was selected for this program based on the connection of her project(s) – the Buffalo Project – to college-wide strategic goals and innovations.
2019 -2020 Rockefeller Institute of Government – Center for Law and Policy Solutions – Ernest Boyer Presidental Fellow
Rogers developed new ways of using technology to increase conversation among students across SUNY campuses. She also led the Center for Law & Policy Solutions (CLPS) internship program in Spring 2020. Learn more here.
2019 SUNY Empire “You Make A Difference Award”: Recipient for the Buffalo Project-Deliberative Conversations Series
Photo Credit: Darlene Hapka
This award is nomination-based and overseen by the SUNY Empire Climate Committee. Recipients are selected by their peers in recognition for college/community efforts which lead to and/or support improvements in workplace environment on their campus. (Rogers was selected for her Deliberative Conversation series. See Buffalo Project.)
2018-2019 SUNY Explorations in Diversity & Academic Excellence Awards (EDAE)
The SUNY Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion received 27 applications from 25 of the 64 SUNY campuses in the 10th cycle of the annual Explorations in Diversity and Academic Excellence Initiative. The fourteen projects were selected to receive funding across the state, including the Buffalo Project 2.0.
2017-2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
(Photo: Dr. Rhianna Rogers, below, congratulated by former Provost David Bejou)
The Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence are system-level honors conferred to acknowledge and provide systemwide recognition for consistently superior professional achievement and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence. These programs underscore SUNY’s commitment to sustaining intellectual vibrancy, advancing the boundaries of knowledge, providing the highest quality of instruction and serving the public good. Through these awards, SUNY publicly proclaims its pride in the accomplishment and personal dedication of its instructional faculty, librarians and professional staff across its campuses. The awards provide SUNY-wide recognition in five categories: Faculty Service, Librarianship, Professional Service, Scholarship and Creative Activities, and Teaching.
2015 James William and Mary Elizabeth Hall Endowed Award for Innovation recipient: This award periodically honors a college employee who creates, or puts into effect, an innovation that advances Empire State College’s mission and benefits the college’s students. Rogers received this award for the Buffalo Project. To learn more, review this article.
(Photo: Dr. Rhianna Rogers, below, congratulated by former President Merodie Hancock)
2015 OPEN SUNY Online Effective Practice award recipient: I was selected as 1 of 11 people to receive this award for the AY 2014-2015 academic year.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2019 BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE: (Contributing Author in Textbook- multiple sections)
2016 BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE: (2 Chapters written in book)
Rhianna C. Rogers and Menoukha Case, “Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Influence on the US Constitution, 1789,” in 50 Events that Shaped American Indian History, Greenwood Publishers, Dec. 2016.
Rhianna C. Rogers, “The Seminole Wars,” in 50 Events that Shaped American Indian History, Greenwood Publishers, Dec. 2016.
2011 BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE:
Rhianna C. Rogers, From Ichcanzihoo to Mérida:Documenting Cultural Transition Through Contact Archaeology in Tihoo, Mérida, Yucatan. Oxford: ArchaeoPress/British Archaeological Reports, 2011.
2010 BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE: (1 chapter written in book)
See Cambria Press release for book description.
Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers, “Okay, so how do I really study ceramics? Understanding the Praxis of Archaeological Ceramic Research” in Research Realities in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambria Press, 2010.