Members

Dr. Kristen D. Burton (she/they) is an ATS Lecturer in subjects related to United States and transatlantic history in the Department of History, Classics, and Religion. She specializes in the history of food and drink in the early modern Atlantic World, with a focus on alcohol production and consumption in the British Atlantic. Before moving to Edmonton to join the staff at the University of Alberta, she worked at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans (Bulbancha). There, she developed original curriculum and programs that explored the wartime experiences of women, Indigenous and Black soldiers, and members of the LGBT community targeted during the Holocaust. Some of this work was published as the fourth volume of the museum’s curriculum series, titled From the Collection to the Classroom, Vol. 4: Liberation and Legacy.

Chair: Dr. Sarah Nickel (she/her) is Tk'emlupsemc (Kamloops Secwepemc), French Canadian and Ukrainian, and she grew up in the unceded lands of northern Secwepemcul'ecw and the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations. Sarah joins the Department of History, Classics, and Religion after five years with the Department of Indigenous Studies, at the University of Saskatchewan. Her first book, Assembling Unity: Indigenous Politics, Gender, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs was published with UBC Press in 2019 and recently won the Canadian Historical Association prize for the best scholarly book in Indigenous History. She also has a co-authored edited collection In Good Relation: History, Gender, and Kinship in Indigenous Feminisms with the University of Manitoba Press, released in May 2020.

Dr. Aya Fujiwara (she/her) is the Director of Prince Takamado Japan Centre for Teaching and Research and Associate Lecturer at the Department of History, Classics, and Religion. University of Alberta. Her specialty is ethnic and immigration history of Canada with particular focus on Japanese Canadians and Japan-Canada relations. She is the author of Ethnic Elite and Canadian Identity: Japanese, Ukrainians, and Scots, 1919-1971 (2012). She has written essays about Japanese Canadian evacuation during World War II, focusing on the families who moved to Southern Alberta. She is working to promote academic ties between Japan and Canada, in collaboration with some organizations including the Japan Studies Association of Canada, the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education, and the Consulate-General of Japan in Calgary. She also serves on the organizing committee for the Canadian National Japanese Speech Contest to promote Japanese as a minority language in Canada.

Nicola DiNicola (she/her) is a Graduate Student Advisor in the Humanities Division in the Faculty of Arts, and she has worked as a full-time support staff member at the university since 2010. She has a BA (Honors) in History from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Diploma in Communications - Professional Writing from Grant MacEwan University. Her professional interest focuses on equity and inclusion in post-secondary institutional policies.

Personally, as a bicycle commuter, she has a strong interest in city planning and advocating for safe and inclusive spaces and infrastructure for people of all abilities to use transit and active transportation modes.

Dr. Patricia Sauthoff (she/her) is an Assistant Lecturer in the department of History, Classics, and Religion. She grew up in Colorado on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Apache, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Pueblo, Shoshone, Ute, Comanche, Kiwa, Navajo, and many other Native American tribes whose forced removal has caused lasting impacts. Her research examines the histories and practicalities of religion and medicine in South Asia with a focus on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. This work has allowed her to live and study in the United Kingdom, India, and Canada as well as to travel extensively through Europe and Asia.

Connor J. Thompson (he/him) is a PhD student in History at the University of Alberta. Thompson's research interests are focused on twentieth century Canadian Prairie history. His dissertation research will analyze the power dynamics operative in public history practices that commemorate the pioneer. Thompson received his MA from the University of Regina, and his BA (Honors) from UAlberta. He is serving as the Vice President of the History, Classics, and Religion Graduate Student Association for 2022-23.